Mystery of the Queen's Jewels (7 page)

“Help yourself to the buffet whenever you're ready” she told them and walked away.

“This is my favorite tea shop,” said Charles. “I come here quite often to enjoy the wonderful buffet. Why don't you all go up and pick out whatever you'd like.” He motioned to the long table in the back.

“Okay,” said Benny, springing up from the table. He could see an assortment of cakes from where they were sitting. The others got up, also.

“Aren't you coming?” Jessie asked when she noticed that Charles was still seated.

“No, I'll just have tea right now,” he said.

“If you're not going up, I'll stay here, too, and—” Jessie began.

“No, no, no — please — go ahead,” Charles said quickly. He seemed upset but then he collected himself. “Really, I'm quite comfortable by myself.”

“All right,” said Jessie, following the others. She wondered what was bothering Charles.

The buffet was indeed wonderful, as Charles had said. At one end there were tiny sandwiches filled with cucumber, cheese, or eggsalad. They were made on very thin bread and cut into pretty shapes like hearts and diamonds.

Beside the tea sandwiches was a basket of scones, surrounded by several dishes of jam. Next came the pastries and cakes, which were layered with chocolate, whipped cream, and fruit fillings.

“I want one of everything!” said Benny

“You may have that if you like,” said Doris as she walked by, carrying a tray of hot cocoa to their table.

“Why don't you start with just a few things,” said Jessie. “You can always come back for more.”

“Look at that cake,” said Benny, pointing to a cake at the end of the buffet. It was elaborately decorated with swirls of chocolate icing and large red strawberries. He'd never seen a cake so fancy — or so delicious-looking. “Do you think Mrs. McGregor could make one like that for my next birthday?”

“I'm sure she could. She's such a good cook. Just tell her about it when we get home,” said Violet.

“I have a good idea,” said Benny. “I'll take a picture of it!” He headed back to the table to get the camera out of his backpack. When he got there, Charles looked surprised to see him.

“Oh, hello — aren't you having anything for tea?” Charles asked.

“I want to take a picture of one of those cakes first,” Benny said. He reached under the chair he'd been sitting in. “That's funny.” He looked under the chair. “I thought I left my backpack right here.”

“Oh, here it is,” said Charles, pulling the backpack up from under the table. “Somehow it got pushed over to my side of the table.”

“Thanks,” said Benny. He took out his camera and went back to the buffet.

A moment later, the Aldens returned to the table, their plates piled with goodies.

“We brought some extra sandwiches and scones for you,” said Jessie.

“How thoughtful,” said Charles.

As the Aldens tasted each of the items from the buffet, they chatted with Charles about their sightseeing. They told him what a wonderful time they'd had at Buckingham Palace and Harrods, and how excited they were about the play they were seeing that night. While he seemed friendly enough, the Aldens couldn't help noticing that Charles didn't seem to be paying complete attention to them. It seemed as if he was thinking about something else.

They were almost done eating when Henry said, “One strange thing has happened during our visit.”

“Really?” said Charles. “What's that?”

“Several times we thought we saw someone following us,” Henry explained.

“That is odd,” said Charles. All of a sudden he looked at his watch. “Oh, dear, I've just remembered I have an appointment.” He motioned to Doris, who brought the check. “Take your time and stay as long as you like,” he told the Aldens as he put on his wrinkled raincoat. “Bye-bye!”

“Good-bye,” the Aldens called after him.

“He certainly left in a hurry,” said Jessie.

“Yes,' and just when I was telling him about the person following us around,” said Henry. “All of a sudden he looked very uncomfortable.”

“Probably because he just realized he'd forgotten his appointment,” said Violet.

“I guess so,” said Henry. But he didn't seem satisfied.

“I know something else he forgot,” said Benny. He reached under the table and pulled something out. “His hat!”

After tea the Aldens returned to their inn, bringing Charles's hat with them. They hoped they might be able to return it to him before leaving London. Back at the inn they changed into nice clothes for the theater. Benny and Henry put on khaki slacks, loafers, and clean white shirts. The girls wore flowered dresses and put bows in their hair. Jessie's bow was red and Violet's was purple, her favorite color. Grandfather had on a gray suit, with his pocket watch tucked into his vest. They looked so nice that when they passed Donna as they were leaving, she even smiled and told them to enjoy the show.

The evening was just as wonderful as they had hoped it would be. The theater was old and quite elegant, with an ornately carved ceiling and a thick red velvet curtain. The show was exciting, and all the actors and actresses were very good. The children all liked the beautiful scenery and costumes, but their favorite parts were the songs and dances.

“Thank you for taking us to the play, Grandfather,” said Henry as they got into their cab at the end of the night.

“It was great,” Violet added.

The Aldens were all quite tired when they reached the inn. They'd had a busy day.

“I can't wait to go to sleep,” said Benny.

“That's a switch,” said Grandfather, chuckling. Usually Benny wanted to stay up as late as possible.

But when Henry opened the door to their room, the boys were in for a shock. The pillows and blankets had been pulled off their beds and the contents of their drawers had been dumped out on the floor. “Grandfather!” Henry called. “We've been robbed!”

T
he Aldens gathered in the door of Benny and Henry's room, looking at the mess inside. The girls had heard the commotion and had come back to see what was going on. “Who would have done such a thing?” asked Violet.

“Run downstairs and see if you can find Mrs. Brown,” Grandfather told Henry. “In the meantime, well check the other rooms and make sure they're okay.”

It turned out that only the boys' room had been broken into. “We'd better not touch anything until the police come,” said Grandfather.

Mrs. Brown had been down in the kitchen preparing for breakfast the next day. When she saw what had happened to the boys' room, she gasped and put her hands to her mouth. “Oh, my word!” she said. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before!” She hurried to call the police. In a few minutes, an officer had arrived.

“Is he a policeman?” Benny whispered to Henry. He didn't look like the police back home. He had on a black uniform and a tall curved hat.

“Yes,” said Henry. “He's a bobby.”

“How do you know his name is Bobby?” Benny asked.

“That's not his name; that's what police officers are called here,” Henry explained.

The bobby asked the Aldens some questions and made notes in a small notebook. “Does anything appear to be missing?”

The boys looked through the piles of things that had been dumped from the drawers.

“I don't think so,” said Henry. “We didn't have anything valuable here, anyway. I had my money with me at the play.”

“Wait a minute!” said Benny. “There
is
something missing! My backpack!”

“Here's your backpack,” said Jessie, handing it him. “You left it in our room. The camera is still inside.”

Benny took the backpack, a look of relief on his face.

“How did the burglar get in?” Grandfather wanted to know.

“These locks are pretty easy to pick,” said the bobby. “It could have been someone who works here, or one of the other guests. Or maybe someone sneaked in the front door when Mrs. Brown wasn't around.”

“My family and I are the only ones who work here,” Mrs. Brown said. “And I can't believe it was one of my guests. I suppose someone could have sneaked in — I've never had a problem like this, so I usually don't lock the front door until I go to bed. Still, I can't believe someone could have come in without my knowing.”

“It's late now, so I'll come back tomorrow morning to speak to the other guests,” the bobby said. “I'll find out if anyone heard or saw anything suspicious.”

Mr. Alden went with Mrs. Brown to show the bobby out, while the girls helped Benny and Henry put everything back where it belonged. At last their room was in order.

“We'll have to make sure we don't leave any valuables lying around until they catch the person who did this,” said Jessie.

“I'll put my money in Benny's backpack for safekeeping,” said Henry. “I'll just tuck it in this outside pocket.”

As Henry unzipped the pocket and reached inside, the look on his face changed. “Hey, what's this?” He pulled out a small wrapped bundle.

The Aldens crowded around to see what Henry was holding. The package was flat and about three inches square. It was tightly wrapped and taped. “Did anyone put this in here?” asked Henry.

They all shook their heads.

“What is it?” asked Benny.

Slowly Henry pulled off the tape and began to unwrap the package. Pulling off the paper, he uncovered a small sturdy box. The children were becoming more and more curious. When Henry opened the box, they all opened their eyes wide in surprise. Inside was a shiny gold brooch covered with diamonds and other sparkling gems. The letters
HRH
were engraved in the center. It was obviously quite old.

“That looks really valuable,” said Benny. “I wonder whose initials those are.”

“Those aren't just someone's initials!” said Henry. “That stands for ‘Her Royal Highness.' This must have belonged to … a queen!”

“Oh, my goodness!” said Jessie.

“It looks familiar,” said Violet.

“Familiar?” Jessie repeated.

“Yes, I think I've seen something just like it, but I'm not sure where,” Violet explained.

“What I want to know is, how did it get into my backpack?” Benny asked.

“It was inside that zipped pocket, so it couldn't have just fallen in,” said Henry. “Someone must have put it there on purpose.”

“And he came back for it tonight!” Violet exclaimed. “Maybe that's what the thief was after! He assumed the backpack was in Benny's room, so he broke in. He didn't know it was in
our
room.”

“I was wondering why ours was the only room that was burglarized,” said Henry. “That would explain it — he wasn't just looking for anything valuable, he was looking for one thing in particular, and thought it would only be in here.”

Suddenly Jessie gasped. “Maybe that's why someone's been following us! Like Violet said the other day, he was following us because we had something he wanted. He's been trying to get it back all week! We've had the backpack with us every day. This is one of the first times we've left it and gone out at night.”

“Why did he break into our room tonight and not before?” asked Benny.

“Somehow it seems as if the person knew we'd be out tonight and probably wouldn't be bringing the backpack,” said Henry.

“But who would have known that?” asked Benny.

“We told Andrew we'd be going to the theater tonight,” said Jessie. “And remember what he said about hiding something where it would be safe!”

“He does seem like the most likely suspect,” said Henry. “But don't forget Donna. She saw us as we were leaving the inn tonight. And Mrs. Brown said something about her having a secret plan to get rich. If she stole this brooch and sold it, she'd be rich.”