The Secret of the Mansion (21 page)

the old arbor and how Honey had kept on bringing cans of water from the well long after the clearing was filled with firemen. She tried to warn Jim not

to hide in the summerhouse, in case the fire should spread in that direction, which seemed likely, but nothing except a hoarse croak came out of her smoke-tortured

throat.

And all the while, in the back of her mind, she knew that the chemical truck was roaring up the rutted driveway. There was an awful moment of silence as

the siren stopped screaming, and the motor of the truck stalled halfway up the hill.

And then there were firemen everywhere, working calmly under the direction of their chief. Trixie heard an order which had something to do with ventilation,

and two firemen promptly raced up a ladder and began chopping holes in the roof. In a minute, they clambered down and reported that they could “feel the

roof breath-

244 220 ing from the pressure of the hot air under it.”

She remembered the walled-up staircase then, and how all the other windows and doors were tightly closed. Even in her dazed state of mind, Trixie knew that

the men were doing the best they could, but she realized the hopelessness of it all.

“They’ll never save the house,” she shouted at Honey through the uproar of the stifling flames. “But they’ve got to keep it from spreading to the woods.

Your place and ours will go, then. There hasn’t been enough rain lately.”

Honey clutched her arm. “Oh, look. Isn’t that jonesy coming up the hill with all those people from the village who were here when the military plane crashed?”

Trixie wheeled around to face the driveway. Sure enough, leading the crowd of curious onlookers was the stoop-shouldered man. He stamped across the clearing,

yelling at the top of his lungs to the fire chief, “My stepson’s in there. Save him! Save him! He’s the missing heir to the Frayne fortune. You must save

him!”

I think you’re mistaken,” Trixie heard the chief say quietly. “Mr. Frayne lived all alone, and he died recently. I assure you, my men have already made

certain there is nobody in the house.”

“Fool, fool,” jonesy howled, and Trixie knew that he

245 221 was in one of the insane rages Jim had described. “I was here earlier this evening and saw unmistakable signs that young Jim Frayne has been living

here. He’s being burned alive, I tell you. Put out the fire! Put out the fire!”

Ma be he does really care about Jim, Trixie thought as she started forward to tell the fire chief that Jim was safe, so that he would not send any of his

men into the flaming house. At that moment the roof burst into flames, and the whole house collapsed in a blazing shower of sparks and burning chunks of

wood.

Instantly, Jonesy’s attitude changed. He danced up and down in fury, shaking his fists and screaming like a maniac. “You idiots! You lazy idiots! Half a

million dollars was hidden in that house, and you’ve let it burn to the ground. A fortune wasted, you fools. Do you hear me? A fortune!”

It’s the money he was worried about, not Jim, Trixie thought angrily. I’m glad he thinks Jim was burned alive. Now he won’t be likely to bother him any

more.

The firemen, paying no attention to Jonesy’s hysterical accusations, kept right on working to keep the fire from spreading to the woods. When the last ember

was extinguished, even jonesy was forced to face the fact that there was nothing left worth salvaging. Whatever had been hidden in the Mansion had been

246 222 completely destroyed by the all-consuming flames. Screaming insults, the stoop-shouldered man turned away from the ruins and tottered down the driveway.

“Who was that?” a reporter asked the fire chief. “Sounded like a lunatic to me.”

The chief laughed grimly. “They ought to keep people like that under lock and key. First he was yowling that his stepson was being burned alive and then

he changed his tune. Said there was half a million dollars hidden in the place.” He shrugged tiredly. “Never did believe that yarn about old man Frayne

having, a fortune hidden in this old house, did you?”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” the reporter said warily. “It has happened before, you know. Rich old recluses living in poverty. What was that about a

stepson?”

“You know as much about it as I do,” the chief said, in exasperation. “Your hysterical friend said young Jim Frayne, the missing heir, was being burned

alive. That’s all I know, and what’s more, I don’t believe a word of it.” But the reporter was already hurrying down the hill after jonesy and the villagers.

“Golly,” Trixie gasped. “It’ll be in all the papers tomorrow that Jim died in the fire. I hope that means jonesy won’t bother him any more. He’s taken enough

beatings.”

247 223 She stopped short as she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and wheeled around, expecting to face Jim’s stepfather.

It was Regan. “Don’t you think you two have had enough excitement?” he demanded, grinning. “If Miss Trask ever finds out you were hanging around this place

at this time of night-” He let out a long whistle. “I’m taking you girls home now,” he finished firmly. “And see that you stay there the rest of the morning.”

Meekly, the girls let him escort them to the Belden terrace where Reddy, who had scampered away when the roof of the burning house crashed to the ground,

was impatiently waiting for them. The dog gave them a noisy welcome.

“What happened to that redheaded kid?” Regan asked as Trixie opened the door.

“He’s all right,” Honey said quickly. “But, please, Regan, don’t let anybody know what you know about him. That horrible, old, stoop-shouldered man is his

stepfather.”

“Figured something like that,” Regan said as he saw them safely into the house. “And don’t you worry about me. I mind my own business, and I don’t tell

anybody anything that doesn’t concern them.” He strode away in the waning moonlight, humming softly to himself.

248 224 Chapter 20

The Missing Heir

Sunlight was streaming into the room when Trixie awoke the next morning, and she realized that she and Honey must have slept very late. Rolling on her elbow,

she reached across to the other twin bed and poked Honey. “Wake up, sleepy head!”

“I am awake,” Honey said, keeping her eyes tightly shut. “I’ve been trying to figure out for the past half hour whether it was all a nightmare or not.”

“It was not.” Trixie swung out of bed. “Let’s get dressed and hurry up the hill to see how Jim is.” She sniffed. “Whew! My pajamas smell like smoke. Do

yours?”

“Yes.” Honey wrinkled her nose. “That’s why I was pretty sure it wasn’t a nightmare. Gosh, Trixie,” she said as they washed and dressed, “I was awfully

worried about Jim hiding out in the summerhouse last night when it looked as though the fire was going to spread to the woods. Weren’t you?”

“I sure was,” Trixie agreed. “And it’s a good thing that place is practically all windows; otherwise the

249 225 smoke might have made him pretty sick.” She stopped in the kitchen long enough to scoop two oranges out of the refrigerator. “We can eat these on

the way up,” she said, handing one to Honey, “and have the rest of our breakfast later with Jim. Now that Jonesy thinks he died in the fire, maybe he’ll

stick around here a few days longer.”

“Oh, I hope so,” Honey said. I wish Regan hadn’t made us go home last night before we had a chance to see if Jim was okay.”

“Well,” Trixie said, grinning, “we were lucky it wasn’t Miss Trask. She would have given us heck for going up there in our pajamas.”

I was so excited I didn’t know what I had on,” Honey said. “And I don’t believe anyone else noticed, either.”

I planned to dress and go back and see Jim,” Trixie admitted, “as soon as I was sure Regan was asleep. But I was so tired, the last thing I remember was

toppling into bed.” She stopped suddenly and flicked a strip of orange peel into the bushes. “Say,” she said, trying to sound casual, “did you have a nightmare

last night? The one about being in the sealed room with the big balloon pressing down on you?”

“Why, no.” Honey stared at her in astonishment. I haven’t had that nightmare for a long time. As a matter

250 226 of fact, except for that one about the big black snake with the white streak down its back, I haven’t even dreamed since we moved up here.”

Trixie chuckled. “Well, I bet you don’t have that sealed-room dream any more. If ever you were going to have it, you would have last night. What with the

fire and worrying about Jim, I’m surprised I didn’t have a nightmare myself.”

The air was strong with the smell of smoke and scorched wood as they pushed through the thicket into the clearing.

“I bet I don’t have any nightmares any more,” Honey said thoughtfully. “And it’s a funny thing, but that creepy feeling I had that something awful was going

to happen has gone away, too.”

“I should think it would.” Trixie laughed. “The awful thing has happened. Nothing could have been much worse than the fire!”

The girls whistled, “Bob white! Bob white!” over and over again, but there was no answering call from the hidden summerhouse. Reddy sniffed around the ruins

with an air of disgust and ran off through the woods after a rabbit. It was terribly quiet in the clearing, for not even a chicken was in sight.

“He must still be asleep,” Trixie said as they stood

251 227 there listening. “Jim,” she yelled. “It’s all right. Come on out.”

There was no sound except the wind rustling the leaves of the trees and the distant rumble of thunder in the overcast sky. “Maybe he got smothered,” Honey

breathed. “There was so much smoke around here last night, and the windows of the summerhouse are choked with vines.”

But Trixie was already on her hands and knees, crawling as fast as she could under the old arbor, calling, “Wake up, Jim! It’s us, Trixie and Honey.”

Honey followed after her so closely that when Trixie swung open the door to the summerhouse, she almost knocked her down. A spider scuttled across the bare

floor.

“He’s gone,” Trixie wailed. “I was afraid he’d run away the first thing in the morning. Now we’ll never see him again, Honey.”

Honey’s hazel eyes clouded with tears. “Oh, gosh,” she cried, “why didn’t he wait to say good-by? I hoped that, now he doesn’t have to worry about jonesy

any more, he might come and live with us.”

“Me, too,” Trixie moaned. As her eyes grew accustomed to the semi-darkness, she suddenly spied a piece of paper on the floor of the summerhouse. It was

held in

252 228 place by the little leather jewel case. “It’s a letter from Jim,” she cried excitedly. “Help me pull away some of these branches, Honey, so we can

read it.”

A shaft of grayish light trickled through the gap in one of the windows, and Trixie and Honey read the letter.

Dear Trixie:

You and Honey are great sports, but this is good-by. I heard Jonesy yelling last night, and now that he thinks I’m dead my troubles are over

But what do you think? Early this morning I tripped over that old mattress you dragged out of the house, and I guess that it must have been so trampled

by the firemen that the ticking tore into shreds when my knees hit it. And then I saw that old mattress Id been sleeping on every night was stuffed with

money! Not half a million dollars but enough to keep me going for a long time. You were right. A treasure was hidden in the Mansion and in the very room

where you said all along we’d find it.

As soon as I get settled somewhere, I’ll come back and repay you two for all you’ve done for me. But in the meantime, I want you to have my great-aunt’s

ring to remember me by. After all, you found it, and you saved the money from the fire. If you like, I think you can sell

253 229 it for enough to buy that horse you want so much. Please, don’t you and Honey forget me. I’ll see you sometime.

Yours, Jim.

“Honey,” Trixie said sadly, “he really has gone. We’re going to miss him like anything, and I wouldn’t think of selling this ring. I’ll earn the money for

a horse and keep this to remember Jim by. But we’ll never forget him, will we, Honey?”

Honey shook her head. “Never, never. He was almost the nicest person I ever knew. And,” she added slowly, “he called me a good sport, Trixie. Can you believe

it?”

Trixie laughed. “What’s so wonderful about that?” Honey flushed. “Oh, I know it sounds silly to you, Trixie, but nobody ever called me that before. I never

had any real friends till I met you and Jim.”

Trixie put her arm around Honey’s shoulder and hugged her impulsively. “Well, you’ve got me as your friend for as long as you want me, Honey. And I’ll bet

Jim does come back some day.”

Honey smiled. “You know, I’ve got one of my funny feelings about that. I’ve got a sort of premonition that we’re going to see him again. Soon.” She stopped

as a

254 230 man’s voice on the other side of the hidden summerhouse broke in.

Hello! I can hear you two, but I can’t see you. Where are you?”

For one frightening moment, the girls clung together, terrified that jonesy might have come back. Then, as the man called again, “Hello there,” they knew