Finders Keepers Mystery
Page 6
Lina and the four Aldens dashed through her backyard and in the back door of her house. Moving as quickly and quietly as possible, they hurried up the stairs to the attic.
“Good thing we didn’t clean out everything for the yard sale,” said Violet.
“Let’s hide,” Henry urged. “We may not have much time.”
The five of them scattered around the attic. Jessie stepped behind an old wardrobe. Benny slid behind a chair. Violet crouched beneath a desk. Henry pulled an old blanket over him and huddled in the darkest corner of the attic. Lina hid behind an old door propped against one wall.
Then they waited.
Before long they heard footsteps moving quickly but quietly up the stairs.
Benny held his breath and hoped he wouldn’t sneeze. He clamped two fingers over his nose, just in case.
The attic door swung open. Brisk, sure footsteps crossed the room. They were going straight for the trunk.
The lid of the quilt trunk creaked open. “What is this rag?” a voice muttered. “Where is the wedding quilt? And…”
Henry stood up. Lina stepped out from behind the door. At the same moment, Jessie, Benny, and Violet came out from their hiding places, too.
“May I help you find something?” Lina asked in a cool voice.
Regina Lott gave a small shriek as she jerked upright in surprise. She almost fell over backward. She took a few quick steps toward the door, then stopped when she saw that Henry was blocking the way.
“What — what are you doing here?” Regina stammered.
“Waiting for you,” said Jessie.
“You came to steal the treasure,” Benny couldn’t stop himself from blurting out.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Regina almost shouted.
“Yes, you do,” Violet said quietly.
“Your source told you we’d found the treasure and that it was still in this trunk. He also told you the house would be empty this afternoon,” said Henry.
“Mr. Grey,” said Benny. “He told you. We let him listen to us, and he believed us!”
Regina’s face turned dull red. For once, she seemed to have nothing to say.
“Mr. Grey is the one who told you about the quilts in the first place, isn’t he?” said Jessie.
“He — it was just a news tip,” said Regina. “We’re old friends.”
“A news tip — or was he trying to help you steal the quilts?” asked Violet.
“No!” gasped Regina.
“Yes,” said Henry. “And this isn’t the first time you’ve tried to take them.”
Regina’s face crumpled. “I just wanted to make it a better story,” she explained. “Just imagine the news hook: ‘Valuable Quilts Found — Then Stolen!’ I would have brought them back after I’d aired the story.”
“You sent Mr. Grey to look for the quilts while we were distracted with the yard sale,” said Violet. “But Henry and I caught him.”
Regina looked down. “That was his idea. He’d heard you might give the quilts to Mr. Munsey for the museum. Dirk hates Mr. Munsey, so he wanted to stop you.”
“But he never made it to the attic,” Violet finished. “He stopped to look at china along the way.”
Regina nodded her head.
“He must have called you yesterday right after he saw us in the shop, getting the pattern from Coral. That’s why you were here when we got back,” Henry said.
“You were going to try to sneak into the house while we were away, weren’t you?” Jessie asked. “But Mr. Munsey stopped you.”
“No, it wasn’t like that,” said Regina.
Lina spoke up. “I think it was exactly like that. You wanted a story — and a treasure. What were you going to do with the quilts?”
There was a long silence. Then Regina said quietly, “I wanted to sell them. They’re worth so much money. I didn’t think. I just acted. I was wrong.”
“Yes, you were. So was Mr. Grey,” said Benny.
Regina’s shoulders slumped. “What are you going to do to me?” she asked.
Lina stared at the reporter. Then she shook her head. “Just go,” she said. “You’ve lost your story. My quilts are safe. But if I hear of you doing anything like this again, I’m going to tell my story — about what you did — to another reporter. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
Regina cast one more look at the trunk. “I’m not a very good reporter, to fall for a trick like that, am I?” she said in a dull voice. “There’s no hidden treasure and no special wedding quilt, is there?”
“Time to go,” said Lina, standing aside and motioning toward the attic door. “I’ll show you the way out. And I’ll be speaking to Mr. Grey.”
Regina nodded in defeat. She walked slowly out of the attic. The Aldens listened to her plodding footsteps as she went downstairs with Lina.
A few minutes later, Lina returned. She sighed and sank onto an old stool. “The trick worked,” she said. “I didn’t think it would. I wonder what she thought when she saw that old hops quilt in the trunk.”
Violet leaned over to lift out the old quilt. She smoothed its worn surface.
“It’s not just an old hops quilt,” said Violet. “Let us show you something, Lina.”
CHAPTER 10
A Treasure in a Treasure
Henry helped violet spread the hops quilt across two chairs.
Then Jessie took a tiny pair of scissors out of a carrying case in her pocket. “Coral lent me these,” she explained.
She leaned over and began, very, very carefully to cut the threads that held the outside edges of the quilt together.
“What are you doing?” Lina exclaimed.
“Watch,” said Violet.
Jessie cut the seam down one side of the old quilt, then folded back the edges.
Tucked inside the hops quilt was another quilt — a beautiful, brilliantly colored quilt in a familiar pattern.
“It’s the Wedding Ring quilt!” said Benny.
Lina leaped up. “Let me get another pair of scissors!” she exclaimed.
Soon they had snipped all the knots that held the two sides of the old quilt together. Those knots had held the new quilt against the old quilt, inside of it.
At last the hidden quilt was revealed.
“Oh!” said Violet. “It’s even more beautiful than I thought it would be.”
“And look — here’s the date and your aunt’s initials,” Jessie pointed out.
“The same year as that last letter,” Henry said.
Lina gazed at the quilt in wonder. “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it,” she said over and over. “Hope must have hidden it away because it was too sad for her to look at it,” Violet guessed.
“But it also gave her comfort to have it near her,” Henry added. “That’s why the hops quilt covering is so worn — Hope loved it to pieces.”
“How did you ever figure this out?” Lina asked.
“We realized that a quilt could hide another quilt when we saw Coral making a quilted cover for a pillow,” Henry explained.
“And then Benny wanted a cover for Watch’s dog bed, because it is old and faded. That made me think of this old quilt, all worn and faded. And suddenly I wondered if the worn, faded quilt could be on the outside and another quilt could be inside,” Violet said.
“Look,” said Benny. He pointed to the quilt. “There’s an extra ring on that part.”
They all looked. Sure enough, a small green ring of fabric had been patched on top of the design on one corner of the quilt.
“How strange,” said Lina. “Why would Great-great-aunt Hope do that?”
Jessie reached out to touch the tiny green ring. “It’s lumpy,” she said.
“And hard,” added Violet, squeezing the corner.
“The rest of the quilt isn’t lumpy,” said Benny.
Henry said, “It feels like there’s something inside of it.”
“The ring!” exclaimed Violet. “The green ring the color
of Hope’s eyes! Robert wasn’t writing about the quilt after all. He meant…” She took the scissors and knelt down. Before anyone could say anything, she had worked three tiny stitches loose. She slid her finger under the patch. She looked up. “It’s here,” she said.
Now Lina knelt down, too. She carefully and delicately cut the remaining stitches that held the small green circle onto the quilt. As the last stitch came free, a gold ring with a glinting green stone fell out.
“An emerald ring!” gasped Jessie.
“Great-great-aunt Hope’s engagement ring,” whispered Lina. “Green like her eyes. There was a hidden treasure, after all!”
“Two hidden treasures!” said Benny. “The ring and the quilt.”
“The quilt inside a quilt,” said Henry. “And the ring inside a ring,” said Violet. “A mystery inside a mystery,” agreed Jessie.
“And we solved them both,” said Benny.
The shop bell tinkled and Coral looked up. She beamed at the Aldens and at Lina, who stood in the doorway. “Come in, come in,” she said.
“We brought a copy of the newspaper for you to see,” said Benny.
“I’ve seen it! I’ve put it up on the wall!” said Coral, motioning.
On a bulletin board on one side of the shop was the article from the local newspaper. MYSTERY QUILT HOLDS HIDDEN TREASURE, the headline said, and in smaller letters, AND IS ONE, TOO, SAYS EXPERT.
“My name and my shop’s name are in the article,” Coral said, “for helping to solve the mystery. It’s been great for business.”
“How’s Mr. Grey’s business?” asked Lina.
“Ha! He’s put a FOR SALE sign in the window,” said Coral. She shook her head. “Who could believe a nice man like that could be so sneaky? And I heard Regina Lott has taken a job in another town.”
“I hope she’s learned that there are better ways to get a story than trying to steal one,” Henry said.
“Yes, because when she did that, she missed the biggest story of all,” said Violet.
“There’s going to be another story when they put the quilts on display at the museum,” said Jessie. “It was nice of you to let Mr. Munsey borrow them, Lina. But I’m glad you’ll be getting them back.”
Lina looked down at the emerald on her hand. “It’s what Great-great-aunt Hope would have wanted,” she said.
“We solved the mystery,” Benny said. “We’ve sewed this case up.”
Everyone laughed. “We sure have, Benny,” said Henry. “We sure have.”
About the Author
GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.
Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.
When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.
While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.
Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.
The Boxcar Children Mysteries
The Boxcar Children
Surprise Island
The Yellow House Mystery
Mystery Ranch
Mike’s Mystery
Blue Bay Mystery
The Woodshed Mystery
The Lighthouse Mystery
Mountain Top Mystery
Schoolhouse Mystery
Caboose Mystery
Houseboat Mystery
Snowbound Mystery
Tree House Mystery
Bicycle Mystery
Mystery in the Sand
Mystery Behind the Wall
Bus Station Mystery
Benny Uncovers a Mystery
The Haunted Cabin Mystery
The Deserted Library Mystery
The Animal Shelter Mystery
The Old Motel Mystery
The Mystery of the Hidden Painting
The Amusement Park Mystery
The Mystery of the Mixed-Up Zoo
The Camp-Out Mystery
The Mystery Girl
The Mystery Cruise
The Disappearing Friend Mystery
The Mystery of the Singing Ghost
Mystery in the Snow
The Pizza Mystery
The Mystery Horse
The Mystery at the Dog Show
The Castle Mystery
The Mystery of the Lost Village
The Mystery on the Ice
The Mystery of the Purple Pool
The Ghost Ship Mystery
The Mystery in Washington, DC
The Canoe Trip Mystery
The Mystery of the Hidden Beach
The Mystery of the Missing Cat
The Mystery at Snowflake Inn
The Mystery on Stage
The Dinosaur Mystery
The Mystery of the Stolen Music
The Mystery at the Ball Park
The Chocolate Sundae Mystery
The Mystery of the Hot Air Balloon
The Mystery Bookstore
The Pilgrim Village Mystery
The Mystery of the Stolen Boxcar
Mystery in the Cave
The Mystery on the Train
The Mystery at the Fair
The Mystery of the Lost Mine
The Guide Dog Mystery
The Hurricane Mystery
The Pet Shop Mystery
The Mystery of the Secret Message
The Firehouse Mystery
The Mystery in San Francisco
The Niagara Falls Mystery
The Mystery at the Alamo
The Outer Space Mystery
The Soccer Mystery
The Mystery in the Old Attic
The Growling Bear Mystery
The Mystery of the Lake Monster
The Mystery at Peacock Hall
The Windy City Mystery
The Black Pearl Mystery
The Cereal Box Mystery
The Panther Mystery
The Mystery of the Queen’s Jewels
The Stolen Sword Mystery
The Basketball Mystery
The Movie Star Mystery
The Mystery of the Black Raven
The Mystery of the Pirate’s Map
The Mystery in the Mall
The Mystery in New York
The Gymnastics Mystery
The Poison Frog Mystery
The Mystery of the Empty Safe
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or de
ad, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 2001 by Albert Whitman & Company
978-1-4532-2889-0
This 2011 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media
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EBOOKS BY GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER
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