The Trail of the Green Doll

by Margaret Sutton

  CHAPTER VI An Empty Pocketbook

  “Don’t look for it!” the voice from the tree had said. And now arequest, equally urgent, had come from a real live little girl: “Please,will you help us find it?”

  Once more the strange warning flashed through Judy’s mind. Just what itwas she was supposed to find—or not to find—still puzzled her. But shehad found the explanation for unearthly things before and could do itagain. A little uneasily, she replied that she would do what she could.

  It was hard to get a description of the doll. All Penny could tell herwas that its hair, its face—everything about it—was green.

  “Its clothes, too?” Honey asked.

  Penny nodded solemnly.

  “Yes, everything. It came from the Land of Oz, I think. My mother readme the story once. Everything was green there, too, and she was aprincess.”

  “Your doll?” asked Judy.

  “She wasn’t _my_ doll. Sometimes Mommy would let me look at her. Shetold me her name, too, but I’ve forgotten it.”

  “Was it Dorothy?” questioned Honey.

  Penny shook her head.

  “Ozma?”

  “No, that isn’t right, either. Mommy knows it, but you mustn’t tell herI told you.”

  “We won’t say a word, will we, Judy?”

  “Is that your name?” asked the little girl. “Mine’s Penelope, but peoplecall me Penny for short. May I call you Judy?”

  “Yes, you may both call me Judy,” she replied as Paul descended from thetree. “This is Grace Dobbs, but I named her Honey before I knew who shewas. Now we’re sisters—”

  Penny’s eyes widened.

  “Real sisters?”

  “Well, I married Honey’s brother Peter. My brother is Horace—”

  “Here he comes now with the children’s mother,” Honey interrupted as theconvertible came roaring down the road and stopped almost beside them.

  “Back so soon?” asked Judy. “The children were telling me—”

  “We didn’t tell her anything,” Paul protested, looking frightened.

  “The children only said you’ve been having trouble, Mrs. Riker,” Judyexplained. “I hope we can be of some help.”

  “You’re very kind,” the woman sitting beside Horace said, “but I’mafraid nobody can help me very much. I did have plans, but noweverything has changed. I’m so nervous and upset, I don’t even want totalk about it.”

  “Then don’t talk about it until you’re rested. Come into the house,”Judy offered, “and I’ll make you a cup of hot tea. There are cookies andchocolate milk for the children—”

  “Did you hear that, Penny?” asked Paul. “I’ll race you!”

  They were off before their mother could stop them. On the porch theyfound Blackberry and called back to Judy.

  “Is this your cat? Is it all right if we pet him?”

  “Ask Blackberry. He’s the one to decide.”

  “He likes us,” Paul announced as the others came up onto the porch. Theywere just in time, as it was beginning to rain. Mrs. Riker hesitated.

  “I’m not sure we ought to accept your hospitality,” she said to Judy.“You see, I can’t pay for the rooms until later. My pocketbook wasstolen.”

  “I know. The children told me.”

  “Penny did,” Paul put in quickly. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

  “That’s all right. I’m glad you understand. I’m not going to report thetheft and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention it, either. I don’twant any more trouble—”

  “But Mommy, you said—” Penny began.

  “Penny, _will_ you keep still?” her brother exclaimed.

  “Let her go on. This interests me.”

  Apparently Horace was hearing about the stolen pocketbook for the firsttime. Judy smiled and invited everybody in. Blackberry politely refused.

  “There he goes, off toward the barn!” Paul exclaimed. “Come on, Penny!Let’s follow him.”

  Suddenly Judy had an idea.

  “Honey, will you take Mrs. Riker inside?” she asked. “I’d like to seewhat Blackberry’s up to. He’s helped us solve mysteries before. Theremust be something in the barn he wants to show us.”

  “Mice, probably. But go ahead,” Honey told her. “I know where everythingis. I’ll have refreshments ready for the rest of us by the time you getback.”

  Judy intended to take only a few minutes. But when they reached the barnPenny and Paul wanted to climb to the hayloft. There they found three ofthe club members, two girls and a boy, apparently searching forsomething in the hay.

  “Hi, there!” Judy greeted them. “Be careful, Black Spots, or someonewill rub you out. And if you’ve lost anything, don’t look for it. We’vebeen warned.”

  Ricky, the club president, looked at her with a baffled expression onhis face.

  “You are joking?” he said in what Judy considered a charming accent.“The Americans make the jokes I do not understand.”

  “There was a big fight,” spoke up Muriel Blade. “The rest of the kidswent to Wally’s house, but Anne and me, we stuck by Ricky.”

  Anne, the youngest of the club members, was solemnly regarding the twoRiker children. She was standing in a shaft of light that came inthrough a small window overlooking the grove.

  “We know them,” she told Judy. “We tried to trail the bad men for them.”

  “Did you see the men’s faces?” asked Judy. “What did they look like?”

  Interrupting each other as they talked, the children quickly describedthem. The descriptions fitted. There had been three men, and one of themhad a long scar right across his cheek. Paul was certain they were rightabout that, because he remembered that it had been the scar-faced manwho held the gun.

  “Did you find out where they went?” Paul asked eagerly.

  “No,” Ricky admitted. “But we did find this.”

  “Mom’s pocketbook!” yelled both the Riker children as he held it up.“How did you get it back?”

  “It was easy,” he said. “They threw it away.”

  “Ricky found it in the road,” Anne put in, and Muriel hastily added,“It’s empty. They took out everything that was in it except a lipstickand handkerchief. Oh, yes, and an empty box.”

  “Are you sure it’s empty?” asked Penny, reaching for the small blue boxthey had found in her mother’s pocketbook.

  “Quite sure,” Muriel said. “We just looked.”

  “Oh,” Penny exclaimed with a disappointed little sigh. “That was thebox—”

  She stopped at a look from Paul, but Judy almost knew she had been aboutto say it was the box that had held the green doll. At least, Judy knewnow how big it was. Or rather, how small. The box was only about fourinches long. Inside was a soft lining of satin and an impression as ifsomething had rested there a long time without being disturbed.

  “We’re on the trail of it now, whatever it is,” Judy thought.

  Aloud she asked, “Is anybody hungry?”

  “We’re starved!” yelled the children in a resounding chorus.

  A moment later they were following Judy down the ladder from thehayloft. Outside it was raining harder than ever.

  “Come on then, back to the house!” she called. “We’ll have refreshmentsjust the way I planned, but we’ll have to make a dash for them throughthe rain.”