The Gatehouse Mystery by Campbell Julie

Author:Campbell, Julie [Campbell, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Regan Has a Secret • 11

BUT TRIXIE did not go straight home, after all. By the time she had changed into dungarees and a clean shirt, Brian and Jim had come back with the rented horse.

Trixie met them as she was crossing the driveway on her way to the path that led down to the hollow. The sight of the lovely little black mare drove all other thoughts from her mind.

"Oh, Susie," she cried, throwing her arms around the horse's glossy neck. "You lovely, beautiful, gorgeous thing! Please, Jim, may I ride her right this minute?"

"No bareback riding on rented horses," a voice said from the stable. Regan joined them, grinning.

"Oh, Regan," Trixie said. "I'm so glad you're back.

I want you to meet my brother, Brian."

Brian leaned down from the saddle to shake hands with the pleasant-faced groom. "It's great to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," Regan said with a friendly smile. "Is Mart the blond boy with the crew cut who's down at the boathouse with Honey?"

"That's right," Trixie said.

"Except for the difference in height," Regan said, "you look enough alike to be twins. But you and Brian don't look at all alike. You take after your father, don't you, fella?" he asked Brian.

Brian nodded. "I'm supposed to."

"It's hard to believe," Trixie teased. "Dad's a very good-looking man."

"And your mother is a very pretty lady," Regan said. "It kills me to admit it, Trixie, but you look enough like her to be her own daughter." His green eyes twinkled. "If you ever become a lady, which I very much doubt, people might even call you pretty."

"I have no intention of becoming a lady," Trixie said impudently. "Ladies sit around sewing—" She stopped, remembering where the diamond was.

"You couldn't sit still long enough to thread a needle," Regan was saying in his cheerful voice. "Someday you're going to have to acquire patience. All you kids should learn to drive cars while you're in high school. Hear Dick's going to give you a lesson tomorrow. Right?" he asked Jim.

'That's right," Jim said. "If he gets back."

"And why shouldn't he be back tonight?" Regan demanded, his freckled hands on his hips. "What's a black eye? I've had many a shiner in my time and never took up a busy doctor's time with it."

Mart and Honey joined the little group in front of the stable then. After Mart had been introduced to Regan, he said, "Do I smell fried chicken, or is it wishful thinking?"

Honey sniffed. A delicious odor was wafting out from the kitchen. "You smell correctly," she told Mart. "Dinner must be almost ready. Come on, we'd better change into dry clothes."

Regan's sandy eyebrows shot up with surprise. "Dinner at this unfashionable hour, Honey?" he asked. "Since when? It's only six thirty."

"Just for tonight," Honey explained. "We want to go for a ride through the woods at eight, if it's all right with you, Regan."

"It's fine with me," he said, "if you all groom your horses when you come back. I've

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