The Mystery in the Magic Shop by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Author:Gertrude Chandler Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2022-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

“Wow!” Benny cried. “How’d you do that?”

Once again Henry just smiled. “Magic,” he said.

“Now I understand,” Jessie remarked. “You can tell us what these things are for. And you can perform the trick. You just can’t show us how they work.”

“You’re honoring the magician’s code,” Benny said.

“That’s exactly right,” said Henry.

“What are you supposed to do if you goof up on stage?” Benny asked. “In front of all those people staring at you?”

“That thought scares me,” Henry admitted. “But you know what the Amazing Arthur told me?”

“What?” his siblings said at once.

“To just keep going. Keep up the patter.”

“Patter?” Benny asked.

“That’s where you say things like ‘Ladies and gentlemen!’ or ‘How’re all you folks doing today on this splendid afternoon?’ You keep talking so they don’t notice you dropped the deck of cards or forgot to roll the dice.”

Jessie said, “Patter away, Henry.”

“I need to practice that too,” he said.

Violet went to the center of the stage where she could look out over the rows of seats. A huge clock was high up on the far wall. “Hey everyone,” she called. “It’s eleven thirty. This place opens in half an hour. We’re running out of time. If we don’t find the Amazing Arthur, Mrs. Oliver will cancel the magic show! She won’t even let Captain Cannon take it over.”

A sudden crash echoed through the empty auditorium.

Benny jumped. “What was that?”

“It sounded like it came from over there,” Jessie said.

The Aldens carefully stepped backstage. A large mirror had fallen to the floor and shattered.

Thousands of sharp pieces of glass were strewn across the floor.

Jessie grabbed the back of Benny’s shirt. “Careful!” she said.

“Is that the mirror from the shop?” Violet wondered.

“Uh-oh, I think it is,” said Henry. “The one the Amazing Arthur suddenly appeared in front of the other day. I still don’t know what trick this mirror is used for. He didn’t explain.”

Jessie carefully pushed the toe of her tennis shoe through the broken glass. “I bet it’s for the new trick he was going to unveil. We didn’t see him—or that person—the other night carrying in a big mirror. But if this is it, the Amazing Arthur must’ve been planning to be at the magic show, even if it’s held here at the community center.”

Henry said, “The Amazing Arthur wouldn’t have left town if he was planning to be at the show, right?”

“Right!” Jessie agreed.

Benny stepped around the shattered mirror and into the hallway by the door where they had entered. He held the door wide open. The bright sunlight revealed something new.

Spots of red paint had dribbled from the mirror out through the door. “Someone spilled paint,” Violet said.

Jessie leaned closer. “Uh, that’s not paint,” she said. “I think it’s blood. It’s a deep red, kinda oozy-looking.”

“Blood?” Benny cried.

Henry bent down for a better look. “I think it’s blood too. Whoever was just here must have knocked over the mirror.”

“And must have gotten cut on the glass,” Jessie said.

“But who?” Violet asked. “I hope it’s not a serious cut.

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