The Mystery of the Antique Doll

by Campbell, Julie

  The TRIXIE BELDEN Series

  1 The Secret of the Mansion

  2 The Red Trailer Mystery

  3 The Gatehouse Mystery

  4 The Mysterious Visitor

  5 The Mystery Off Glen Road

  6 The Mystery in Arizona

  7 The Mysterious Code

  8 The Black Jacket Mystery

  9 The Happy Valley Mystery

  10 The Marshland Mystery

  11 The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

  12 The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

  13 The Mystery on Cobbett’s Island

  14 The Mystery of the Emeralds

  15 The Mystery on the Mississippi

  16 The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

  17 The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest

  18 The Mystery of the Phantom Grasshopper

  19 The Secret of the Unseen Treasure

  20 The Mystery Off Old Telegraph Road

  21 The Mystery of the Castaway Children

  22 The Mystery at Mead’s Mountain

  23 The Mystery of the Queen’s Necklace

  24 The Mystery at Saratoga

  25 The Sasquatch Mystery

  26 The Mystery of the Headless Horseman

  27 The Mystery of the Ghostly Galleon

  28 The Hudson River Mystery

  29 The Mystery of the Velvet Gown

  30 The Mystery of the Midnight Marauder

  31 The Mystery at Maypenny’s

  32 The Mystery of the Whispering Witch

  33 The Mystery of the Vanishing Victim

  34 The Mystery of the Missing Millionaire

  35 The Mystery of the Memorial Day Fire

  36 The Mystery of the Antique Doll

  Copyright © 1984 by Western Publishing Company, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. No part of this book may be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from the publisher. GOLDEN®, GOLDEN® & DESIGN, A GOLDEN BOOK®, and TRIXIE BELDEN® are trademarks of Western Publishing Company, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 83-83352

  ISBN 0-307-21559-8/ISBN 0-307-61559-6 (lib. bdg.)

  All names, characters, and events in this story are entirely fictitious.

  Contents

  1 * The Doctor’s Request

  2 * Trixie and Honey Help Out

  3 * The Curious Antique Shop

  4 * Trixie Investigates

  5 * An Unusual Favor

  6 * The Parisian Doll

  7 * A Suspicious Stranger

  8 * Wrongly Accused

  9 * The Clue in the Dress

  10 * Caught!

  11* Trixie’s Plan

  12 * No Escape

  13 * The Rescuers

  14 * The Sergeant’s Commendation

  1 * The Doctor’s Request

  “OH, NOT AGAIN!” yelped fourteen-year-old Trixie Belden, as her books went crashing to the stairs. The flow of students leaving Sleepyside Junior-Senior High School stopped for barely a minute as Trixie tried to collect the scattered papers from her loose-leaf notebook. “That’s the second time today!”

  Irritably, Trixie pushed a short lock of sandy-blonde hair out of her eyes. She put the last book on the pile, and said, “I’m trying very hard to be organized, but how can I keep track of things if I constantly drop them?”

  Trixie’s best friend, Honey Wheeler, laughed. She gazed fondly at her friend as they went down the last few steps and into the main lobby of the school. When Honey and her parents had first moved to Sleepy-side-on-the-Hudson, Honey had been thin and shy. Now, after spending all her free time with Trixie Belden, she was a glowing picture of health.

  Honey was slightly taller than Trixie. Her shoulder-length, honey-blonde hair was always combed, and her school books were always organized. Neatness was one of the things she’d learned in the boarding schools she’d gone to before moving to Sleepyside. Together, Trixie and Honey had solved many mysteries, and they planned to open the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency someday. But first they had a few things to take care of, such as getting out the door with all their belongings intact.

  As they walked out of school into the late afternoon sunshine, Trixie squinted and raised her hand to shade her eyes.

  “There you are!” came a slightly mocking voice from behind them. “Procrastinating in the halls is hardly a sign of mental acuity!”

  “Oh, Mart,” Trixie said, with a grin. “Is Moms waiting for us? I was just looking for the car.” Mart was Trixie’s “almost twin” brother. They were eleven months apart and, even though Mart was older, people often mistook them for twins.

  “Why is Moms picking you up?” Mart asked, a look of surprise on his face. “Aren’t you two going to the staff meeting of the newspaper? It’s this afternoon, you know.”

  “I know,” Trixie answered, “but we’re going with Moms to see Dr. Ferris. Bobby has to have his checkup. He said he wouldn’t go unless Honey and I came, too.”

  “Would you explain to the others why we can’t make it?” Honey said sweetly. “And let us know if we have any assignments for the next issue.”

  “Your wish is my command,” Mart said, bowing low and making a sweeping motion with his arm. “Now that you mention it, I do remember something about a visit to the good Dr. Ferris being bruited about at the breakfast table this morning.”

  Mart gave Trixie an affectionate pat on the head—which he knew she hated—and disappeared into the school building. The late fall sun had sunk even lower, and Trixie again tried to find the Belden station wagon among the cars and buses parked in front of the school.

  “There they are!” Honey shouted suddenly, and the girls dashed over to the car.

  Helen Belden waved and smiled as she saw them approach. Then she turned to six-year-old Bobby Belden who was sitting in the back seat. His chubby, angelic face had a very gloomy expression on it. He didn’t even perk up when Honey stuck her head in the window to plant a kiss on his mop of blond curls.

  “I’m glad you took so long,” Bobby said, thrusting out his lower lip. “Now maybe I missed my appointment with the doctor.”

  “Not quite,” Mrs. Belden said, with a wink. “We still have plenty of time. Hop in, girls.”

  Trixie and Honey settled themselves in the back seat on either side of the grumpy little boy. Mrs. Belden started the engine, but before she could pull away from the crowded curb, the car was suddenly surrounded by three students wearing matching red jackets. Cross-stitched on the back of each jacket were the letters B.W.G.

  “Oh no,” Helen Belden moaned. “What next!”

  She smiled affectionately at the sight of her handsome, seventeen-year-old son Brian who was with two of his friends—Diana Lynch and Jim Fray ne.

  Jim’s full name was James Winthrop Frayne III. When his eccentric uncle died a few years before, he left Jim a half-million dollars in trust. But Jim was then living with his cruel stepfather, Jonesy, who wanted to steal Jim’s inheritance. Trixie had helped Jim get away from Jonesy. Then Honey’s parents adopted Jim, and now Jim was saving his inheritance to open a school for homeless boys.

  “We just wanted to give Bobby a special Bob-White send-off, and tell him that he has to try and be very, very good at Dr. Ferris’s office,” Brian said cheerfully. He reached in the window and tousled Bobby’s hair.

  “Now remember, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Jim said. “Dr. Ferris is the one who keeps us well, and helps us get better if we get sick.”

  “That’s right,” Di chimed in. Diana Lynch, who preferred to be called Di, was known as the prettiest girl in school. She had shiny black hair, and her violet eyes were fringed with long, black lashes. When her family had been poor, they�
�d lived in a small apartment on Main Street. However, after her father became rich, they moved to a big estate on Glen Road. The Lynch estate was not far from the Manor House where the Wheelers lived or from the Belden family’s home, Crabapple Farm.

  The young people were all members of a club called the Bob-Whites of the Glen, or B.W.G.’s for short. They formed the semisecret club both to have fun and to help others. There were seven members altogether: Trixie, Mart, and Brian Belden; Honey Wheeler and her adopted brother, Jim Frayne; Di Lynch; and Dan Mangan. Dan was the only Bob-White who didn’t go to Sleepyside Junior-Senior High School. The nephew of Bill Regan, the Wheelers’ groom, Dan had come to live in Sleepyside and work with Mr. Maypenny, the Wheelers’ gamekeeper.

  All the Bob-Whites had agreed that other people could know about their club, but not about the good deeds they did. The one absolute rule of the club was that the dues they paid had to be earned through their own work. It wasn’t always easy, but they managed.

  “If you children don’t let me pull away from this curb,” Mrs. Belden said, “there won’t be any reason to give Bobby a send-off. At this rate we’ll be late and, what’s more, you’ll miss your school bus and have to walk home. Now get along with you.”

  She waved her hand at them as if she were shooing chickens, and then drove the car out onto the road heading south to the doctor’s office. In a few minutes, they arrived, pulled into a parking space, and piled out of the car. Bobby hung back, but before he could say a word, Honey scooped him up into her arms and kissed him on the side of his neck. He giggled and squirmed as Honey carried him up the steps.

  “Kissing tickles!” he shrieked as they stepped into the waiting room.

  “Good,” Honey said. “At least you’re laughing, right?”

  Dr. Ferris poked his head out of the examination room when he heard the door-chime.

  “You’d make a good doctor, Miss Wheeler,” he said as he watched Honey play with Bobby Belden. “You know how to keep the patients laughing, and that’s almost as important as the rest of the work doctors do!”

  “Oh, Doctor Ferris,” Honey said. “That’s kind of you to say, but I truly doubt it.”

  “Master Bobby Belden,” Dr. Ferris said loudly, “could that be you? Step right this way. Why, you seem to have grown the unbelievable amount of three feet in six months! We’d better measure you. It could be that I’m looking at the fastest-growing boy in the United States!”

  Bobby reluctantly slid off his chair, and, holding Honey’s hand tightly, he followed his mother and big sister into the examination room.

  Bobby was a very “brave boy” while the doctor examined him. When the checkup was over, Bobby heaved a gigantic sigh of relief and announced that he didn’t need to hold Honey’s hand anymore.

  Only then did Dr. Ferris turn his attention away from his little patient, and address the two girls.

  “You know, girls,” he said, looking at them over the tops of his bifocals, “I have a patient who needs a little help and I was hoping you two could lend a hand.”

  He glanced briefly at Mrs. Belden and then continued.

  “Mrs. De Keyser, who lives about a mile away from you on Glen Road, slipped and broke her arm the other day. For the next couple of weeks she’s going to have a hard time doing some chores. She doesn’t need to hire a private nurse—her condition isn’t that bad—but she needs a little light work done for her. Do you think you two could handle it?”

  “Of course,” Trixie burst out. “It wouldn’t be any problem at all!”

  “Think before you make any promises,” Mrs. Belden said, eyeing her enthusiastic daughter. “Remember, you’re supposed to be studying for the Eastern Regional Spelling Contest, and you have homework.”

  “Gleeps, Moms, I know all that,” Trixie said. “But I always have some time to help someone out, don’t I?”

  “Yes, I suppose you always do,” Mrs. Belden said with a proud smile.

  “If we both help, it’ll be easy,” Honey offered. “We can get the school bus driver to let us off at Mrs. De Keyser’s house after school.”

  “And we were going to study for the spelling contest together anyway,” Trixie said. “We can test each other while we work. So this won’t interfere at all.”

  “I knew I could count on you girls,” Dr. Ferris said. He finished jotting down a few notes on Bobby’s record, and then stood up.

  “Isn’t Mrs. De Keyser the one who lives next to the new antique store that just opened on Glen Road?” Trixie asked, as she helped Bobby put on his coat. “We always see it as we go by on the school bus. We’ve been wanting to stop in and have a look.”

  “That’s her,” Dr. Ferris replied. “The store is called The Antique Barn, I believe, and it’s right next door to Mrs. De Keyser’s house.”

  “Well, now we’ll get a chance to look at all the antiques,” Honey said hopefully. “Should we stop by Mrs. De Keyser’s house this afternoon, or do you think it can wait until tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow will be just fine. I’ll tell her to expect you,” Dr. Ferris said, ushering them out the door. “And, Bobby, I want you to keep right on eating all that good food your mother makes for you, and grow up big and strong.”

  “Like your sister, right?” Trixie giggled and made a small muscle in her arm.

  “Superman!” Bobby yelled, as he jumped down the three steps of the doctor’s office and ran ahead to the car.

  Trixie and Honey climbed in after him, and Mrs. Belden backed out of the parking lot. She drove back toward town, and soon they came to Main Street.

  “I have to stop at the market before we go home,” she said. “I’m out of onions. I won’t be long, so why don’t you three just stay in the car and wait for me?”

  But as she was about to pull the car into the one empty space in front of the little grocery store, another car shot in front of her and pulled into the spot. Helen Belden jammed on the brakes and just managed to avoid hitting the other car broadside.

  “Well, of all the nerve,” she said, surprised at the other driver’s behavior. “Oh, well, I guess I’ll just go into that spot across the street.”

  “Who was it, Moms?” Trixie asked.

  “I’m not sure,” her mother answered. “But it doesn’t matter. I’ll be right back, kids.” While they waited in the car, Bobby played the game he loved most when he was with his older brothers. Trixie was not good at the game, but she agreed to play because Bobby had been such a good boy.

  “That’s a Ford!” Bobby yelled as he watched a car go by. “And that’s a Bee-yoo-ick!”

  “You’re absolutely right,” Honey said. She winked at Trixie, and leaned over to whisper in Bobby’s ear.

  “Bobby, when you play this game with us, you’re always right. Do you know why?”

  “Yes,” Bobby said firmly. “Because you don’t know the names of any of the cars and I know all of them, that’s why.”

  “That’s right,” Honey said. “But then how do we know when you’ve made a mistake?”

  “I never make a mistake,” Bobby said, smiling happily.

  “Hey,” Trixie said, tapping Honey on the arm. “Take a look at that car—the one that cut Moms off.”

  She pointed to the sleek maroon foreign sedan that had cut off Mrs. Belden. It was still parked across the street.

  “That’s a Mercedes-Benz! Neat-o,” Bobby said, trying to purse his mouth into a whistle. A lot of air came out, but no whistle.

  Just then, Mrs. Belden came out of the store with her package. She was walking behind a man with his hat pulled down low over his eyes. The collar of his camel’s hair coat was turned up. He hurriedly got into the Mercedes-Benz, and started to back out into the oncoming traffic. Horns honked loudly.

  Mrs. Belden got behind the wheel of the station wagon. “Well, he’s certainly in a big rush,” she said. Her exasperation was evident in the tone of her voice. “He pushed ahead of me at the check-out counter.”

  “Who is that?” asked Trixie.
“Does he live in Sleepyside?”

  “The cashier said he’s the man who just opened The Antique Barn next to Mrs. De Keyser’s house,” Mrs. Belden said, collecting herself.

  “Well, he has a very nice car,” Trixie said, as she watched it drive off into the early dusk. “Looks to me as if a person could make an awful lot of money in the antique business, doesn’t it?”

  “What?” asked Honey. She had not been paying attention.

  “Maybe we ought to consider an annual antique fair to raise money for the Bob-Whites and for UNICEF,” said Trixie. “We did pretty well the last time we tried it.”

  Trixie was thinking about the time the Bob-Whites held a fair not only to raise money for UNICEF, but also to prove to the principal of their school and the members of the school board that they weren’t a “bad” gang. In the course of collecting antiques for the show, they had discovered a mysterious code and a mystery to solve.

  “We made money, Trixie, but not enough to buy a car like that,” Honey answered, with a laugh. “A Mercedes-Benz costs thousands and thousands of dollars!”

  “You know,” Trixie said thoughtfully, “you’re right. I’m willing to bet there’s something funny about that man—and his antique business, too.”

  2 * Trixie and Honey Help Out

  “SCURRILOUS,” Mart said, grinning devilishly. He glanced briefly at the paper in his hand, and then looked at Trixie expectantly.

  “Er, s-c-u-r-r-i-l—is it one I or two?” asked Trixie, as she stumbled onto the school bus and got a seat near the back.

  “One,” Mart said, sliding in behind her. “Start from the beginning again.”

  “Oh, all right. S-c-u-r-r-i-l-o-u-s!” Trixie said.

  Honey, who was sitting next to Trixie, pulled out the word list to check the correct spelling. Both of them were finalists in the local spelling contest. They were studying hard for the Eastern Regional Spelling Contest that would be held in New York City in two weeks. The winner of the Eastern Regional would get a chance at the national competition in Washington, D.C.

  “Fish,” Mart said, with a pompous expression on his face.