The Mystery of the Hidden Painting Read online

  Suddenly, Jessie said, “Look! I didn’t notice this yesterday.” She pointed to a small card on the lower part of the case. She read out loud, “Donated by Mrs. Lorraine Newton.”

  “What does that word donated mean?” Benny asked.

  “It means that the necklace was given as a gift to the museum by Mrs. Newton,” Henry said.

  “Who is she?” Benny asked.

  “Mrs. Lorraine Newton is a very important person in Elmford,” Mr. Mason said. “She is a very wealthy and well-known woman here.”

  “And the necklace is hers?” Violet asked.

  “Well, it was hers, until she very generously gave it to the museum. That was many years ago,” Mr. Mason said. “Really, that’s all I can tell you.”

  Aunt Jane said, “I’m sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Mason. I guess it’s time we left.” She guided the children out of the museum.

  In the car driving home, Aunt Jane said, “I know what you are all thinking. You want to visit Mrs. Newton, but I don’t think you can do that. The necklace must have been hers. You can’t just go and ask her a lot of questions.”

  “Not a lot,” Henry said. “Just a few.”

  “I don’t know,” Aunt Jane said.

  “We can’t go home without talking to Mrs. Newton,” Jessie said. “We just can’t.”

  “I doubt that she’ll even see you,” Aunt Jane said.

  “Can’t we try?” Jessie asked.

  Aunt Jane laughed. “Well, I do admit you are the most determined children I’ve ever known. You get it from your grandfather. All right, but don’t bother the poor woman longer than a few minutes.”

  Aunt Jane looked at Henry who was sitting next to her. The other children were in the backseat. “Henry, you keep looking at the side mirror. Is there something bothering you?”

  Henry didn’t take his eyes off the mirror. “Aunt Jane, someone is following us.”

  Jessie, Benny, and Violet immediately turned around and looked out of the back window. Benny was now kneeling on the seat.

  “Henry, what an imagination you have,” Aunt Jane said. “Why would anyone want to follow us?”

  “I think it’s Mr. Mason,” Jessie said, staring out of the window.

  “Oh, Jessie,” Aunt Jane said, laughing. “You’ve been playing detective too many times. Mr. Mason would have no reason to follow us.”

  “Aunt Jane,” Henry said, “just to test him, make a right turn at the corner.”

  Aunt Jane turned the car, and the car behind turned right, too.

  “See,” Benny said, “he turned, too. He is following us.”

  Aunt Jane laughed. “Well, maybe the man wanted to go right because he lives near here. I’m going back to the main road and I’m going to take you all to Kenniston Park. It’s wonderful there. We’ll rent a boat and go rowing, and we’ll eat there, too. Maybe it will take your minds off the necklace. I hope it will.”

  But the children all kept looking at the car behind them. When they left Elmford and were riding toward Kenniston, the car behind them disappeared.

  “See,” Aunt Jane said cheerfully. “It’s gone.”

  “Yes,” Henry agreed. “But it only turned off when we left Elmford.”

  When they got to Kenniston Park, they went to the lake, where Aunt Jane rented the largest rowboat. The Aldens sat two by two opposite each other, and Aunt Jane sat in the back. Violet and Jessie rowed together and then Benny and Henry. Aunt Jane trailed her hand in the cool water and watched the Aldens pulling on the oars. All of them loved every minute and they were all able to forget about the necklace.

  Then they walked to a food stand in the park and bought hot dogs and bags of potato chips and sodas. They sat on the grass by the lake while they ate.

  “Mrs. McGregor wouldn’t approve of us eating this kind of dinner,” Violet said, smiling.

  “Well,” Aunt Jane said, “I don’t like eating junk food either, but it can’t hurt once in a while.”

  They finished their food and sat quietly watching the sky darken, and lights come on in the park. Music came from somewhere in the distance. Benny fell asleep with his head in Jessie’s lap. When it was time to leave, Henry carried him to the car. The Aldens all agreed it had been a wonderful night. But every now and then, Jessie and Violet and Henry each thought of the sparkling sapphire necklace in the display case in the now dark museum.

  CHAPTER 6

  Another Strange Visit

  The next morning Aunt Jane was out in the garden cutting flowers while the Aldens ate breakfast. “We have to see Mrs. Newton this morning,” Jessie said. “Soon Grandfather will want us to come home. I know he misses us.”

  Violet said, “We’ll have to call her first.”

  “I don’t know,” Henry said, thoughtfully. “Maybe we should just go without calling her.”

  Violet shook her head. “It isn’t polite to do that,” she said.

  “Well, it isn’t polite for her to have our grandmother’s necklace, either,” Benny said firmly.

  Jessie and Henry laughed and even Violet had to smile. “You know, Benny’s right,” Henry said.

  They finished their breakfast of cold cereal, buttered toast with jam, and milk, and went upstairs to dress. “We all have to look spic-and-span,” Jessie said. “So we can impress Mrs. Newton with what nice children we are.”

  Jessie and Violet both put on flowered skirts and blouses. Jessie’s was sparkling white and Violet’s lavender. Benny and Henry wore khaki pants and white shirts. When they came downstairs, Aunt Jane was arranging her flowers.

  “I can guess where you’re going,” she said. “But did you call Mrs. Newton?”

  Jessie and Henry exchanged a guilty look. “We thought we’d just go. Just for a few minutes,” he added quickly. “We won’t stay long.”

  Aunt Jane smiled. “I know I shouldn’t agree, but just promise you won’t stay long.”

  “Absolutely,” Jessie said.

  “Positively,” Benny added.

  The Aldens followed the directions Aunt Jane gave them to Mrs. Newton’s house. They gasped when they arrived. The house was three stories high with big columns at the front and a circular driveway leading up to it. There were beautiful rosebushes on either side. The Aldens rode up, left their bikes in the grass, and rang the doorbell. A woman opened the door and looked at the Aldens. Her face was unsmiling. She was silent for a moment.

  “Yes?” she finally said.

  Jessie looked at her sister and brothers and then said, “I’m Jessie Alden. These are my brothers and my sister. We wondered if we could talk to Mrs. Lorraine Newton. Are you her?”

  “No,” the woman answered. “I’m her daughter, Laura Newton Garrison. My mother is out on the back patio. Follow me. We’ve been expecting you.”

  Inside the house, Violet asked, “You’ve been expecting us?”

  “Yes,” Laura Garrison said. “Mr. Mason called yesterday and said that you had been at the museum, asking a lot of questions. He was sure you would pay us a visit.”

  Mrs. Garrison led the Aldens through a large living room out onto a sunny patio. A white-haired woman in a flowered summer dress was sitting stiffly in a green wicker chair. She looked at the Alden children coldly.

  “Tell me what you want,” she ordered.

  Once again, the Aldens told the tale of the necklace. “I don’t have the drawing I made,” Violet said. “Mr. Mason said someone must have thrown it away. So you can’t see just what we mean. But … ”

  Benny looked at Mrs. Newton and said, “Our grandfather would be so happy if we could find his necklace and give it—”

  Laura Garrison interrupted Benny and looked at her mother. “Mother, maybe we should—” There was a sad tone to her voice.

  “Laura!” Mrs. Newton said, as if she were warning her daughter.

  “You children have been imagining this whole necklace story. It is definitely not your grandmother’s. I know it. The necklace has been in my family for generations. It has bee
n handed down from one generation to another.”

  “What’s a generation?” Benny whispered to Henry.

  “I’ll tell you later,” Henry replied.

  Laura looked at her mother again. “Mother, I think it is time—”

  “I think it is time,” Mrs. Newton said, “for these children to have some juice and then go home.” She remained unsmiling. She leaned forward and poured a glass of grape juice from a pitcher on the table in front of her. She handed a glass to each of the Aldens. When she reached over to give Jessie hers, it slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground. Drops of the purple juice splattered all over Jessie’s white blouse.

  “Oh,” Jessie cried out. She stood up and wiped at her blouse. Somehow, she felt this had not been an accident.

  Mrs. Newton handed Jessie a napkin and said, “I think you should go home and wash your shirt immediately. That will get the stains out.”

  “But the necklace,” Violet said. “What about … ”

  Mrs. Newton stood up. “My dear child, the necklace was mine. I gave it to the museum. That’s the end of the story. You must simply give up your silly ideas. We have talked about this enough.”

  The children all stood. “Thank you for seeing us,” Henry said.

  Mrs. Newton nodded. “I hope you will all go back to Greenfield now and forget about this.”

  Laura led the Aldens to the front hall. “I know my mother can be rather cold sometimes. She doesn’t mean to be. She really doesn’t.”

  Jessie stopped at a mirror over a table in the hall and looked in to see how stained her shirt was. She glanced down at the table and saw an unopened envelope. It was addressed to Mrs. Lorraine Newton, but the return address was a Mrs. Susan Barstow at 1600 Hudson Lane in Silver City. Silver City was the town next to Greenfield.

  Jessie didn’t say anything to the other Aldens about the letter she’d seen. She wanted to think about it first. When they reached Aunt Jane’s they told her about Mrs. Newton.

  “Well,” Aunt Jane said, “I guess that is that. The necklace must belong to Mrs. Newton.”

  Violet nodded. “I guess you’re right. I think we should call Grandfather and tell him we are coming home tomorrow. I miss him a lot.”

  Aunt Jane agreed. “I’ll be sorry to see you all go, but I think Violet is right. You should go home.”

  Henry frowned. “I hate to go like this. I guess this will just have to be one mystery we aren’t going to solve. It sure is a disappointment!”

  Jessie called Mr. Alden. When she hung up she was smiling. “He sounded so happy that we were coming home. He said he’d tell Watch to expect us, too.”

  The next day they all kissed Aunt Jane good-bye. “Call me and let me know you got home safely,” she said to them at the bus stop.

  “We will,” Benny promised.

  At home Grandfather welcomed them. He had left his mill early so that he could meet his grandchildren at the Greenfield bus stop. He drove them to the house and they all sat outside in the late afternoon sun, drinking lemonade. Watch ran from one child to the other, nuzzling their hands, happy to have his family around.

  “Tell me what you did at Aunt Jane’s,”Grandfather said.

  The children exchanged a quick look.

  “Well,” Benny said, “we swung in an old tire at the pond.”

  “We went to Kenniston Park,” Violet carefully said.

  “And we went to the museum,” Jessie added.

  “Twice,” Benny said.

  Mr. Alden looked impressed. “I think that’s fine, having that much of an interest in the Elmford Museum.”

  “It certainly was interesting,” Benny said, smiling.

  When Mrs. McGregor called them in for dinner, Mr. Alden said, “I want you to stop in the living room first and see something.”

  When they reached the door of the room, Violet gasped. “Look!”

  Over the mantelpiece was their grandmother’s portrait. “I thought it was time to put it up again,” Mr. Alden said. “Even though I don’t have the necklace, I do have the picture. We should enjoy it.”

  “I wish we had the necklace, too,” Benny said.

  “So do I,” Grandfather said in agreement. “So do I.”

  CHAPTER 7

  No More Clues?

  The next afternoon the children were in the boxcar, playing Monopoly. Suddenly Jessie put the dice down. “I have something to tell you,” she said.

  “What?” Benny shouted. “It sounds like another mystery.”

  “It’s the same mystery,” Jessie said. “Do you remember when we were leaving Mrs. Newton’s, I stopped to look in the mirror?”

  “I remember,” Violet answered.

  “Well,” Jessie continued. “There was a letter on the table under the mirror. It was addressed to Mrs. Newton, but the return address was a Mrs. Susan Barstow in Silver City.”

  “That’s right near here,” Henry said. “But I don’t see what’s so strange about that. What are you thinking?”

  Jessie shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seemed funny to me. Mrs. Newton getting a letter from a place so near here.”

  “I don’t follow you, Jessie,” Henry said. “What do you want to do?”

  “I thought, maybe, we could just bike ride over there and well … ”

  “Do what?” Violet asked.

  “Just look at the house, I guess,” Jessie answered.

  “What are you looking for?” Benny asked.

  “I just can’t believe we are at a dead end,” Jessie said. “Maybe we’ll see something at Mrs. Barstow’s. I don’t know what. But it can’t hurt to look.”

  “I guess it can’t hurt,” Violet agreed.

  “Let’s go!” Benny said.

  They ran up to the house and into the kitchen where Mrs. McGregor was making spaghetti sauce. “We’re going for a bike ride,” Jessie said.

  Mrs. McGregor looked away from the pot she was stirring. “Be careful and don’t be late for dinner.”

  “We won’t,” Henry said.

  “Was that a lie?” Benny asked, as they all took their bikes from the garage.

  “No, it wasn’t, Benny. We are going for a bike ride,” Henry said.

  “We just didn’t say where we’re going,” Violet said.

  “And Mrs. McGregor didn’t ask, so that’s okay,” Henry added.

  “Okay,” Benny said.

  They rode along, enjoying the warm sun and the fresh smells of summer grass. When they got to Silver City they stopped and asked a policeman the way to 1600 Hudson Lane. It was small and white with blue shutters and a neat little garden in front. The Aldens stopped behind a hedge to the left of the house and got off their bikes.

  “Now that we’re here,” Henry said, “what are we looking for?”

  Jessie said, “I guess I really don’t know. I just didn’t want to give up.”

  They waited for five minutes, but no one came out of the house. “I’m bored,” Benny said.

  Violet laughed. “At least you’re not hungry.”

  “I’m hungry, too,” Benny said, smiling mischievously.

  Just then a car pulled up. “Look!” Jessie whispered.

  Laura Garrison walked up the path to the house and rang the bell. The door opened and she went inside.

  “I wonder what she’s doing here?” Violet said.

  “Well, if Mrs. Barstow writes to Mrs. Newton, Laura might know her, too. So it’s not so strange if she visits Mrs. Barstow,” Henry said.

  They waited silently, watching the house.

  Finally, Laura Garrison came out. The Aldens couldn’t see who was in the doorway, but a woman’s voice was loud enough for them to hear. “I will never agree to what you want, Laura. Never!”

  “I think you’re wrong, Susan—you and my mother,” Laura replied.

  Then she went back to her car and drove away.

  “What do you suppose that meant?” Jessie said, thoughtfully.

  “I don’t think we’ll ever know,” Henry
answered. “Let’s go home.”

  “Maybe we should talk to Mrs. Barstow?” Jessie said.

  “Jessie, what would you say to her?” Violet asked.

  “I don’t know. I just hate to go without talking to her,” Jessie said.

  Henry frowned slightly. “Chances are Mrs. Garrison is just a friend of this Mrs. Barstow. Nothing more than that. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

  Jessie shook her head, disagreeing. “Then why did she shout at Mrs. Garrison and say, ‘I will never agree to what you want’?”

  “That didn’t sound very friendly to me,” Benny said.

  The Aldens stood in silence for a few minutes. Then Henry said, “Well if we did go in, what would you ask her?”

  “I’d just ask if she knew anything about the necklace,” Jessie answered.

  “How can we just go up and ring her bell? We don’t even know her,” Violet said. “That’s very rude.”

  “We went to Mrs. Newton without calling,” Benny reminded them.

  “Right,” Violet said, “and I thought that wasn’t polite, either.”

  Jessie looked so downcast that Violet touched her arm and said, “All right, Jessie, we’ll do it.”

  A smile lit up Jessie’s face. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll do all the talking.”

  The children went up the walk to Mrs. Barstow’s house and rang the bell. Soon a tall, thin woman with dark brown hair opened the door. She smiled and said, “I’m sorry but I’ve bought all the cookies I can manage to eat in the next year.”

  Benny looked at her in awe. “You have?”

  “Excuse me, Mrs. Barstow, but we aren’t selling anything. I wondered if we could talk to you for just a few minutes?” Jessie asked politely.

  Susan Barstow looked surprised. “About what?” she asked.

  “About our grandmother’s necklace,” Benny said quickly.

  The smile left Susan Barstow’s face. “What necklace?” she asked.

  Violet asked shyly, “Couldn’t we come in for just a little while?”

  Mrs. Barstow thought for a minute and then said, “Just for a few minutes. But I can tell you right away that I don’t know anything about any necklace.”