The Mystery of the Velvet Gown

like to walk in the snow, and....”
    “Honey, slow down!” Trixie cried. “I know I’m just as bad as you are at getting information out sometimes, but what’s wrong ?”
    “Oh, the most awful thing has happened. I just—” By this time, Honey had removed all her snowy outdoor gear, and she and Trixie went into the Beldens’ living room. Everyone greeted Honey warmly, particularly Bobby, who loved to have her visit.
    “How nice to see you, Honey,” Mrs. Belden said. “Please sit down and make yourself at home. We’ll soon be done with the tree.”
    “I’ll help, too,” Honey said.
    Meanwhile, Trixie had been making wild and exasperated gestures, trying to get Honey’s attention. “Honey Wheeler,” she finally demanded. “Will you please stop being polite for five seconds and tell me what this ‘terribly important’ thing is that brought you over here tonight?”
    “Oh,” said Honey, somewhat startled. “That’s right.” Then her tone became serious as she told her news. “You’ll never believe it, Trixie, but Miss Darcy’s father is missing—and Scotland Yard suspects that he’s been kidnapped!“
    “That’s terrible!” Helen Belden cried. “Uh-oh,” Mart warned. “Better watch out, or we’ll all be at Kennedy International waving good-bye to Trixie on her way to give Scotland Yard a helping hand.”
    “Cut it out, Mart,” Trixie said seriously. “This is nothing to joke about.” She turned back to Honey. “Do you know any more details?” she asked.
    “Not really,” Honey replied. “Miss Trask said that Miss Darcy was too upset to talk very much when she called. All I know is that Miss Darcy received a phone call from the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., when she returned from school late this afternoon. Her father has been missing for a week, but they’d been postponing contacting her, in the hope that they would find him quickly.”
    “Did they check with all the hospitals and with any other relatives?” Trixie asked, her detective’s instincts searching out possibilities and explanations. “Has anyone received a ransom note?”
    “Scotland Yard isn’t exactly a small-time operation, Trixie,” Brian said. “I’m sure they’re doing what needs to be done.”
    “That poor young woman,” Mrs. Belden sighed. “She must feel so helpless, being so far away.”
    “Miss Trask told Miss Darcy she’d come and stay with her or she could come and spend the night at our house, but Miss Darcy insisted that she’d be all right,” Honey said as she helped remove ornaments from the tree.
    Trixie began to help again, too. The discussion of the kidnapping continued, with Honey repeating all the information she knew.
    “I don’t mean to change the subject,” Honey interjected, “but this ornament is beautiful.” She held up a delicately painted lamb.
    “That was my grandmother’s,” Helen Belden said. “Be very careful wrapping it. So many of these ornaments have special meanings,” she went on. “Most of them have been passed from generation to generation, like family heirlooms.“
    “Ah, yes,” Mart rhapsodized, holding up a lopsided styrofoam square decorated with a hodgepodge of felt and sequins. “Note the aesthetic excellence of this lovely legacy.”
    “That was Trixie’s first-grade Christmas-project.” Mrs. Belden smiled. “It is lovely, isn’t it?” No one else shared her enthusiasm, and Mart snorted, but Bobby was fascinated.
    “Trixie was in first grade?” he asked with amazement. “Just like me?”
    “Just like you,” Trixie answered. “Brian and Mart were in the first grade at one time, too. In fact, here’s Mart’s first-grade Christmas project.” She giggled, displaying a strange-looking star, covered with glitter and bits of cotton. “It’s just about as ‘lovely’ as mine!”
    Finally, all the ornaments were packed and ready to be put away in the attic until the next Christmas. Brian, Mart, and Mr. Belden took the tree out of its stand and carried it outside to be chopped up for firewood. Honey and Trixie sat down in front of the fire, while Mrs. Belden and Bobby went to the kitchen to make hot chocolate.
    “Trixie,” Honey whispered when everyone had left the room, “I have one more thing I’ve been saving to tell you, but it’s a secret, and you have to promise not to tell a soul.”
    “You know I can keep a secret,” Trixie said.
    “I know you can, Trixie, but I just had to say that, because if Miss