“Yes,” continued Gloria, “the top of that trunk was covered if not filled with the queerest materials——”
“Oh! Whoozy-boozy! How mysterious! No skeletons?”
“Quite the opposite. A perfect glitter of gems——”
“Gloria Doane! And you have never told me we are harboring a pirate’s daughter! Gems!”
“At least they looked like gems,” went on the imperturbable Gloria. “Of course, I was all a-flutter and couldn’t possibly inspect,” (this with an air of real importance) “but I did manage to lay hold of an envelope.”
“Glo! An envelope! With the pirate’s address!”
“Are they so careless as to leave addresses lying around loose like that? I thought they always used secret codes, made with pieces of string and rusty nails scattered in a long, long trail.”
“Of course. How stupid of me. The envelope was full of rusty spikes.”
Gloria twisted herself away with an air of finality until Trixy seized her. “Go ahead,” she implored. “Go right straight ahead. This suspense is killing me. What was the glitter and what did the envelope say about the secret?”
“You know, Trix, I really was a bit scared. You were off gallivanting, and there I was all alone, with a strange trunk full of mysteriously glittering stuff. How did I know who might rush in and accuse me.”