“They’ve made a lot of changes, but I guess it would disturb them if we called them so late. They’d be sleeping, and the phone would scare them half out of their wits, that is,” Judy amended, “if they do have a phone now.”
“Want to ride along with me to Dry Brook Hollow?” Horace asked Honey as they were leaving the restaurant.
Honey shook her head. “Not tonight, Horace. Take me home, please. I have to be at work tomorrow, remember? And those designs I’m doing take concentration. I can’t let myself fall asleep over them.”
Holly watched as Horace gave Honey a quick good-night kiss at the door of the apartment building where she lived with her grandparents. “Let’s move into the front seat,” she suggested to Judy. A little later, cuddled in between Judy and Horace, she almost purred with contentment.
“Another complication,” thought Judy. “Holly thinks she’s in love with Horace when he and Honey are practically engaged.” Aloud she said, “It’s too bad Honey didn’t come with us. You’ll be driving back alone.”
“That’s all right,” Horace agreed cheerfully, “I like my own company, especially when I have a lot to think about. I may have made a joke of it, Sis, but I’m just as puzzled as you are. If that is your lady back there in the pond, how did the beavers get hold of her, and where is the rest of the table?”
CHAPTER IX
More Puzzles
Judy was trying to think of an answer to her brother’s question when she noticed the headlights of another car just over the hilltop. It was the last hill before they came down into Dry Brook Hollow.
“It’s the Beetle!” she exclaimed as it slowed down and came to a standstill close by Horace’s car. Judy was surprised to see Blackberry in his usual place next to the back window. Peter was driving.