To My Granddaughter Tina
On Her Tenth Birthday
With the Gift of the Green Doll
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE I [“Tourists Welcome”] 1 II [The Talking Tree] 9 III [A Puzzling Robbery] 17 IV [A Startling Experiment] 23 V [An Urgent Request] 30 VI [An Empty Pocketbook] 38 VII [More Puzzles] 46 VIII [The Wonders of Magic] 52 IX [A Strange Mistake] 60 X [Another Voice?] 66 XI [At the Caretaker’s Cottage] 73 XII [The Game of Secrets] 79 XIII [Too Many Clues] 89 XIV [The Missing Jade] 96 XV [Secrets of the East] 103 XVI [The Missing Children] 108 XVII [More Secrets] 118 XVIII [Sita Speaks] 125 XIX [More Revelations] 133 XX [The Statue Commands] 143 XXI [Under the Vault] 152 XXII [Blackberry’s Discovery] 160 XXIII [Stage Magic] 167 XXIV [Real Magic] 171
The Trail of the Green Doll
CHAPTER I
“Tourists Welcome”
“It looks nice, doesn’t it, Judy?”
Honey was surveying with pride the sign she had just finished lettering. “TOURISTS WELCOME,” it said. That was all. But the sign was in the shape of an arrow. It pointed toward the private road that crossed Dry Brook and continued on through the beech grove and up a little hill to the house Judy had inherited from her grandparents. It was a simple farmhouse with a wide front porch. Never, until this moment, had it been known as a tourist home.
“It looks beautiful,” Judy agreed. “I wonder who our first tourist will be. This is going to be exciting. Wait till Peter hears—”