Read The secret of the Mansion for Free Online Page B

can’t live here like this, Jim. It’s perfectly horrible."
    Jim shrugged. "It is pretty dirty, but, after all, Uncle James must have liked it this way so we have no right to change anything without his permission." He munched thoughtfully on a drumstick. "I wonder if he’ll ever get well. If he doesn’t, I’m out of luck."
    "Dad is sure to stop by the hospital on the way home," Trixie said, making a thick sandwich out of a buttered roll and a large slab of white meat. "I’ll bring you the latest news tomorrow morning."
    When they finished lunch, Trixie said excitedly, "I think we ought to start right now searching for the hidden treasure. If Mr. Frayne dies without ever regaining consciousness, nobody’ll ever know where it is."
    "How do you know there is any hidden treasure, Trixie?" Jim teased. "There’s a whole barrelful of bottle tops in the study, if that’s what you mean." Trixie ignored him. "I just have a feeling there’s a ton of money or jewels or something hidden around here. Let’s start looking." She scrambled to her feet.
    "I wouldn’t know where to begin," Honey said doubtfully.
    "Neither would I," Jim agreed. "Although I suppose that big rolltop desk is the most logical place."
    "I don’t think we’ll find it in a logical place," Trixie said. "If I were a miser and were afraid of robbers,
    I’d hide my treasure in the same room where I slept and in the most illogical place imaginable."
    "For instance?" Jim arched his eyebrows dubiously and waited for her to continue.
    "For instance," Trixie retorted, "this pile of old newspapers. No burglar would have the time or the patience to sort through them all, but between the pages would be a swell place to hide a will or stock certificates or even money."
    "You mean there might have been a method in my uncle’s madness?" Jim said, thoughtfully staring at the debris.
    "I wouldn’t go through that pile of filthy papers for anything," Honey said firmly. "It’s probably crawling with roaches. I agree with Jim. The desk is the place to look."
    But Trixie had already started riffling through the yellow sheets of faded newsprint. Jim and Honey watched her for a moment and then went into the study to search the desk. After a while, they called out that the desk was locked and that the chest of drawers contained nothing but a few acorns apparently left there by squirrels.
    Jim refused to break the lock of the desk without his uncle’s permission. "I keep thinking those bottle tops may be worth something," he said deridingly as they joined Trixie in the living room. Trixie worked on and on, and pretty soon they caught some of her enthusiasm and set to work on the other two stacks, which contained many old magazines and pamphlets.
    Trixie was nearing the bottom of her pile, and she was hot and dusty and discouraged. She was about to admit that she had been wrong when she came across a thick Sunday edition which was more neatly folded than any of the others. The newspaper was so old that it tore apart at the creases when she tried to unfold it, and a large, green-tinged brass key fell out at her feet.
    "Oh, joy!" she cried triumphantly. "I’ll bet this fits a treasure chest. Now all we have to do is find the chest."
    Jim examined the key carefully. "It looks more like an old-fashioned door key to me," he said. "But I can’t imagine why Uncle James hid it under that pile of papers."
    They tried the front, back, and side doors unsuccessfully, and in the end Jim dropped the key into his silver mug. "It may fit a closet or something in one of the upstairs rooms," he said. "But we can’t go up there. The staircase is boarded up, you know."
    "We could climb in through one of the windows," Trixie interrupted, but Jim shook his head.
    "I don’t like to do that," he said soberly. "This is my uncle’s home, not mine. He must have boarded up the top floors for some good reason of his own." They were all staring at the ceiling, wondering what could be up there and why