Research Holp

Notes for #12 The Mystery of the Blinking Eye © 1963, 2005
Page #	Quote
5	Trixie Belden, fourteen, hurried from the taxicab that had taken them to Idlewild Airport. Her sandy curls, damp from the heat of midsummer. Honey: "I've already charged the cab to Daddy. Daddy gave Jim and me a credit card." Trixie: "You know Bob and Barbara and Ned have never been in New York before."
6	Jim: "You seem to forget that Ned is the same age as Brian and I. A person of sixteen can take care of himself." Mart: "Bob and Barbara are fifteen like me, so Bob's no baby either." Dan: "Don't think I wasn't envious of the good times you had there (Happy Valley) when I was studying hard back in Sleepyside. Even if I did make up my grades so I could stay in the same class with Mart, the brain."
7	Mart: "Boy, do we always follow Trixie like a pack of geese! Why do we always pirouette to her peremptory Pied Piper piping?" Di: "Just listen to him! Isn't he smart?" her violet eyes widening
8	After a few days in New York, the Iowans expected to go on to Maine to visit relatives, then hoped to stay a while in Sleepyside. Mr. Wheeler kept a large apartment in New York to entertain business friends and so he and Mrs. Wheeler could stay overnight when attending the theater or opera. He had turned the apartment over to the young people. He had arranged for additional quarters across the hall. Miss Trask, the Wheelers' house manager, would stay in the apartment with the dual purpose of acting as chaperone and visiting her sister who was an invalid in a New York hospital.
9	Di: "I love New York! I love to walk down Fifth Avenue and stop in all the fabulous stores." Trixie: "Do you remember what Daddy said to those men who were in Sleepyside for his bankers' convention? He told them if they stayed a week in New York they'd see everything; if they stayed a month they'd see some of the things they wanted to see, but if they intended to live in the city they'd never see anything." Trixie: "That woman who is sitting on the bench near the door. I noticed her when we came in. I think she's in some kind of trouble.
10	Trixie sat down next to the foreign-looking woman and took her hand. The gray-haired woman in a black dress. "I'm lost! I miss my plane to Mexico City. What I do? Everyone look at me. No one help." Trixie: "Maybe there is something I can do." Mexican lady: "I tell fortunes. I not a crook. Police say I'm a crook and have to get out. I buy ticket to my home in Mexico City, come here to wait for airplane. It never come."
11	Mexican lady: "I no like all these boys. I like you." Trixie: "I'll go with you alone."
12	Trixie deposited her companion near the proper flight gate in the Aeronaves building. Mexican lady: "I give you pretty purse for pretty girl."
14	Mexican lady: "Use it right away. Don't wait! It is more than purse. It is great fortune." A tall, dark boy with a crew cut (Ned Schulz), a pretty, black-haired girl (Barbara Hubbell), a boy who looked amazingly like her (her twin Bob) came down the corridor.
15	They crowded into seats back of the bus driver. "Here we are now at East Side Terminal." Two cabs took them from the terminal to the apartment house on Central Park West.
16	The boys went across the hall to the other apartment, and the girls to the pretty bedrooms they were to occupy in the Wheeler apartment. Jim: "Miss Trask works overtime at keeping out of sight, and the truth is she's never in our way. She's never yet disapproved of anything Honey or I have done." Honey: "Miss Trask said her sister is getting better but still has to stay in the hospital quite a while to recuperate. She had an operation. Miss Trask stays there every day and comes back here to be with us at night."
17	Mart: "Miss Trask calls our intrepid sister 'Unpredictable Trixie.'"
18	Barbara: "Trixie, you should write your autobiography right away. I think they'd even make a movie of all your adventures!"
21	Trixie: "If you want to go to the Automat, Bob, we'll go there for breakfast some time. There's one on Times Square." Barbara: "How wonderfully wonderful!"
22	Trixie: "Don't you think they will like to go to that French restaurant on Fifty-seventh Street for dinner." The girls walked south along Central Park West, then turned on one of the side streets to go around the block.
23	Trixie paused in front of the window of a small antique store. Trixie: "I've never seen anything like that queer little statue. It's carved wood. It's so ugly it's darling!"
24	At Trixie's request the man, swarthy and dark, took the small image from the window. Trixie: "What is it supposed to be?" Man: "Some kind of an Incan idol, I guess. I'm just staying in the shop for my friend."
27	The young people rounded Central Park and approached Columbus Circle.
29	Barbara: "Is this a nightclub?" Honey: "I've never been to a nightclub." Jim: "The Frenchman and his wife who own this call it a 'family restaurant.' Madame Geronne supervises all the cooking." Mart: "It's a good thing you've been taking so much French, Honey."
31	Trixie: "Shall we walk back?" Dan: "But around Central Park, not through it. Stick close together! It's dangerous at night!"
32	Jim: "Get a load of those queer characters at the next window … that little guy with the scar!" Jim herded everyone into the lobby. Then he inserted his key in the door that opened to the elevator entrance to the apartments.
34	Jim: "I never underestimate any idea Trixie has."
36	Trixie picked up the straw bag, stretched the top to open it, and looked inside. Trixie: "There's a coin purse in it. Why, there's a folded paper here. Look at it, Honey. What language is it?" Honey: "Spanish, I think." Trixie: "Do you know any Spanish, Honey?" Honey: "Very little, I can recognize a word here and there."
37	Honey: "I know now why my mother and father are always telling me I should know one foreign language fairly well." Trixie: "That's because you'll probably go to Europe with them soon."
38	Honey: "Miss Trask speaks Spanish as well as she does English."
40	Great-headed man, with blinking eye, A shaded road, a horse's cry, Foreign words for all to hear, First clue is now so very near. Watch out for thieves, they're everywhere, At home, on island, dead beasts' lair. Where shines a beacon 'cross the sky Beware, great danger lurks close by. Be not mislead by evening's fun,
41	A villain's work is never done. When guitars play, thieves linger 'round But not till later are they found. Twin rails of steel, a trembling square, Watch close, you'll see the guilty pair. A lonesome journey, gleaming gun, Foolish girl, what have you done? Great-headed man does prostrate lie, A bright stone in his gleaming eye. All is not lost, though, little friend, Rejoice, for peril, danger end. Near silver wings, past river's bend, Fortune is yours, fit for a king. And hearts of little children sing.
42	Miss Trask: "That woman was no common fortune-teller." Trixie: "That's what I tried to tell all of you."
43	Trixie: "I'm not going to tell one soul about it, unless, maybe — well, if we have to, we can tell Jim." Honey: "You'll end up by telling all the Bob-Whites. I know you, Trixie."
44	Ned: "I've never ridden back of a horse; just on one." Honey: "I have never been in a hansom cab in Central Park in all my life." Trixie: "Neither have we — not any of the Beldens." Dan: "My budget didn't run to cabs when I lived in the city — unless I could catch a ride on the back end of one." Ned: "You must have had a wonderful life, turned loose in New York."
45	Dan: "An orphan on the streets is not a person for anyone to envy. Life wasn't too bad when my mother was alive. We were poor, but I don't remember minding that at all. After my mom died, it was tough going till my uncle showed up. I don't think I'll ever get over wondering why they let me into their club … I sure did get in with a bad bunch of kids here in the city. I never want to see any of them again. They're down around the Bowery and the water front." Brian: "We'd better collect the hansom cabs. They'll be down on the Fifty-ninth Street Plaza." Trixie telephoned her mother. Her young brother Bobby, age six, answered. "Moms is out in the garden watering her flowers. Mrs. Wheeler and Diana's mother are with her."
46	Bobby: "They came here for coffee this morning." The Irish drivers turned (the hansom) around and followed the edge of the park to the Seventy-second Street entrance.
47	One of the drivers, the older one, a round-faced gentleman in his sixties, had been driving a hansom cab for years. "I used drive for Mrs. Andrew Carnegie."
49	Brian: "Do you think we could leave the cabs here, driver, and go over to the pond to look at the boats? I've only been there once before, Bob."
50	Trixie: "Uncle Andrew gave you a sailboat when we came here before. It was becalmed and you were furious."
52	Jim: "We'll go out of the park at Seventy-ninth Street, down Fifth Avenue, and back into the park at the zoo."
53	Two rough-looking men shot out of the park and caught the horse's reins.
60	Trixie: "Jim, you think there's some sense to it, don't you?" Jim: "I didn't at first. Say, Trixie … it's terrific!"
62	Miss Trask: "I can see what is going to happen from now on. Trixie Belden, you'll actually wish those awful things into happening."
64	Miss Trask: "I'm quite encouraged about my sister. I'm reading to her now." Trixie: "One of the girls at Winterset High, when I was visiting in Iowa told me that the little Trick or Treaters raised nearly two hundred dollars."
65	Trixie: "One of the girls who used to go to Sleepyside High is a guide her (United Nations), Betsy Tucker." Di: "I wonder what qualifications are needed to be a guide."
70	Brian: "Maybe I'd have a bigger challenge helping with world health projects than I would helping you with your school for boys, Jim."
71	Jim: "Maybe you can do that for a while, then help me later. Maybe I, too, could work to better advantage in a larger field." Trixie: "Why, Jim Frayne, you've always said: You have to make small beginnings to accomplish big things."
76	A short, dark-haired man with deep olive skin. The man was beautifully dressed and very important-looking. Trixie imagined he was someone of consequence in his own country.
78	Honey: "I didn't trust him from the minute I saw him. Trixie, he wants your statue for some reason or other. Don't ask me why I think so. I don't believe, though, that you've seen the last of him."
79	Honey: "You always say 'ask Jim.' Even if he is my brother, I don't think he's all-wise."
80	Trixie blushed to the roots of her sandy hair. She hadn't any idea that her complete reliance on Jim was so obvious. Trixie: "Brian's pretty smart, too. You think so, too, don't you, Honey?" It was Honey's turn to blush now.
82	Honey: "Trixie has a won't of iron when she makes up her mind."
84	Ned: "About the only think I can do when I get home is to join the police force and get to work." Brian: "How about us guys going to Lou Tannen's Magic Shop?"
85	Brian: "You can put on a magic show after dinner back in the apartment. See if you can find some of those card tricks you used at my birthday party, Mart."
86	Mart: "Mart, the Mysterious Manipulator of Magic — that's me."
87	Miss Trask: "My sister was sleeping restfully so I decided to come back here. A man came to the door and told me he wanted to look at the apartment. I told him to wait while I went to check with the custodian. The same company owns both buildings."
91	Dan: "Two smart thugs after one little statue. I'll believe it when I see it."
93	Dan: "The only thing I could cook would have so much garlic in it that we'd be run out of the apartment." Honey gave Dan the housekeeping purse.
94	Di: "I know how to make Chinese Fried rice." Mart: "Who wants to sample my mashed potatoes avec fines herbes?" Trixie had flour on her nose, apron, and hands, but she smilled triumphantly.
97	Miss Trask drew back the long curtains from the great view window that looked down over Central Park to the lighted buildings on the city's skyline. Miss Trask lit the electric fireplace. Trixie: "Imagine in August having the fireplace lighted!" Jim: "I'm ready to be entertained. Here's a front row seat, Trixie!" He patted the seat beside him.
98	Mart put the bottle of Coca Cola back in the bag, slapped the paper flat, rolled it up, and threw it over his shoulder.
102	Trixie: "I could tell it was some kind of a fake bottle, but that trick with the five-dollar bill really threw me."
103	Ned: "I bought some of the same junk Mart did, and I'm going to be 'Neddo the Necromancer' when I get back to Winterset."
104	Miss Trask: "I never heard that melody before, or the words." Barbara: "We made it up. Bob di most of it."
106	Mr. Meredith: "I'm with Celebrity Broadcasting. Have you (twins) ever been on television?" Bob: "Only locally — in Des Moines."
109	Miss Trask: "Where are you going today?" Bob: "Bedloe's Island. The Statue of Liberty!" Mart: "It's not Bedloe's Island now. It's Liberty Island, but nobody calls it that."
114	When Diana saw the narrow spiral stairway, she hung back. Trixie: "Jim will go ahead of you and one of the other boys right back of you." Diana was shaking when she reached the top. She clung to Mart's arm as they walked around the small balcony.
119	Trixie and her friends arrived at the tearoom in the hotel east of Central Park. Trixie: "They have a buffet where we help ourselves. One price includes everything."
122	Trixie: "Come on Dan, you haven't danced at all, and this time you're dancing with me!" Dan: "I haven't danced because I don't know how." Trixie: "I know you can't if you don't try. Come on!"
125	Ned: "I know where I want to spend some time when I come back to New York. Right here. (Museum of Natural History) Di: "While you're doing that, Barbara and I will go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
126	A printed card stood against the jar. It related the discovery of similar fish in "Bob-White Cave" in the Ozarks, and listed the names of the club members underneath. Dan: "How come my name is there?" Mart: "One for all. All for one."
134	Dan: "Nix on giving it back."
135	Dan: "I've seen a lot of crooks in this city and I never yet saw one who wanted to steal for any reason except greed."
141	MC: "One of our board members, Mr. Meredith, heard them sing and invited them to come here today. They write their own words and music."
144	MC: "It was the Folk Song Publishing Company calling. They wanted to know who owns the copyright to the song you sang. I'll be surprised if they aren't asking your brother to sign a contract with them to publish it."
145	MC: "It might just catch on, though, and if you've written other songs they'll want to see them too. They pay on a royalty basis." Barbara: "It'll be swell to talk to Mr. Meredith. I know he can give us some good advice about what to do. We could use some money from royalties to help our college fund."
150	Dan: "His nibs is getting under my skin now. Tomorrow I'll go with you, Trix, and do some sleuthing."
154	Mart: "Boy, let's go up to the tower." Di: "Not me! I have the strangest scary feeling as though something terrible may happen." Mart: "It's because you're afraid of high places."
161	When Trixie ran up to Jim he threw his arm around her.
169	Trixie: "Dr. Reed — He's just about the most important orthopedic surgeon in the whole city of New York." Di: "He operated on my little brother's leg when he broke it in three places. Today is the day most of the doctors take off each week, isn't it Jim?" Stereotyping or what. And why didn't she ask Brian? After all, he's the one who wants to be a doctor. Jim: "He calls his railroad the B & J." Trixie: "It's for Bone and Joint. His wife Betty is wonderful. There's Tex, he's about ten and the oldest."
170	Trixie: "Chris and Jeff, twins, about seven and little Nancy, four."
172	Jim: "Every single solitary thing in this whole room Dr. Joe built himself — trains, scenery, towers."
185	Brian: "Dr. Joe used to let me watch sometimes when he dressed Terry's leg."
188	Since Evalinda's arms and both legs were in traction, Trixie couldn't imagine how she'd ever manage to shake hands. Dr. Joe: "Show them Muggins." She smiled at him, raised her head and shook it side to side. Little tinkle bells jingled.
189	Evalinda: "You know that's what I want to do most of all in the world (sing)."
192	Trixie: "A thousand dollars! I surely know where that much money would do a lot of good. You belong to the secret police."
195	Trixie: This isn't a very nice part of the city. "Are you sure this is the address I gave you?" Taxi driver: "I'm sure, but are you?" He stopped at a dilapidated building with a crooked sign. JAKE'S HAMBURGER PLACE.
196	Trixie: "Is it dangerous around here?" Taxi driver: "Depends on how you look at it. Makes me wonder if it's really hamburgers they sell her."
197	Scar face: "the idol you got belongs to Don Alfonso Alfredo. It's an idol that's been in the family a thousand years."
198	"Watch your language, Blinky!" Pedro glared at the scar-faced man.
200	Big Tony stood up. "Come on sister, hand over the idol." Blinky shook the contents of Trixie's purse onto the table. Big Tony picked up Trixie's empty purse and threw it with terrific force across the room. It struck Pedro right in the face.
201	For some reason she would never be able to understand, Trixie had concealed the small idol deep in the pocket of her skirt. Blinky: "don't let that gun go off Tony. Remember what happened when ya knocked off that guy at the bank? If we were caught we'd a got the chair."
202	Big Tony pushed the gun right up against Trixie's side. Everything began to swim around her.
203	Policeman: "Blinky? Big Tony? Pedro? Do you know who they are?" Dan: "Pretty bad actors I guess. I do know this place is a hideout for gangsters." Policeman: "Those men are three of the cleverest, most ruthless jewel thieves in the world. They've given us the slip now. the whole place is a rat run."
106	Trixie: "It was dumb of me to think I could out smart big city crooks."
208	Dan: "Have you ever looked inside the cover of a telephone book. Everyone writes something there." Jim: "I haven't tutored you in math for nothing. I recognized the funny figure four you always make. That was enough for Dan. He knew exactly where you'd gone."
209	Dan: "It was near the neighborhood where I lived after my mother died. The joint where you went is a place which a fence operates."
212	Mr. Wheeler: "Trixie has learned her lesson." Miss Trask: "We always think so till something else happens."
213	Honey: "the plane from Orly Airport in Paris gets in not long before the Maine plane leaves. We told Sally, Billy, and Bob Wellington we'd meet them when they arrived."
214	Trixie: "Some day you'll be taking a plane to Paris when you and Bob are famous musicians. Even if you stick to your intention of teaching." Mart: "We'll be lucky if we ever get a table (at Rockefeller Center)." Honey: "Daddy ordered one before we left the apartment."
215	Across from them against the wall, the statue of Prometheus stood out.
219	Trixie: "There are some representatives of the Peruvian police here on the trail of international jewel thieves."
226	Mr. Wheeler: "How smart of you Trixie! Why didn't I remember that?"
227	Mr. Wheeler: "There is a record of a shipment of twelve of those little wooden statues. The thieves concealed diamonds that had formed a necklace stolen from an idol in a temple deep in the jungle in South America."
234	Policeman: "We know they used a black Cadillac while they were in the city."
237	Jim: "It's fabulous!" his eyes on Trixie in deep admiration.
239	Mr. Wheeler: "I never thought I'd have a Sherlock Holmes — or should I say Dr. Watson — in my family."