Research Holp

Notes for #9 The Happy Valley Mystery © 1962, 2004
Page #	Quote
5	Trixie: "Realize that in just an hour we'll be in Des Moines, Iowa." Honey: "We were in such a tizzy at Idlewild Airport this morning." Trixie: "I don't remember a thing about the flight from New York to Chicago where we changed planes."
6	Trixie Belden, Honey Wheeler, and Diana Lynch, who were thirteen, Trixie's brothers Brian, sixteen, and fourteen-year-old Mart Belden, Honey's adopted brother Jim, who was fifteen, and the seventh member, Dan Mangan.
7	Brian: "He (Uncle Andrew) had to be in Scotland this week to complete the purchase of that new brand of sheep."
8	Di: "Isn't he smart?" Diana, who sat beside Mart, asked and widened her big violet eyes.
9	Mart: "Maligned, misunderstood, and mistrusted." Uncle Andrew had never married and was devoted to his nieces and nephews. He was the Belden children's very favorite uncle.
10	Trixie: "It may be smaller, and we all have to work hard to help Moms with the garden and with the cow and chickens, but I never want it to change."
11	Uncle Andrew was impulsive. He sized people up quickly.
12	Dan: "I'm stuck here. I have to be tutored to stay in the same class with Mart. Uncle Andrew: She's (Trixie) such a pretty little girl, so feminine and sort of helpless. Mart: "She's about as helpless as a heavy-weight champion."
15	As they entered the building a short, smiling man with graying hair hurried forward. It was Hank Gorman.
16	Mr. Gorman: "Our children are scattered to all corners of the continent. Even got one at the Arctic Circle." Mr. Gorman guided the car onto the highway, and then along Army Post Road which led to the farm.
18	Mr. Gorman: "Walnut Woods. A good place to stay out of. Many a person has been lost there. The other boundary of the woods is Raccoon River."
19	Uncle Andrew's pleasant ranch home, a long, low, white-shingled house with green shutters. Two brown and white collies ran out followed by a huge black cat.
24	Tip and Tag, the two collies, were circling about a fat ewe who lay on her back.
25	The ewe seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon. Mr. Gorman: "They'd die in half an hour if someone didn't help them." Trixie, Sometimes stealing goes on right under the noses of people and they can't seem to see it because they're used to everyday routine.
28	Mart: "That's a snug apartment you have for your help out there in the barn. Lots of books, most of them on farming. I'm going to be a farmer some day." Mr. Gorman: "The books belong to Ben, our hired man. He's taking a correspondence course in animal husbandry. This summer he's planning to go to Iowa State University at Ames for a short two-week course." Di: "Did Jim say something to hurt your feelings?"
30	Honey: "He'd never say anything to upset Trixie. He thinks she's perfect." Trixie: "I saw a queer looking man on the other side of the creek. He looked like a sheep thief to me." Honey put her hand to her face to conceal a smile. Honey: "Where did you learn what a sheep thief looks like?"
35	Mrs. Gorman: "This is Sunday night." Mr. Gorman: "That's right," and he took down the Bible, turned to Genesis and read.
37	The Bob-Whites took turns riding the horses. Diana on Nancy, a gentle gray mare; the boys and Honey and Trixie riding Satan's Baby, a roan firebrand, and Black Giant, a huge black stallion.
40	Brian was the oldest of the Bob-Whites, and whether they would admit it or not, they paid attention to whatever he said.
43	Trixie: "Honey and I we were the detectives. You (Mart) just made fun of us till we'd solved the mysteries and they you claimed some of the credit."
48	Honey: "Mrs. Gorman says there's an old record player in the playroom and some records more than twenty years old." Trixie: "I didn't even know they made records that long ago. It'll probably be one of those old machines with a big horn." Brian: "Jeeminy, Trixie, you'd think twenty years ago was the dark ages. They had pretty slick songs then. Dick Drake and his gang sing some of them now."
49	The record player was going full blast and Diana and Mart were trying to do the Charleston.
50	Mrs. Gorman: "Did you drop the wooden bar down to lock it?" Trixie: "No, Mrs. Gorman, we didn't. I guess we didn't know. The dogs knew though."
55	Trixie: "You (Diana) come with us. You could never find your way to the house by yourself.
67	Mart: "And adventure is Trixie's middle name, isn't it, Trix?"
68	Mr. Gorman: "If you have to do some detective work you can try and find out where Blackie has hidden her new batch of kittens."
69	Mrs. Gorman: "Sheriff Brown doesn't seem to be getting any place. He's new."
70	Mr. Gorman: "There's an artificial lake up the road a ways … Waterworks Park. East of here a few miles you'll find the old Army post. It's an abandoned cavalry post."
74	Jim: "There probably are speed laws. Slow down, Brian. You're supposed to be the conservative one, you know."
77	Trixie: "And one of the best agricultural schools in the whole United States … Cornell."
80	Afterward, they stood around the piano singing while Diana played.
81	Trixie heard two soft whistled notes, one high, one low. Then, after an interval, two more notes. Trixie, Mart's signal! Our emergency signal! What can it be?
87	Mart: "Old Dan has himself a job!" Honey: "How can he? He couldn't come with us because he had to be tutored this vacation?" Mart: "After he gets through with his lessons. He's teaching figure skating at the White Plains rink."
89	Ben: "The ground belongs to the State. It's really Walnut Woods State Park." Mrs. Gorman: "We have heard stores about people living back in there." Ben: "They did about a hundred years ago, yes. Just after the Civil War ended, a bunch of men led by some escaped convicts gathered their families together and settled along the bank of the river. They made their living by operating illicit stills. I have heard that they went farther back into the deep woods."
90	Mr. Gorman: "It's to raise money for their school. Ned (Schulz) plays center." Mrs. Gorman: "Ned never seems to have much on his mind but hunting and basketball and football … skating too, I believe."
92	He (Ned) was the tallest, the darkest, and the handsomest. Automatically Honey smoothed back her long hair and Diana batted her curly lashes for a better look at him. Ned: "Do you … any of you fellows play back home? Do you girls play too?
95	Trixie: "They — our team — were district champions in Westchester County."
96	Stung by a snickering laugh from the same boy who had taunted Mart, she forgot where she was, stood up, sighted the basket, took her stance, and sent the ball high in the air and straight through the basket.
98	Trixie: "I like Jim, of course, just the way you (Di) like Mart and Honey likes Brian. My heart doesn't belong to anyone."
99	Honey: "We're all too young." Di: "My mother and my daddy have known one another since they were ten years old. And Mother told me that she knew even then that she was going to marry Daddy some day."
100	As Trixie watched, a tall, blond girl — prettier almost than Diana or Honey — took hold of Jim's arm and led him to a place at the long table. When other girls came up to talk to Jim, the tall blond gestured to them to stay away 'He's mine. Hands off!'
103	Ned: "Say, you think of a lot of things that other girls don't." Trixie turned to Ned with a bewitching smile. Trixie: "What do you think I'm thinking right now?" Ned: "I don't know, but all at once you sure don't act natural. That's what's the matter with most girls." Trixie: "That's what boys always say. And when girls act natural, boys lose interest."
105	Ned: "There's some sense to dancing. It's exercise."
109	Jim: "Yes, I noticed you were having quite a ball. Ned Schulz seems to have the Indian sign on you." Trixie: "And Dot seems to have the Indian sign on you. You've been her slave all evening! If you like that glamour type best you're just welcome to her." Jim: "I like both kinds. Dot is glamorous. She went out of her way to be nice to me and I appreciate it." Trixie: "I wish I'd been born beautiful!" Jim: "The other kind of girl didn't dress up just to impress me or any other boy."
110	Jim: "She never does. She's genuine and so comfortable to be around. She's my choice of the two. Right now her sandy curls need combing and she sure could use some lipstick!"
112	Ned: "That was Pam Watson. She's a nonstop talker." Mart: "She's cute as a button anyway. And she can cut the rug like nobody's business. Did you see us rocking?" Di: "Who could miss it?"
114	Di: "I wish you'd dropped me off at Happy Valley farm." Trixie: "Don't be such a baby." Di: "I don't want to be a detective and I don't even want to be a detective's assistant."
121	Mart: "Why can't we just have a good time on this one occasion without you wearing your Moll Dick badge?" It was one thing for Jim to call Trixie "Moll Dick." She sort of liked it, because he said it … well, in a sort of liking way.
123	Trixie: "Mart wants to tell everyone back at school that he's the fencing champion of Polk County, Iowa. And he won't explain to them that it isn't done with foils, either."
124	Ned: "Dot is one of our star skaters."
128	Dot did look like a dream. Her short skirt was creamy white, and her pullover sweater matched. Ned: "A lot of us belong to the Des Moines Figure Skating Club. We have a Danish teacher."
130	At first Trixie waved them (Rivervale boys) off, but when she saw Honey and Diana accepting help as though they never saw a skate before, she changed her own tactics.
132	Jim led Dot across the board floor and removed her skate guards for her.
133	Jim: "She's good isn't she?" Trixie: "She's out of this world! And isn't she perfectly beautiful?" Jim: "I know a girl who's the best sport in these United States. I saw you falter when Honey didn't want to go out on the ice. Then I saw your head go up. That's it, Trixie! They can't beat courage, no matter how well they skate."
141	Brian: "Do you think I can help?" Trixie: "He helped at home at Crabapple Farm when our calf was born. And at Honey's house, too, when one of their mares foaled. I can help, too, because I helped Brian both times. I'm a nurse's aide at the hospital."
154	Bob and Barbara Hubbell had sat near the Bob-Whites at the barbecue. Barbara was about Trixie's size, with coal-black curls. Her twin was as tall as Brian. Ned: "They play guitars and sing."
158	Di: "I wish I could remember things the way you do, Mart." Mart: "My public!"
161	Di: "I think it's pretty smart of Mart to know all that stuff. He's always the one of the Bob-Whites who can tell us about everything." Brian: "That's right. You don't give him credit for storing up all that knowledge, Trixie." Trixie: "Oh, yes, I do. I just can't let his ego run away with him."
168	Ned's little red car turned into Seven Oaks, his home. Ned's two German shepherd dogs wagged their huge bodies. Ned: "I've had them six years. Once, when we lived in Evanston, they saved my life … in Lake Michigan."
170	She (Ned's mother) didn't look much older than Ned himself. It wasn't until she walked toward them that the Bob-Whites noticed a decided limp. Barbara: "Polio." Di: "We correspond with about ten young people our ages in India, Africa, and South America."
171	Barbara: "Mrs. Schulz is one of the leaders (of 4-H). I think she even sponsored a group in Evanston, didn't you?"
174	Mrs. Schulz: "When Ned was only five years old I was stricken with polio."
177	Trixie: "And what I'm going to do some day is to find some of that treasure. Honey and I read everything we can get our hands on about Captain Kidd and his times, and we know just where to look for that treasure. I have a secret map."
188	Jim: "That's Ned's father's second barn."
191	Honey, white-faced and shocked, sat like a marble statue in the boat, never touching the oar.
194	Trixie: "Thieves or no thieves, those two men back there are human beings. We have to go back there and get them."
195	Jim: "Because they would have taken our boat and let us do the waiting while they escaped."
200	Trixie: "If there's one thing I'm sure about with Mart, it's his ability to read my mind. He'll know somehow, that I persuaded you two to go to Walnut Woods with me."
205	Jim: "What's the matter with you, Honey? You're always such a good sport."
211	Trixie: "See here. We just can't give up, Jim. I'm surprised at you. You've been so wonderful, and now you've lost heart." Jim: "I have not. I can get mad as well as you, can't I?"
221	Mart: "Come on, Moses." Di: " That's a perfect name for him (the puppy). Moses!"
224	Mrs. Gorman: "Ben has adopted him (Moses). He says he's going to make a hunting dog out of him."
229	Trixie: "Hold on to it (the knife). If there ever was a mark — a fingerprint or anything like that — we've destroyed it by handling it."
230	Trixie: "Honey and I will make wonderful detectives if we can't remember an elementary thing like that."
233	Mr. Gorman: "Say, Joe, what are the names of those men you picked up with the truckload of wool? Jake Burton. Rancy Miller."
235	Trixie shivered and moved closer to Jim. He put his arm across the seat back of her.
236	Jim: " I hate to think of my sister and my — well you, Trixie, getting into such tight places all the time." Trixie, Was he going to say that I'm his best girl friend? Darn it, now I'll never know.
239	Trixie: "If there is any reward, I think the money should go toward Ben's new car and boat." Trixie: "We have to a little shopping first." Mart: "He's (Bobby) crazy for a real glove and a hard ball."
240	Di: "I saw some Indian dolls in a window. I'll get Indian suits for my twin brothers."
242	Reporter: "I'm from the Des Moines Register and Tribune." Mr. Gorman: "Wait till you read it in the paper. You'll never recognize it. He'll make it sound like the Israelites crossing the Red Sea."
245	Mr. Gorman: "It's Glasgow, Scotland, calling. It's Andy Belden."
246	Trixie: "He's going to bring us all cashmere sweaters from Scotland! Yes, I'll tell Ben he's to have the car you bought in England instead of his jalopy."
247	Trixie settled in the seat beside Jim. Across the aisle Brian and Honey sat, in front of them Mart and Diana. Jim pulled a little package from his pocket. Jim: "It's for you, Trixie. I got it in Valley Park yesterday." Trixie opened the box. She stared at the dainty silver identification bracelet that nestled there. Trixie: "It has your name on it, Jim. Put it on for me, will you?" Jim: "You know what it means, don't you?" Trixie: "Tell me." Jim: "It means that you're my special girl, Trixie. As if you didn't know that already." Trixie: "I do. Oh, Jim!" Trixie looked happily at her bracelet, reached over and put her small, sturdy hand into Jim's. He closed his long fingers tight over it.