Free The Mysterious Code by Kathryn Kenny Page B

for spite because he’d been shut out of the clubs.”
    “He wouldn’t
steal
for that reason,” Trixie said.
    “How do you know what a kid would do if he didn’t have the right guidance at home?” Spider asked. “You and the Wheeler and Lynch kids don’t know what it is to be up against trouble. You’ve always had it easy.”
    “Why, Spider Webster, we work hard, every one of us.”
    “Yeah, but your folks make it easy for you. It wouldn’t hurt any of you to be a little bit nicer to some of the other kids in school who don’t have it so good.” Spider’s face was serious.
    Trixie didn’t answer for a little while. Then she said thoughtfully, “Maybe we do stick together too much. I guess it’s just because we’ve been working so hard. I never thought about it before, Spider. Maybe you’re right.”
    “You just bet I’m right,” Spider said. “You kids always high-hat Tad, for instance. I know he’s not perfect, but he’s not bad either. All that business about helping kids on the other side of the world—try to do something for some kids nearer home.”
    “Why, Spider,” Trixie said sadly, “we
have
been pretty selfish, haven’t we? Not a single one of the Bob-Whites ever wanted to be. I know that. I’m going to talk to them about what you’ve said. Thanks, Spider.”
    After school Trixie told the rest of the B.W.G.’s that Spider didn’t think the mysterious visit to the clubhouse was very important.
    “Don’t worry too much about it,” Mart said. “He’ll come around to helping us. Remember when we were shut up in that red trailer, and had such a time convincing Spider we were really kidnaped?”
    “I remember,” Honey said. “You told us you had to bring out a tape recording of that man’s voice to prove it to Spider. He’s queer.”
    “I think he’s worried about Tad,” Diana said.
    “You don’t mean that he thinks Tad stole the desk?” Honey asked.
    “No, he doesn’t think that,” Trixie said. “It’s something a lot different, and I’m ashamed. I think you will all be, too, after I tell you!” So she told them of her conversation with Spider.
    “He makes us sound like a bunch of snobs,” Mart said. “And we’re not. I’m downright jealous of Tad because he’s in the Pony League and I’m not.”
    “Tell Tad so some time,” Trixie said. “I think Spider is right, in a way. Maybe we
have
been thoughtless and didn’t mean anything, but if you think about it as I have since I talked to Spider, you’ll realize how much we keep to ourselves. It isn’t only after school hours, but at school, too.”
    “Tad
is
a kind of goon,” Diana insisted.
    “Maybe he wouldn’t be if we’d be a little more decent to him,” Trixie said. “I, for one, am going to try.”
    “It won’t hurt the rest of us to try, too,” Jim said. “Right, gang?”
    “Right!” they answered.
    “I just hope Spider will help us find out a few things,” Trixie continued, her point made. “There’s some kind of a hook-up among those people who were looking into the clubhouse that night, the masked robbers who stole the desk, that boy who was shoveling snow, and even the schoolhouse vandals.”
    It was only a few days later when part of that theory was disproved.
    The Bob-Whites were all at the clubhouse working: Honey and Diana were stuffing the cloth dolls, Mart was working on a chair, and Brian and Jim were looking over a group of framed pictures that had been given them. Trixie was sitting at a table surrounded by papers, arranging the route for Tom and Regan to follow to pick up the antiques to be exhibited.
    “Someone’s coming round the corner of the clubhouse,” Honey announced.
    A knock sounded at the door.
    Brian answered it. A small Japanese man stood there, hat in hand, bowing. “Please, I like to talk to the boss girl,” he said.
    “We don’t have any boss,” Mart said, standing back of Brian. Then he added politely, “Won’t you come in?”
    “He probably