Free Mystery on Stage by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

and Harold came on stage three times to take their bows. The third time, Sarah received a huge bouquet of red and white roses.
    Sarah, Jessie, and Melody hugged one another in the dressing room. Soon the stage doors opened. Friends and relatives streamed backstage to congratulate the performers.
    Grandfather stopped into the dressing room with Joe, Alice, Mr. Bellamy, and the woman in the big coat.
    â€œYou girls were wonderful,” Grandfather told Jessie, Sarah, and Melody. They all beamed at him.
    â€œSarah, I’m so proud of you,” Mr. Bellamy said. He choked a little over his next words. “I was wrong to try to stop you. You’re really gifted, just like your mother.”

    â€œOh, Dad, I’m so happy!” Sarah threw her arms around her father and hugged him for a very long time.
    â€œYou’re going to be even happier.” Sarah’s father smiled at her as he stepped back to put his hand behind the woman in the big coat. “I’d like to introduce you to Marilyn Morris. She’s a theatrical agent from New York. She’d like you to be her client.”
    â€œI wrote to you,” Sarah said as she shook her agent’s hand. She looked dumbfounded. “I sent you my resume and a picture.”
    â€œSo that’s what you had in that mysterious manila folder you wouldn’t let us see,” Jessie teased. Sarah nodded sheepishly.
    â€œI wrote to Ms. Morris also,” Harold said as he came by to offer his congratulations. “I told her she needed to come and discover you.” As he finished speaking, Harold lifted off his helmet.
    â€œYou’re Andrew Tompkins, the Broadway actor! Harold’s not your name at all.” Sarah could not contain her excitement. “What are you doing here?”
    â€œYou’re the man we saw in the pizzeria!” Benny blurted out. “Everyone recognized you except me.”
    â€œI had to take a vacation from Broadway for health reasons, but I wanted to do some acting,” Andrew explained. “I wanted to go somewhere I wouldn’t be recognized. Only Jim knew my secret, but some of you came close to guessing,” he added, smiling at the Aldens.
    â€œI think we should all go out to celebrate,” Grandfather suggested.
    â€œI agree,” Benny said.
    â€œI’ll never forget this evening as long as I live,” Sarah said, looking pleased and proud.
    â€œNone of us will,” Jessie said.
    â€œLet’s eat,” Benny added, smiling happily.

About the Author
    G ERTRUDE C HANDLER W ARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.
    Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.
    When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.
    While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.
    Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from boys and girls telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar