Read Online Mystery of the Spider's Clue by Gertrude Chandler Warner - Free Book Online

from the next. Some had velvety leaves, some had waxy leaves. Some had pink flowers, some had red flowers. Some had twisted stems, some had straight stems.
    It was Benny who spotted the spider plant first. “Look!” he whispered. He pointed to one that looked just like Sam’s.
    Next to him, Jessie said, “Way to go, Benny!”
    The four Aldens peered long and hard at the spider plant.
    After a long silence, Violet said, “I don’t get it.”
    â€œI don’t, either,” said Henry.
    Jessie shook her head. “I don’t see anything that looks like a clue.”
    But Benny saw something the others didn’t.
    â€œLook on the bottom of the pot!” he exclaimed. “I think it’s a clue.”
    Sure enough, some kind of message had been painted in bright yellow on the bottom of the ceramic pot.
    Violet clapped her hands together softly. “It’s the Spider’s Clue!”
    â€œOh, Benny!” Jessie said proudly. “What would we do without you?”
    Henry read the words aloud: “‘ A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ’”
    The youngest Alden scrunched up his face. “What does that mean?”
    Henry explained, “It means that a rose would still smell nice, even if we called it something else. I think it’s from a play by Shakespeare— Romeo and Juliet .”
    â€œOh.” Benny thought about this for a moment. “You mean, even if we called it a stinkweed instead of a rose, it would still smell good?”
    â€œThat’s right,” said Henry, hiding a smile. “Even if we called it a stinkweed.”
    Just then, something caught Violet’s eye. A young man was sitting at a booth nearby reading a newspaper. He was wearing a blue baseball cap with the letters GN on the front. This man was peering over his paper, staring at the Aldens.

    Violet leaned closer to the others. “Maybe we should go somewhere else to talk,” she whispered, looking nervously over her shoulder.
    â€œAren’t we getting something to eat?” Benny asked, making them all laugh.
    â€œWe just finished breakfast, Benny,” Jessie reminded him.
    Henry winked. “A Benny by any other name would still be hungry all the time,” he joked, making them all laugh even harder.
    â€œThat’s for sure!” agreed Benny.
    A little later, the four Aldens were sitting under a tree at the Greenfield Tennis Club. They were thinking hard about the Spider’s Clue when Violet suddenly spoke up.
    â€œI still can’t believe somebody stole your notebook, Jessie.” Violet couldn’t stop thinking about it. “And Grandfather’s street map, too. Who would do such a thing?”
    Henry had a thought. “Maybe that broken heel belongs to Rose Hill,” he said. When he saw the look of surprise on everyone’s faces, he added, “She was wearing high heels yesterday. But today she was just wearing sandals.”
    â€œThat’s true,” said Jessie. She remembered Rose dashing from booth to booth.
    â€œYou don’t really believe it was Rose, do you, Henry?” Violet liked Rose and hated to think of her prowling around in the night.
    â€œRose needs money to fix up her restaurant,” Henry argued. “Remember? And she could’ve seen Jessie’s notebook when you were making that sketch, Violet.”
    This got Jessie thinking. “Rose did admit she overhears things. I wonder if she heard us talking about the inheritance.”
    â€œWhat about Melissa Campbell?” Violet said after a moment’s thought. “I still think it was odd that she ignored us until Thomas mentioned the mystery. Then she was all ears.”
    â€œWe even told her about our boxcar,” recalled Henry.
    Jessie lowered her voice and looked serious. “The mystery man belongs at the top of our list of suspects,” she said. “There’s something very suspicious