Read Online The Mystery of the Antique Doll by Julie Campbell - Free Book Online Page A

but she was stopped by Bobby. The little boy came running around a corner and grabbed her knees.
    “Trixie, Trixie, Trixie,” he sang. “I’m so glad you’re home early! Could you please help me with my room?”
    “Oh Bobby,” Trixie said. “I have so much to do. Why do you need help?”
    “Moms says I have to clean up my room,” Bobby moaned. “She says I’ll get lost in there one of these days, and no one will be able to find me!”
    “It’s true that you have a lot of junk,” Trixie said, drawn out of her bad mood by Bobby’s little worried face. “But I doubt if you’ll get lost in there before this weekend. I promise I’ll help you then, okay?”
    “Okay,” Bobby agreed. “But Moms says I have to clear a path to my bed right now. Could you help me just a little tonight?”
    “All right, sweetie,” Trixie said. “Just let me take off my jacket, okay? I’ll help you until dinner time, but after that, I have a ton of homework to get done.”

    Even though Trixie was annoyed at Mr. Reid for not agreeing to the interview, it turned out for the best. She was so busy all week with chores and homework that she wouldn’t have had time to do the interview anyway. She and Honey had not practiced their spelling words in Paris after all, and now they had to work twice as hard to catch up. The Eastern Regional was on Saturday. They practiced every chance they could find, but Trixie worried that it was not enough.
    With high hopes, but rather low expectations, the two girls went into New York City on Saturday morning, accompanied by Miss Trask and Helen Belden. The spelling competition was held in one of the big conference rooms at the Sheraton Hotel. Trixie and Honey were so nervous when they were seated at the front of the large room filled with strangers, they could barely breathe. Trixie’s plaid wool skirt felt even itchier than usual. It was all she could do to keep from squirming in her seat.
    The voice of the competition leader seemed to be coming through water, and when it was Trixie’s turn she felt strangely light-headed. She stood in front of the microphone, listening carefully.
    “Miss Trixie Belden from Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson. The word is— pusillanimous .”
    Trixie’s answers sounded to her as though they were being delivered by someone else, and she felt miles and miles away. The microphone had a strange echo to it. Afterward, Trixie had very little recollection of anything she had said, and no recollection of Honey’s answers, either.
    “Talk about stage fright,” Honey said as they left the room.
    “I really wasn’t that keen on winning,” Trixie said, punching the elevator button. They all stood waiting.
    “Well, I’m glad you feel that way,” Miss Trask said, with a somewhat pleased expression. “After all, winning isn’t everything, you know.”
    “I know. It’s how you play the game,” Honey said. Honey always knew how to finish Miss Trask’s sentences.
    “Well, I thought you girls did very well,” Helen Belden said, gazing at them with obvious pride. “Some of those words were terribly difficult!”
    “Oh, Moms,” Trixie said. “You’re so sweet to feel that way. I’m sorry I lost, but, to tell you the truth, I’m sick of studying spelling words!”
    “Me, too,” Honey agreed. “I was beginning to dream spelling words! If we had won this contest, we would have had to spend the next six months saying things like ‘iconoclastic’ and ‘discrepancy’ to each other. I don’t think I could have stood it!”
    Trixie suddenly felt free. In the elevator, she and Honey could hardly keep from giggling. Finally, the doors slid open in the main lobby, and released them.
    “Are you sure you don’t have some odd form of claustrophobia?” Honey said, bursting into laughter. “You know, the kind that gives you hysterics in enclosed spaces?”
    “Claustrophobia,” said Trixie. “C-l-a-u—” Before she could finish, they fell against each other,