“He’s littering,” said Benny indignantly.
“Wait a minute, Benny. Let’s see what happens,” Jessie told her younger brother.
Mr. Jones read the letter. Then he folded it up and stuck it in his pocket, and began to walk very fast toward the post office door.
“We can follow him,” Jessie said. “Everybody get your bicycles ready.”
But it was no use. When Mr. Jones got outside the post office, he went to a big, dark car parked in front of the post office. Before the Aldens could do anything, he had jumped inside and sped away.
The children jumped on their bicycles and rode as fast as they could after the car. But by the time they’d gone a block, the car had disappeared from sight.
“Oh, no!” said Henry. “We’ve lost him!”
“We’ll never solve this mystery!” cried Violet.
“Yes, we will,” panted Jessie, pulling her bicycle to a stop. “Remember what Grandfather said about not giving up.”
“What can we do?” asked Soo Lee.
“We’ll just have to watch the post office again tomorrow,” answered Jessie. “And the next day. And the next. For as many days as it takes.”
Benny made a face. Then he said, “But what about the envelope?”
“The envelope?” asked Violet.
“The envelope Mr. Jones threw on the floor. Maybe it has a return address on it,” said Benny. “Maybe that’s where Mr. Jones was going!”
“Benny, you’re a genius!” cried Jessie happily.
Benny blushed and grinned. “Thank you,” he said.
Jumping back on their bicycles, the Aldens raced back to the post office. Sure enough, the envelope that Mr. Jones had wadded up and thrown on the floor was still there.
Benny bent over and picked it up and smoothed it out.
They all crowded around and read the return address on the wrinkled envelope that Benny was holding.
“It’s from Mr. Allen!” said Jessie in amazement.
“And Mr. Jones drove off in that direction,” added Henry.
“I bet I know what we do now,” said Benny. “We go to Mr. Allen’s!”
“You’re right,” said Jessie. “Mr. Allen, here we come!”
Without wasting another moment, the children got on their bicycles and pedalled as fast as they could to Mr. Allen’s house. In a short time, they were turning up the long gravel driveway.
“There’s Mr. Jones’s car,” said Violet. Sure enough, the same big, dark car that they’d watched Mr. Jones leave the post office in was parked by the front door of the house.
The Aldens left their bicycles out of sight by the side of the house, and Benny tied Watch to a nearby tree.
“Wait here,” he said, holding a finger to his lips. “And don’t bark. We’re about to solve a mystery!”
CHAPTER 11
A Rare Cat Indeed
The butler answered the door just as he had before.
“May I help you?” he asked as if he had never met them.
“We’re here to see Mr. Allen,” said Jessie politely.
“Is he expecting you?” asked the butler haughtily.
“No, but it’s very important,” Jessie told the butler.
The butler looked down his long nose at the five children. At last he nodded his head slightly. “Very well. If you will step this way.”
This time, he didn’t take them to the library. He took them to a small room just off the front part of the hall.
“If you will wait here, I will see if Mr. Allen can see you. It may be a few minutes. He is in a meeting and does not wish to be disturbed.”
“Thank you, we can wait,” said Jessie.
The butler gave a disapproving sniff and closed the door firmly behind him.
“Do you think Mr. Allen is meeting with Mr. Jones?” asked Violet as soon as the butler had closed the door.
“I’m sure he is,” said Jessie.
“I bet I know where, too,” said Henry. “Remember that room that the butler took us to the last time we were here? The one with the desk and the books in it?”
“Yes!” Jessie gave Henry a thumbs-up sign. “I bet you’re right, Henry. Come on, everybody.”
“Are we going to be spies now?” asked Benny.
“Yes, we are,” said Violet, taking Benny’s hand. Quickly and quietly, the five children crept out of the room and down the long hall to the library door. Jessie looked both ways. Then, very slowly, she turned the handle of the door. She did it so carefully that no one would have noticed it turning from the other side. At last she was able to push the door open a crack. The sound of voices came through the crack. The children all leaned forward and began to listen.
“Gimme the money like you promised,” growled a voice. “I got you your cat.”
“Very well,” said the soft voice of Mr. Allen. “Although why I should pay you anything is beyond me. You almost botched the whole job, losing the cat like that.”
“I didn’t lose her,” growled the voice. “She got away. I dunno how she did it, but she got the door of her cat carrier open!”
The Aldens all looked at one another, remembering what Mr. Woods had said about Spotzie being able to open any latch or door. They had to be talking about Spotzie!
Mr. Allen snorted. “Very well, I’ll pay you, Kramer. I’m a man of my word. Here . . .”
“Someone’s coming,” whispered Henry.
“Come on!” said Jessie. She pushed the door open and the five children rushed into the room.
The two men standing by the desk froze. One was Mr. Allen, wearing a suit and a blue bow tie. The other was the man they’d been calling Mr. Jones. He was still wearing his coat and dark glasses, but he’d taken his gloves and hat off. Between them on the floor sat a cat carrier with a small padlock on the door.
“You, you . . .” sputtered Mr. Allen. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for a lost cat,” said Jessie. She pointed to the cat carrier. “That cat!”
“My butler will handle this,” said Mr. Allen, regaining his calm. “I’ll ring for him.”
“Then you’d better ring for the police, too, because that’s a stolen cat!” said Jessie.
Mr. Allen stared at the five children. They stared back. What would Mr. Allen do?
Slowly, Mr. Allen walked over to a chair and sat down. He put his head in his hands. “It’s true,” he said.
Benny bent down and looked in the cat carrier. From inside, they all heard an indignant meow. “She looks just like Spotzie’s picture,” said Benny.
Hearing her name, Spotzie meowed again.
“It is, er, Spotzie. Yes, I’m afraid it is,” said Mr. Allen. “You see, I saw her on one of my walks and I had to add her to my collection.”
“But why?” asked Violet.
Mr. Allen raised his head. “I told you she was just an ordinary cat. But that’s not true. I think she’s rare. A very rare cat indeed.”
Violet said, “She’s the only Spotzie in the world. She’s Mr. Woods’s only friend. He loves her very much and he misses her. How could you do that to someone? How could you steal their cat?”
“You don’t understand,” Mr. Allen told Violet. “This cat is a curly-coated cat. That in itself is fairly rare. There are only two kinds of curly-coated cats, of the type known as rex, in the cat show world. But I think Spotzie might be a third type, which would make her very rare and valuable indeed.”
“Wow,” said Benny. “I didn’t know cats could have naturally curly hair.”
Mr. Allen went on. “I saw her and I wanted her for my collection. I offered her owner money, but he wouldn’t part with her for any amount of money. Then I happened to mention her to Mr. Kramer here. I’m afraid Mr. Kramer got carried away and, er, stole the cat from Mr. Woods’s porch.”
“That’s not true,” snarled Mr. Kramer. “You paid me for this job, you know you did. Besides, you can’t prove anything anyhow! I found the cat, see? And I wanted to bring her to you
’cause she looked weird and I knew you liked weird cats.”
Mr. Allen waved his hand. “I won’t argue with you here, Kramer. It’s beside the point.”
“It was you,” said Henry to Mr. Kramer. “You followed us that day we left the animal shelter.”
Mr. Kramer nodded. “Yeah. After I, uh, found the cat, she got away from me. Then I saw your signs. So I thought I’d follow you to see if you knew anything I didn’t. But you spotted me.”
“You went to Professor Madison’s, too, looking for Spotzie,” said Henry.
“Yeah. I was sure she was holding out on me, that she had that crazy cat, but I guess she didn’t,” said Mr. Kramer.
“And you called us to offer a reward to find her,” said Violet.
Mr. Kramer nodded again. “She was still missing. But then I found her wandering around town. I didn’t need you looking for her. That’s when I gave you the warning.” He looked puzzled. “But how did you find me, anyway?”
“We followed you from the post office,” said Benny. “You threw the envelope on the floor. It had Mr. Allen’s name on it.” Benny folded his arms and stared at Mr. Kramer sternly. “You shouldn’t litter!”
Mr. Allen interrupted. “If you children are sure this is the cat you’re looking for, of course I’m willing to return her to you. I certainly don’t want any trouble over this.”
“You’re a bad man,” said Benny. “You’re a bad man to steal something. Especially Mr. Woods’s cat!”
The children looked at one another. They had no real proof of what Mr. Kramer and Mr. Allen had done. And they had found Spotzie.
“Okay,” said Henry. “Give us the key to the lock on her cat carrier and we’ll be going.”
Mr. Kramer reached in his pocket and pulled out a key. “All that work for nothing!” he said. “And her getting out and me having to chase her all over town. All for nothing.”
“Oh, be quiet!” snapped Mr. Allen.
Violet took the key and put it in her pocket. Henry picked up the cat carrier and the five children turned to go. At the door they stopped and turned to look back.
“If anything — anything at all — like this ever happens again,” warned Jessie, “we’ll know it’s you and we’ll go to the police.”
Neither man answered.
“Come on,” said Henry. “Let’s take Spotzie home.”
CHAPTER 12
Found at Last
“We found her, we found her!” shouted Benny happily as the children walked into the house. Watch barked along with Benny.
Grandfather looked up from the newspaper he was reading. “What is it, Benny?”
“We found Spotzie!”
Grandfather put down his paper. “That’s wonderful.”
“Here she is,” said Henry, setting down the cat carrier. “But we’d better keep her in there until Mr. Woods gets her. We wouldn’t want to lose her again.”
“I’m going to call Mr. Woods right now,” said Violet. “And Professor Madison, too!”
Grandfather bent over to look in the cat carrier. “She’s a pretty cat, but her coat looks funny.”
“She’s a very rare cat, Grandfather,” said Jessie. “A curly-coated cat.”
“Is that so? How do you know that?” asked their grandfather.
Quickly, Jessie and Henry and Benny and Soo Lee told Grandfather Alden everything that had happened. Just as they were finishing, Violet came back in. “Mr. Woods hardly let me say ‘We found Spotzie’ before he said he’d be right over! And Professor Madison said she’d come over and get her cat, too,” she reported.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang. When Henry opened it, Mr. Woods rushed into the room. “Where is she!” he cried. “Where’s Spotzie?”
“Right here,” said Violet. She got the key and bent down and unlocked the door of the cat carrier. A small calico cat with shiny wavy fur poked her head out.
“Spotzie!” cried Mr. Woods. “It is you.”
The cat heard Mr. Woods’s voice. “Meow!” she cried. She bounded across the living room to him, her tail held high like a flag. A moment later, Mr. Woods was holding Spotzie in his arms. “Good girl, good Spotzie,” he crooned. Spotzie purred loudly, her eyes half closed with pleasure.
Mr. Woods looked up at last. “You did find her! I didn’t believe you could, but you did!”
“She wasn’t lost,” said Jessie, “she was stolen. But you should still get her a collar and identification tags.”
“Yes,” said Benny. “Dr. Scott said they even make special stretch collars for cats so they can’t get them caught in trees or anything.”
Mr. Woods listened to what Benny and Jessie were saying, then answered, “I’ll do that. First thing tomorrow morning Spotzie will get a new collar and I’ll order her some identification tags. Would you like that, Spotzie?”
Spotzie purred even more loudly and Mr. Woods grinned. When he smiled, he seemed like a different person. “But what is this about her being stolen?”
The Aldens were just about to explain what had happened, when the doorbell rang again. A moment later, Professor Madison walked in with a cat carrier in one hand. Henry introduced Professor Madison to Mr. Woods and Grandfather Alden.
“Spotzie was stolen,” said Mr. Woods to Professor Madison.
“Ah, yes. You had thought she might be,” said Professor Madison to the Aldens and Soo Lee. “What happened?”
“Well, you see,” began Jessie. But she didn’t get to finish her sentence before the doorbell rang again!
“Who can it be now?” wondered Violet. She didn’t have long to wait for an answer. Whitney came bounding into the living room, dressed in her jogging clothes.
“I stopped by to visit my aunt and she told me you guys had found the lost cat. Good work,” said Whitney. “So, what’s the story?”
The five children looked at one another and began to laugh. Then Jessie said, “Well, you see . . .”
This time, no doorbell interrupted Jessie. She got to finish her story, with the help of Henry, Violet, Benny, and Soo Lee, and an occasional bark from Watch.
“So you’re a very valuable cat, eh?” Mr. Woods said to Spotzie. “I knew that already!”
“What are you going to do with her?” asked Whitney. “Are you going to sell her for a lot of money?”
Mr. Woods shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said. “But I am going to take her into Dr. Scott tomorrow and see if it is true about her being a rare cat, and to make sure she is in good health after being gone so long. But whether Spotzie is a rare cat or not, she’s worth more than any money in the world to me!” He looked over at the five Aldens. “Thank you so much for finding her.”
“I didn’t think you kids could do it,” said Whitney, “but I see I was wrong.”
“You did an excellent job,” said Professor Madison. “Well, I guess I better take that other little cat home. Unless you want to keep her?”
Just then, the little cat came strolling into the living room.
“Woof!” said Watch, and leaped toward her.
“Whoa, Watch!” cried Benny, catching Watch’s collar.
The little cat flattened her ears, then looked all around.
“Meow!” said Spotzie and jumped out of Mr. Woods’s arms. She trotted lightly over to the little cat and they touched noses. A moment later they were racing around the room playing.
“I wish we could keep her,” said Grandfather Alden. “But Watch doesn’t seem to want a cat in his house.”
“Too bad,” said Professor Madison. “I can see you would give her a good home, and I have too many cats as it is.”
Mr. Woods thoughtfully watched the two cats racing around and around the room. Then he said, “Well … maybe Spotzie would like someone to play with. And for that matter, what could it hurt to have another little cat in the house?”
Professor Madison said, “That’s how I started: one cat, then another . . .”
Then Mr. Woods did an unexpected thing. He laughed aloud! br />
The five children looked at one another in amazement. This wasn’t the same grumpy Mr. Woods they’d first met!
“Maybe that will happen to me,” said Mr. Woods. He squatted down. “Here, kitty. What do you call her, Professor Madison?”
“I hadn’t named her yet. I was hoping I’d find a home for her,” said the professor, kneeling down next to Mr. Woods.
“Maybe we could think of one together,” said Mr. Woods. “Would you help me carry her home?”
“I’d be glad to,” said Professor Madison.
“Great,” said Whitney, watching the whole scene. “Listen, I’ve got to keep running, but hey, if I ever have a mystery that needs solving, I’ll think of you guys.” With a wave of her hand, she jogged out of the room. A moment later they heard the front door close.
Henry, Violet, Jessie, and Soo Lee helped Mr. Woods and Professor Madison put the cats into their cat carriers while Benny held Watch.
“How can I ever thank you?” asked Mr. Woods.
“Maybe we could come visit Spotzie and her friend some time?” asked Violet shyly.
Mr. Woods smiled cautiously at Violet. “I’d like that,” he told her. “You are all welcome to come visit anytime.”
Watch barked and Mr. Woods looked over at him. “You, too, Watch. But you’d better not chase any cats!”
“I won’t let him,” promised Benny, still holding on to Watch’s collar.
Mr. Woods and Professor Madison walked out the front door holding their cat carriers.
“Oh, good.” Violet sighed a happy sigh. “We found Spotzie.”
“And a home for the little cat,” said Soo Lee.
“And Mr. Woods found a new friend and so did Spotzie,” said Jessie.
“And we solved the mystery,” said Benny.
“We sure did, Benny,” said Henry. “We sure did!”
About the Author
GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER 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.