Henry helped violet spread the hops quilt across two chairs.
Then Jessie took a tiny pair of scissors out of a carrying case in her pocket. “Coral lent me these,” she explained.
She leaned over and began, very, very carefully to cut the threads that held the outside edges of the quilt together.
“What are you doing?” Lina exclaimed.
“Watch,” said Violet.
Jessie cut the seam down one side of the old quilt, then folded back the edges.
Tucked inside the hops quilt was another quilt — a beautiful, brilliantly colored quilt in a familiar pattern.
“It’s the Wedding Ring quilt!” said Benny.
Lina leaped up. “Let me get another pair of scissors!” she exclaimed.
Soon they had snipped all the knots that held the two sides of the old quilt together. Those knots had held the new quilt against the old quilt, inside of it.
At last the hidden quilt was revealed.
“Oh!” said Violet. “It’s even more beautiful than I thought it would be.”
“And look — here’s the date and your aunt’s initials,” Jessie pointed out.
“The same year as that last letter,” Henry said.
Lina gazed at the quilt in wonder. “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it,” she said over and over. “Hope must have hidden it away because it was too sad for her to look at it,” Violet guessed.
“But it also gave her comfort to have it near her,” Henry added. “That’s why the hops quilt covering is so worn — Hope loved it to pieces.”
“How did you ever figure this out?” Lina asked.
“We realized that a quilt could hide another quilt when we saw Coral making a quilted cover for a pillow,” Henry explained.
“And then Benny wanted a cover for Watch’s dog bed, because it is old and faded. That made me think of this old quilt, all worn and faded. And suddenly I wondered if the worn, faded quilt could be on the outside and another quilt could be inside,” Violet said.
“Look,” said Benny. He pointed to the quilt. “There’s an extra ring on that part.”
They all looked. Sure enough, a small green ring of fabric had been patched on top of the design on one corner of the quilt.
“How strange,” said Lina. “Why would Great-great-aunt Hope do that?”
Jessie reached out to touch the tiny green ring. “It’s lumpy,” she said.
“And hard,” added Violet, squeezing the corner.
“The rest of the quilt isn’t lumpy,” said Benny.
Henry said, “It feels like there’s something inside of it.”
“The ring!” exclaimed Violet. “The green ring the color of Hope’s eyes! Robert wasn’t writing about the quilt after all. He meant…” She took the scissors and knelt down. Before anyone could say anything, she had worked three tiny stitches loose. She slid her finger under the patch. She looked up. “It’s here,” she said.
Now Lina knelt down, too. She carefully and delicately cut the remaining stitches that held the small green circle onto the quilt. As the last stitch came free, a gold ring with a glinting green stone fell out.
“An emerald ring!” gasped Jessie.
“Great-great-aunt Hope’s engagement ring,” whispered Lina. “Green like her eyes. There was a hidden treasure, after all!”
“Two hidden treasures!” said Benny. “The ring and the quilt.”
“The quilt inside a quilt,” said Henry. “And the ring inside a ring,” said Violet. “A mystery inside a mystery,” agreed Jessie.
“And we solved them both,” said Benny.
The shop bell tinkled and Coral looked up. She beamed at the Aldens and at Lina, who stood in the doorway. “Come in, come in,” she said.
“We brought a copy of the newspaper for you to see,” said Benny.
“I’ve seen it! I’ve put it up on the wall!” said Coral, motioning.
On a bulletin board on one side of the shop was the article from the local newspaper. MYSTERY QUILT HOLDS HIDDEN TREASURE, the headline said, and in smaller letters, AND IS ONE, TOO, SAYS EXPERT.
“My name and my shop’s name are in the article,” Coral said, “for helping to solve the mystery. It’s been great for business.”
“How’s Mr. Grey’s business?” asked Lina.
“Ha! He’s put a FOR SALE sign in the window,” said Coral. She shook her head. “Who could believe a nice man like that could be so sneaky? And I heard Regina Lott has taken a job in another town.”
“I hope she’s learned that there are better ways to get a story than trying to steal one,” Henry said.
“Yes, because when she did that, she missed the biggest story of all,” said Violet.
“There’s going to be another story when they put the quilts on display at the museum,” said Jessie. “It was nice of you to let Mr. Munsey borrow them, Lina. But I’m glad you’ll be getting them back.”
Lina looked down at the emerald on her hand. “It’s what Great-great-aunt Hope would have wanted,” she said.
“We solved the mystery,” Benny said. “We’ve sewed this case up.”
Everyone laughed. “We sure have, Benny,” said Henry. “We sure have.” |