The Secret of Casa GrandeMexican Mystery Stories #1
city,” Dr. Blackwell remarked as they were eating their dessert. “I’ve arranged for Felipe to take you for a drive this afternoon. I’d thought I’d be able to accompany you, but a doctor’s time’s never his own, so I’ll have to depend on Florence and Felipe to show you the city.”

“That’ll be fine!” exclaimed Peggy. “But we’re sorry you can’t go with us. Aren’t we, Jo?”

Jo Ann nodded an emphatic assent and then went on to remark to Dr. Blackwell, “We saw something very interesting this morning—the old church back of your house. I’ve been reading early American history a good deal lately, and this church seems very much the same type as the old missions in California.”

“Well, well!” smiled Dr. Blackwell in surprise. “I thought the modern young girl used her pretty head solely for thinking of frocks and furbelows.”

Peggy laughed. “Jo Ann hates dress-up clothes. She’d live in jodhpurs or knickers and shirts, if her mother didn’t make her get out of them occasionally. Jo’s enthusiastic over horses and dogs and swimming, but her chief hobby is nosing around old buildings.”

“There’s so much mystery and romance connected with historic buildings,” Jo Ann put in, shining-eyed.

“If you’re looking for mystery and romance,” Dr. Blackwell remarked, “there’s plenty of it to be found in this part of the country—that is, if you can only find the key to unlock it. I’ve been so busy studying the ancient system of sanitation—or lack of it—that I’ve had no time for anything of that sort.”

“If you get Jo started along that line she’ll never stop,” put in Peggy with a teasing glance at Jo Ann.

Dr. Blackwell smiled. “Then I’ll turn her over to a friend of mine—a prominent lawyer, who’ll be delighted to discuss the early history of this country with her. You know whom I mean, Florence—Señor Rodriguez.”

Florence nodded.

“He has the best equipped library in the city,” continued the doctor, “and you can dig into the past to your heart’s content, Miss Jo.”

“That’ll be wonderful!” cried Jo Ann excitedly. “I know I’ll enjoy meeting him and seeing his library. I adore books—especially about old historic buildings.”

As they rose from the table Peggy remarked, “Jo and I want to run across the Plaza to buy some postcards 
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