"Arthur, Robert - The Three Investigators 001 - The Secret of Terror Castle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Arthur Robert)

“I could remember an ordinary message,” his
mother answered, “but Jupiter doesn’t leave ordinary
messages. It was something fantastic.”
“Jupiter likes unusual words,” Bob said. controlling
his impatience. “He’s read an awful lot of books and
sometimes he’s a little hard to understand.”
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“Not just sometimes!” his mother retorted. “He’s a
very unusual boy. My goodness, how he found my
engagement ring, I’ll never know.”
She was referring to the time the previous autumn
when she had lost her diamond ring. Jupiter Jones
had come to the house and requested her to tell him
every move she had made the day the ring was lost.
Then he had gone out to the pantry, and found the
ring behind a row of bottled tomato pickles. Bob’s
mother had taken it off and put it there while she was
sterilising the jars.
“I can’t imagine,” Mrs. Andrews said, “how he
guessed where that ring was!!”
“He didn’t guess, he figured it out,” Bob explained.
“That’s how his mind works . . . Mom, can’t you get
the message now?”
“In one minute,” his mother said, giving the dough
another flattening roll.
“Incidentally, what on earth was that story on the
front of yesterday’s paper about Jupiter’s winning the
use of a Rolls-Royce sedan for thirty days?”
“It was a contest the Rent-’n-Ride Auto Rental
Company had,” Bob told her. “They put a big jar full
of beans in their window and offered the Rolls-Royce
and a chauffeur for thirty days to whoever guessed
nearest to the right number of beans. Jupiter spent
about three days calculating how much space was in
the jar, and how many beans it would take to fill that
space. And he won . . . Mom, please, can’t you find
the message now?”
“All right,” his mother agreed. She began to wipe
the flour from her hands. “But what will Jupiter Jones
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do with a Rolls-Royce and a chauffeur, even for thirty
days?”
“Well, you see, we’re thinking——” Bob began, but
by then his mother wasn’t listening.
“These days a person can win almost anything,” she
was saying. “Why, I read about a woman who won a
houseboat on a television programme. She lives up in
the mountains, and she’s almost frantic, not knowing
what to do with it.” While she was talking, Mrs.
Andrews had taken a slip of paper from her pocket.