Another Surprise
For a full minute Nancy Drew stood staring blankly at the telegram in
her hand. She read it a second time, although she knew every word by
memory.
Worry assailed her anew. If her father had left Chicago two days before,
as the telegram indicated, he would have reached Cliffwood before this
even if he had come on the slowest train. Surely, something must have
happened to him en route. What had delayed him?
After a moment’s reflection, Nancy entered the house, intending to tell
the Turnbull sisters about the telegram and ask their advice. She was
destined never to carry the thought into action, for as she closed the
door behind her she heard a wild shriek from above. It seemed to come
from Floretta’s room.
Fearing the worst, Nancy sprang toward the stairs and took them two at a
time. Rosemary came running from the kitchen.
Reaching Floretta’s room, Nancy thrust open the door.
“What is it?” she cried.
Floretta stood in the center of the room, wringing her hands in anguish.
“My dresses have been stolen!”
“Your dresses?” Nancy echoed.
“Yes, while we were at breakfast. Someone entered my room and took three
of my best black silk dresses. And that isn’t the worst. Look up there!”
Wonderingly, Nancy turned her eyes toward a picture which hung over the
bed. What she saw caused her to gasp in astonishment.
On the frame perched two live canary birds!
“Oh!” Rosemary screamed. She had entered the room behind Nancy and her
eyes had fallen upon the picture frame.
“It’s wizardry!” Floretta moaned.
Cautiously, Nancy moved toward the picture.
“Don’t touch those birds,” Rosemary advised.
“Why, they’re only tame little canaries,” Nancy said, gently removing
one from the frame. “See!”
“Don’t bring that bird near me!” Floretta cried. “It’s an evil omen.”
“I never heard of a canary being called an omen of bad luck,” Nancy
returned, studying the bird curiously. “A canary is a rather happy
little bird. This one is, anyway.”
“Get them out of the house,” Floretta pleaded.
Obligingly, Nancy opened the window and set the two canaries free.
“How did they ever get in here, anyway?” Rosemary demanded. “We never
had a bird in our lives.”
Nancy was dumbfounded. Never had she heard of a more puzzling mystery.
Had the canaries been left in the room by the same person who had stolen
Floretta’s dresses? Unquestionably, the birds could not have flown in a
window, for they were kept carefully screened.
So many strange things had occurred in the house. Unexplainable music
and shadows, and the sound of footsteps in the night. Then a spoon had
disappeared, next a pocketbook, a diamond pin, an urn, and now
Floretta’s silk dresses.
Nancy lost no time in examining the closet and the walls of the room,
but she could find no clue which suggested in what manner an entrance
had been effected. Apparently, the windows had not been opened.
Nancy felt almost humiliated. She had promised to help Floretta and
Rosemary, and so far she had not even gained a clue! Many things had
happened under her very nose, and yet she had been unable to put her
hands on the thief. There must be an explanation for everything if only
she could think of it!
As she stood absorbed in her own unpleasant thoughts, a sudden idea came
to her.
“Do you know of anyone who wants to force you out of this house?” she
demanded.
Rosemary shook her head.
“Why, no. Why should anyone want to do that?”
“Is there anyone who wants to buy the house?”
“We’ve had several offers from real estate men. There’s some talk that
the city wants this house for a historical museum.”
“And the real estate men are trying to get it cheap in the hope of
selling to the city and making a neat profit for themselves,” Nancy
summarized shrewdly.
“That’s about it.”
“You don’t intend to sell?”
“We didn’t—until lately. At least not unless we could get our price for
it. Now, we’d be lucky to sell it for anything, I guess. No one wants a
haunted house.”
Nancy was eager to learn more, for now she felt that she had stumbled
upon her first clue. She was convinced that someone was trying to force
the Misses Turnbull from their home and, by frightening them, induce
them to sell The Mansion at a low figure.
“Who has tried to purchase the place?” she asked quickly.
“Well, there’s John O’Conley,” Floretta told her.
“What sort of man is he?”
“Oh, I’m sure he is honest. We’ve known him all our lives.”
“And there was H. D. Fellows, another real estate agent,” Rosemary added
thoughtfully. “He made us a very straightforward offer, but he wasn’t
willing to meet our price. However, he was very nice about it when we
told him we wouldn’t sell.”
“Were there any others?”
“Oh, Nathan Gombet! But we didn’t consider his offer seriously,”
Rosemary continued.
Nancy pricked up her ears at the information. Here was genuine news!
“Nathan Gombet!” she exclaimed. “What sort of an offer did he make you?”
“Oh, Gombet isn’t honest,” Floretta broke in feelingly. “We won’t have
anything to do with him any more. You see, he claimed we gave him an
option to buy our house for six thousand dollars.”
“Six thousand! Why, that’s ridiculous. Surely, you didn’t give such an
option?”
“Mercy, no! But Gombet claims we did.”
“The house is worth at least twenty thousand,” Rosemary declared. “And
if the city should decide to use it for a historical museum, we ought to
get even more than that for it.”
“I should think so,” Nancy agreed. “Gombet was trying to cheat you.”
“We never gave him any sort of option,” Floretta insisted. “We wouldn’t
do business with him at any price, because we couldn’t trust him. He
would cheat us out of our eye teeth!”
“How long ago did all this happen?”
“Oh, it must have been nearly a year ago,” Rosemary said, trying to
recall. “It was last spring.”
“The matter went to court?”
“No. Nathan Gombet threatened to make trouble and he said he would sue
us, but nothing ever came of it.”
“We had forgotten all about him until you brought up the subject,”
Floretta added.
“Then, have you heard nothing more from him since?”
“He threatened us once,” Rosemary told Nancy. “Said he would make us
sorry we hadn’t sold at his price. But nothing ever came of the threat.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Two or three months ago, I should judge.”
Nancy Drew nodded thoughtfully and relapsed into deep meditation. She
was now convinced that Nathan Gombet had some connection with the
mysterious things which had been going on in the old house. Perhaps he
was trying to frighten Rosemary and Floretta so that they would be glad
to sell at his price.
“Gombet hasn’t approached you with a new offer recently, has he?” she
asked.
Floretta shook her head.
“We haven’t seem him for some time, and we don’t want to either.”
“You don’t think Gombet has had anything to do with what has happened
lately, do you?” Rosemary questioned the girl.
“Of course I don’t know, but I’m beginning to suspect there may be a
connection,” Nancy returned. “At least, I intend to investigate that
line and see what it leads to.”
“To be sure, there’s nothing in Nathan Gombet’s character that would
prevent his using any underhand method to induce us to sell him this
house,” said Rosemary musingly. “Still, I don’t see what opportunity
he’s had to do what’s been done here. He hasn’t been near us for some
time, you know, Nancy.”
“That’s true,” replied the girl. “But someone must have made the
opportunity. Mr. Gombet has the motive and is so lacking in any sense of
honor that would keep him from injuring you in this way, that I believe
he furnishes the best lead to follow.”
With that she left the bedroom and went to her own room farther down the
hall. But as she sat by the window trying to think her way through the
jumble of information she had gleaned, she found it difficult to keep
her mind on the mystery.
After a time she took the crumpled telegram she had received earlier
that morning from her pocket and studied it again. How could she
interest herself in a mystery when her father was missing? What had
happened to him? Oh, if only she could answer that question!