THE STRANGER
Nancy Drew, hoping that she had hit upon a genuine clue at last,
determined to lose no time in gathering evidence concerning Mary Mason.
Yet, in considering her next move she scarcely knew how to proceed.
Probably it would prove futile to question the girl, but she decided to
try the method at last.
Deciding not to wait until after luncheon, she hurried out to her
roadster. She started the motor, but before she could pull away Mrs.
Carter thrust her head out of the front window and called to her.
"Miss Nancy, if you're going down town will you stop at the corner
grocery and see why they haven't delivered the things I ordered?"
"All right, I will," Nancy promised, though she would have preferred
not to have been detained.
Reaching the neighborhood store, she stopped to do the errand. Upon
being assured that the groceries would be delivered immediately, she
went back to the roadster.
She was just stepping into it again when her attention was attracted to
a man who was walking down the opposite side of the street. Ordinarily,
she would not have given a stranger a second glance, but there was
something about this man that commanded her attention.
It was not his clothing which held her eyes, though he was dressed in
a flashy suit, but rather his entire bearing. The man walked with an
exaggerated swagger which unmistakably marked him as a tough.
From where she stood, Nancy Drew could not see the hard facial lines,
but quite without realizing it she took note of the man's hooked nose.
Walking rapidly, the stranger continued down the street. Watching him
more from curiosity than anything else, Nancy was about to turn away
when she saw something white flutter from his pocket.
[Illustration: NANCY SAW SOMETHING WHITE FLUTTER FROM HIS POCKET.]
"Oh! He lost something!" she thought. "Perhaps it's an important
letter! I'd better run after him and tell him!"
She dashed across the street and snatched up the bit of white. To her
disappointment it was only an old envelope which the stranger had
dropped.
"Sold, that time!" Nancy laughed.
She was on the verge of tossing the envelope into the gutter when she
noticed that it bore a name and address written in a cramped hand. She
scanned it carelessly and her eyes opened wider.
The name was "Mr. B. Mason" and the address was a street in Dockville.
"Mason! I wonder if he can be any relation to Mary Mason!"
Startled at the thought, she glanced down the street and was just in
time to see the man turn at the corner.
"I wonder where he's going?" she questioned. "I believe I'll see if I
can find out."
Hurrying after the man, she turned the corner and again caught sight of
him. Though she walked as swiftly as she could, she found it impossible
to overtake him.
"I believe he's heading for the interurban station," she decided.
Nancy had guessed correctly. A moment later the stranger turned in at
the station, disappearing inside the building.
"It will be simple to find out where he's going," Nancy told herself.
"I'll just saunter inside the station myself and wait until he buys his
ticket."
However, her plans were not destined to be carried into effect, for
at that moment a long, piercing whistle reached her ears. The people
standing on the platform began to gather up their packages and baggage,
and the stranger, who had just entered the station, came hurrying out.
Obviously, he had not had sufficient time to purchase a ticket.
Nancy began to run. She reached the tracks almost breathless, and
dashed across to the platform only an instant before the interurban
cars thundered into the station.
"All aboard," the conductor shouted.
The stranger was one of the first to enter the coach.
"Oh, I'd give a nickel to know where he's going," Nancy thought
desperately. "I know he didn't have time to buy a ticket."
"All aboard," the conductor called again, glancing inquiringly toward
her.
"I feel it in my bones he's some relation to Mary Mason. There wouldn't
be more than one Mason family in Dockville," Nancy went on to herself.
"If I let him get away I may have passed up a valuable clue."
She came to with a start as she saw that the train was slowly moving
out of the station. Forced to a sudden decision, she ran forward and
impulsively swung herself upon the last coach. The deed done, she
considered her action with a little misgiving.
"What a foolish thing to do!" she accused herself. "I probably won't
have enough money to take me where that man is going, and I'll land in
some town stranded. Then Dad will have to come after me and I'll get
the parental ha-ha!"
The train was still moving slowly and Nancy could have changed her
mind, but though she was not certain that she had done a wise thing,
she had no intention of turning back. Walking through the train she
caught sight of the stranger and slid into a seat directly behind him.
The man picked up a newspaper and fell to reading.
Peering over his shoulder, Nancy Drew observed that he turned to a page
on which there was a reference to the Willoughby robbery. He read the
item through and then tossed the paper aside.
Presently, the conductor came into the coach, taking up tickets.
Confronted with a situation which might prove embarrassing, Nancy Drew
dug down into her pocketbook. By rounding up all the nickels and dimes,
she found that she had exactly six dollars and eighty-five cents. Not a
great deal, but perhaps it would take her as far as she wanted to go.
To her relief, the conductor paused beside the stranger before coming
to her. She heard the man explain that he had not had time to buy a
ticket.
"Where to then?" the conductor demanded gruffly.
"Winchester."
In relief Nancy settled back into her seat. Winchester was a large city
some fifty miles from River Heights. She knew she would have enough
money to take her there and back easily.
When the conductor came to her she had her cash fare ready and received
her ticket without attracting the attention of the man she was
following.
"I hope he doesn't discover I'm trailing him," she thought. "If he
does, I won't learn a thing."
The man did not pay the slightest attention to her, but stared out of
the window with a blank expression. Some time later when the porter
called "Winchester" he sprang to his feet and hurried down the aisle to
be one of the first out of the coach. Nancy followed as closely as she
dared, but nearly lost him in the crowd on the station platform.
To her relief the man did not call a taxi, but set off on foot. Again
he walked rapidly, and it was all she could do to keep him in sight.
Nancy Drew had frequently visited Winchester and in general was
familiar with the city. She had not walked far until she became aware
that the stranger was leading her into the poorer section, a district
frequented by pawnbrokers, fences, criminals and down-and-outers. Once
the man she was following glanced around, and for a moment Nancy
thought that she must have been seen. But as he continued again she
decided that she had been mistaken.
She saw the man turn a corner, and hurried faster so as not to lose
sight of him. Turning the same corner a moment later she found to her
amazement that he had vanished.
"Now where could he have gone so quickly?" she asked herself. "He
couldn't have dodged into an alley, for there isn't one close."
The only alternative was that the man had entered one of the pawnbroker
shops along the street.
"I'll wait until he comes out," Nancy decided, with a chuckle. "Then,
after he's out of sight, I'll go in myself and give the pawnbroker
the third degree. Who knows? I may track down those jewels this very
afternoon!"
Nancy waited patiently for twenty minutes and then, because she was
attracting attention, crossed the street and walked a short distance
only to retrace her steps. She waited another fifteen minutes, and
still the stranger did not appear.
"I guess I've lost him," Nancy told herself, in disgust. "He probably
saw that I was following him and decided to give me the slip. No use
waiting any longer."
Because she was not willing to give up easily, she entered several of
the pawnbroker shops on the street and inquired if a man answering the
description she gave had been seen. Usually her polite question was
answered with an indifferent shrug of the shoulders, and at last Nancy
decided that she was wasting her time.
"Just the same, I believe that man went into one of those places," she
thought, as she slowly made her way back to the interurban station. "If
only I had been a trifle more alert I might have found out something
important."
Reaching the station, Nancy consulted a time-table and found that a
train for River Heights would leave in ten minutes. She bought her
ticket and sat down to wait, discouraged at the turn her adventure had
taken.
"Well, I don't consider the time wholly wasted, anyway," she defended
herself. "I'm more than ever convinced that I'm on a track that will
get me somewhere. To-morrow I'll drive to Dockville and see Mary Mason.
And if she isn't willing to tell me what I want to know, I'll find a
way to make her tell. I must solve that mystery of Lilac Inn!"