(#24) The Clue in the Old Album (15 page)

As Nancy’s hopes of help from her father faded, a woman quietly entered the trailer. She looked vaguely familiar.

“Have no fear of me,” she whispered. “I’m a friend. Once, when I heard Zorus say Anton and Nitaka were in New York and were going to send you a wicked present, I went to Hillcrest and phoned you a warning.”

“The doll with the sleeping drug in it?”

“Yes. And after you met Murko, I sent a blanket with a message. I was afraid for you.”

“And you tried to help me when I came to your camp with two girls,” Nancy recalled, now recognizing the woman. “You gave me the clue about ‘gypsy music fills the air.’ But who are you?”

“Can’t you guess?”

“Henrietta Bostwick! But that’s not a gypsy name.”

The woman nodded. “Old Zorus believes me to be one, though. He does not know my maiden name. That was why I left it on the blanket. He thinks that blanket was stolen and that pleases him.”

“Why do you stay here?” Nancy asked in a low voice.

“When I was young I ran away to marry a gypsy,” the woman explained. “I had to be one of them in order to stay with my husband. I darkened my skin and learned the Romany language so his people thought I came from another tribe. When my husband died, I wanted to run away, but I was afraid. Most gypsies are fine people, but there are evil members in this tribe, and they steal from the others. Whenever Zorus and his helpers plan to harm anyone, I do my best to warn them, as I did you.”

Nancy told the woman about finding an album in New York bearing her name, and of the help it had been in piecing bits of the puzzle together. “It was because of the ‘source of light’ quotation.”

“Oh, I wrote that in there one day when I heard Nitaka say it. The album was my mother’s. I kept it with me always,” Henrietta Bostwick said. “But it disappeared and I believe it was sold by Nitaka.”

“Why would Nitaka do this?”

“To raise money. She trades in dolls, too. Sometimes she buys and sells them; other times she steals and sells them.”

“But how did you get the two dolls that belonged to Enid Struthers? Didn’t Nitaka have them?”

“Yes. But I took them to give them to Rose, to whom they belong. I wanted to leave them in her trailer when no one would watch, with a note to hide them and never show them to anyone.”

Henrietta was silent a moment, then she added, “I will help you now if I can, but we must be very careful. Zorus has ordered this trailer watched. I dare remain only a moment.”

“Before you go, tell me about the doll,” Nancy requested.

The woman came very close to the girl, and spoke so softly Nancy could hardly hear her. “Some years ago Romano’s father found a strange substance at faraway Bear Claw Mountain. Though he was old and infirm, he seemed to feel better whenever he carried it with him. He never told anyone about it except Romano and Zorus.

“When he was about to die, he gave it to Romano. It was at the time that Romano married and was banished. Seven years later, Zorus became leader. He had a mad idea of becoming king of America and wanted to live forever. But Romano would not give him the curative substance, nor would he tell where it was. Finally Zorus had him kidnapped, but still he would say nothing. He has been held ever since by Zorus, under the threat that his wife and child would be harmed if he did not stay with the king and work for him.”

“No wonder Enid assumed he had left her,” Nancy said. “Does he know she died?”

“Yes, he found out recently.”

“And through his art, Romano has brought a lot of money to the tribe, hasn’t he?”

“Not to the tribe. To Zorus. The king takes everything. He is very clever. It was not until Zorus learned Enid Struthers had died that he sent Romano out to play the violin. By that time Romano had no idea where his daughter was and Zorus would not tell him.”

“But it was because of the threat to Rose’s life that he stayed with the tribe?”

“Yes. Yet, when he heard about Enid’s death he threatened to leave. That’s why Zorus finally demanded that the girl be brought here to keep him happy. But you foiled the first kidnap attempt.”

“Is that why Zorus instructed everyone not to talk to me?”

“Yes, especially people who worked outside the camp, like Murko and Romano. Anton is a good artist. He painted a picture of you and showed it around. But eventually they did get Rose. You know she’s here, don’t you?”

“Yes. That’s part of the reason why I came. But it seemed Romano did not know about his daughter.”

“He has not yet been told. There is to be a ceremony to reunite Rose with her father.”

Nancy changed the subject. “Tell me, how did Zorus find out where Romano had hidden the strange substance?”

“Quite by accident. He sent Nitaka to Enid Struthers with a forged note from Romano saying that he wanted to return to his wife. In proof of her desire to see him, Enid was to send him the precious substance. Enid then gave her the dolL Oh, Nitaka is clever, but wicked.”

A voice from outside the tent suddenly warned that Zorus was returning.

“I must go!” Henrietta Bostwick murmured.

Barely had the woman disappeared when Zorus and four other men came in.

“The girl goes in the first car!” Zorus ordered. “Next Romano. Then the child.”

Struggling, Nancy was carried outside. She was bound and a handkerchief was tied across her mouth. Then she was put down on the floor of a waiting truck, with a blanket thrown over her.

With a sinking heart, Nancy felt the truck begin to move to an unknown destination !

CHAPTER XX

Two Victories

FOR HALF an hour Nancy was tossed about on the floor of the moving truck, before she managed to get herself on top of the blanket. But the vibrations and the handkerchief across her mouth made her feel ill.

“Oh, if only Dad could have reached me in time!” she told herself over and over.

Then, just as Nancy felt as if she would faint, the truck halted abruptly. The back door was jerked open, and a man jumped inside. He was a state police officer!

“Here she is!” he cried out, cutting the cords that bound Nancy. He helped the girl to her feet. Then she saw her father, who lifted his daughter out of the truck and embraced her.

“Oh, Dad, I thought you’d never come!” she said, hugging him hard. When he finally set her down, she asked, “Did a taxi driver phone you about me?”

“Yes,” Mr. Drew replied grimly. “When I heard you’d sent for me I had a hunch I’d better move fast. I came by helicopter and landed at the Aiken field. On the way I decided I’d better bring the police with me.”

“How did you find out where they were taking me?” Nancy asked.

“A Henrietta Bostwick at the camp whispered the secret to me,” her father explained.

Nancy told her story to him and the police. As a result, Zorus, Anton, and Nitaka were jailed. After Rose and Romano were found and freed, they went with the Drews. In Aiken Nancy called Mrs. Struthers to tell her that Rose was safe, and to ascertain that Bess and George had abandoned the search for her and were on their way home by train. They had phoned Mr. Drew and learned that he was on his way to rescue his daughter.

Rose and her father rode to River Heights in Nancy’s car. The beautiful doll that had caused so much trouble lay in a box beside them on the back seat.

Presently Nancy turned to Romano and said, “Mr. Pepito, before your wife passed away she left a request that Mrs. Struthers find a doll for Rose. Was it the bridal doll, and does it contain an energy-giving substance?”

“It contains a secret substance, which I believe has a curative value. I told Enid never to part with the doll, in case its contents were commercially valuable. Music interested me more than business, so I never investigated it, or tried to find any more of the material at Bear Claw Mountain. I believe Enid must have felt that there might be a source of income in it for Rose.”

To spare the man’s feelings, Nancy changed the subject and told Romano about his daughter’s talent as a violinist and dancer. Rose, in the back seat with him, had not taken her eyes from her father’s face. Subdued by her experience, she seemed to have suddenly become a quiet, well-behaved child.

“You’re coming to Granny’s with me, aren’t you?” she asked him, taking his hand in her own.

“You’re sure she wants me to?”

Nancy turned and smiled. “Mrs. Struthers told me on the phone she’s waiting for you both with open arms.”

When they reached the Struthers residence, Rose tried to induce the Drews to come in, but they tactfully refused, and left Romano and his daughter at the gate.

“I’ll come to see you in a few days,” Nancy told the Pepitos as she waved good-by. “I hope to have a surprise for you then. There’s still part of the mystery I hope to dear up.”

After submitting to Hannah Gruen’s affectionate care, Nancy tumbled into bed and slept for ten hours. When the young sleuth woke up, she felt completely refreshed. Bess and George arrived just as Nancy was getting out of bed.

“So you finally solved the mystery without us,” said George accusingly.

“Tell us all about it,” Bess pleaded. “Weren’t you scared silly?”

“I’m afraid I was.” Nancy laughed, and related the highlights of her capture and release.

Three days later she received word that Tony Wassell, the last of the crooks to confess, had broken down that morning and admitted all Nancy’s accusations. She immediately called Bess and George to tell them, and suggested that they all go out to the Struthers home. The cousins agreed.

As the girls rode along, they talked to a woman with them. No one would have recognized her. She was quietly and becomingly dressed. Her hair was neatly arranged and her skin soft and white.

“Nancy, I wonder if Romano will know me,” she said as the car stopped. “Oh, I’m so happy, and so indebted to you. I can hardly wait to start the job you got me at the knitting shop. Here comes Rose,” she added, as the girl ran down the front walk to meet them.

“The most wonderful thing has happened, Nancy!” Rose cried out. “My father saw his friend Alfred Blackwell, and he listened to me play. He fixed it so Dad and I will be together on TV!”

“That’s wonderful!” Nancy smiled, giving the girl a hug and introducing the woman with her. “This is Mrs. Bostwick. And here are all the stolen dolls,” she added, handing Rose a package the police had given her. “Suppose you put them in place for your grandmother.”

In the house Mrs. Struthers was talking happily to her son-in-law. She greeted the callers while Romano gazed unbelievingly at the transformation in the erstwhile gypsy woman, Henrietta Bostwick.

“We owe so much to Nancy,” he said. “We never can repay her.”

“Perhaps we can a little bit,” said Mrs. Struthers. “Nancy, did you bring.... ?”

From her purse the girl took an envelope the police had found at the gypsy camp, and dropped several sparkling gems into her hostess’s hand.

“Choose the one you like best for a ring,” Mrs. Struthers directed.

“Oh, no, please,” Nancy pleaded. “My reward is in having everything turn out so well.”

“You did a great job, Nancy,” Bess spoke said.

She began thinking of what Nancy’s next case might involve. Bess would have shuddered had she known of the narrow escape her friend was to have in her encounter with
The Ghost of Blackwood Hall.

At this moment Nancy, quite unaware of this, said to Mrs. Struthers, “These gems belong in the old album. I’d rather put them back there than keep any.” She smiled. “Do you know that if Anton had stolen the beautiful old album instead of merely the jewels, I might never have solved the mystery?”

“If you hadn’t used the clue in it of the photograph, you would have solved the mystery with the ‘source of light’ note,” said George loyally. “By the way, who wrote that note?”

“Nitaka sent it to Rose’s mother after she took the doll,” Nancy explained. “It was to notify her the doll would not be returned.”

Nancy had brought along a pair of jewelers’ pliers and as she prepared to put the gems back into the filigree work, Mrs. Struthers said, “Nancy, I insist you have a keepsake to remind you of this mystery. Would you like one of the dolls?”

“Oh, don’t give her that wicked sword doll!” Rose exclaimed.

“No.” Mrs. Struthers laughed. “But perhaps Nancy would like to have the fan doll. Would you, Nancy?”

“I’d love it!” Nancy exclaimed. “And I’ll treasure it always. Oh,” she added, “I have something else for you, Mrs. Struthers.”

Nancy opened her purse and handed the woman another envelope, rather mussed but with its wax seal unbroken. The woman’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at it.

“The photograph and the letter stolen from my purse!” she exclaimed.

“No one has looked at them.” Nancy smiled. “Not even Tony Wassell, who left them in his suitcase at the gypsy camp. So their secret is still yours, Mrs. Struthers.”