The Secret in the Old Attic (15 page)

“Next I looked for a stairway from the second attic,” Trott said. “Fipp had talked a lot about his childhood in the old house. Once when he was playing in the servants’ section he discovered a door which didn’t look like a door. It opened onto a narrow stairway leading up toward the section of attic above the servants’ quarters. I found the hole in the floor and went down. Later I put the piano-desk over it.”

Trott said that after his discovery he had secretly entered the March house by this means. He had terrified Effie, and his footsteps had echoed weirdly through the old mansion. In vain the man had searched for the missing music. To his surprise the drawer below the piano keys had opened, revealing two songs. It was then that Trott had dropped the telltale note that Nancy had found.

He turned the musical compositions over to Horace Dight, who had them published under the names of Ben Banks and Harry Hall. The songs quickly became popular. Bushy Trott determined to find all of Fipp’s creations.

Trott was convinced that the music must be hidden somewhere in the piano-desk. As he continued to search, he became alarmed, thinking that he might be caught, because Nancy and her friends came with increasing frequency to the attic.

Cunningly Trott decided to frighten everyone away. He bored a hole through the secret door back of the wardrobe and also through the wardrobe itself. Then he released a deadly black widow spider from its bottle. It had later crawled through the tiny opening and bitten Effie.

“I was desperate,” Trott said.

Nancy asked, “What about Horace Dight?”

Nancy learned that he was so pleased by the success of the stolen songs that he urged Trott to find other compositions for him. The publisher had never suspected anything illegal and first found out that his client was not the composer when he talked with Nancy at the March mansion.

“The men had words,” Trott revealed, “and there were threats on both sides. But finally Mr. Jenner agreed to keep the matter a secret, since he was making money on the musical hits.”

Horace Dight, now in Trott’s clutches, aided the man in various other crimes. He sent him to his gullible cousin, Lawrence Dight, and planned to profit handsomely from the sale of the stolen silk-making process.

Due to the astuteness of Nancy and her father, both Horace Dight and Riggin Trott would now be out of circulation for some time. Diane’s father, who knew nothing of his cousin’s criminal activities, had agreed to pay royalties to Mr. Booker for the use of his formula. The two men were also considering a company merger which would be equitable to both.

One day as Nancy was discussing the forthcoming dance at Emerson College with Bess and George, a parcel arrived for her from the Booker factory.

“Would you like to see what I’m going to wear to the Emerson dance?” she asked Bess and George, her eyes sparkling. “Come up to my room and we’ll open this.”

The three girls went upstairs. From the box Nancy brought out a pale-yellow evening dress, soft and beautiful in texture.

“Oh!” Bess cried. “I never saw anything lovelier. Where did you get it?”

“Mr. Booker sent it to me. He’s a client of Dad’s.” Nancy wished she might tell her friends more, but she had promised the manufacturer she would not divulge his secret.

“I’ll bet you helped your dad on a case,” George said wisely, “and this is your reward.”

“You’re right,” Nancy admitted.

Bess chuckled. “Ask your father if he has a mystery for me to solve with the same reward!”

The girls laughed, then Nancy said, “Anyway, the next mystery I have I’ll share with you.”

True to her word, Bess and George were invited to join Nancy in solving another perplexing case,
The Clue in the Crumbling Wall.

A couple of days later Mr. Drew said to his daughter, “You’ve made two firm friends. I just stopped in to call on Mr. March and Susan. Mr. Jenner has agreed to compensate them for Fipp’s stolen songs, and my friend Hank Hawkins is going to publish all the other compositions. The Marches are delighted and you should hear all the wonderful things they had to say about you!”

“I’m glad to have helped them.” Nancy smiled modestly. “And it was exciting to hunt for clues in the spooky old attic.”

“Nevertheless it took courage,” her father replied. “If you hadn’t had it, you never would have discovered the attic’s secrets.”