The Phantom of Pine Hill Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Phantom Thefts

  CHAPTER II - The Shipwreck

  CHAPTER III - Photo Finish

  CHAPTER IV - Mysterious Thumbprints

  CHAPTER V - Two Spies

  CHAPTER VI - A Revengeful Spook

  CHAPTER VII - The Perplexed Chief

  CHAPTER VIII - Indian Attack

  CHAPTER IX - Ancient Stump

  CHAPTER X - The Camouflaged Door

  CHAPTER XI - Treasure Hunters

  CHAPTER XII - A Frightening Message

  CHAPTER XIII - The Cave Clue

  CHAPTER XIV - Puzzling Characters

  CHAPTER XV - Telltale Grass

  CHAPTER XVI - Stolen Coin Collection

  CHAPTER XVII - Scuba Scare

  CHAPTER XVIII - Secret Key Maker

  CHAPTER XIX - An Amazing Passageway

  CHAPTER XX - The Restored Treasure

  THE PHANTOM OF PINE HILL

  WHEN Nancy Drew, together with her two close friends, arrive for the Emerson University June Week celebration and learn there has been a mix-up in their motel reservations, the confusion leads to a baffling mystery.

  Uncle John Rorick, a descendant of the early settlers of the town of Emerson, invites the three girls to be his guests at his historic mansion on Pine Hill. Shortly after their arrival, he tells them about the phantom who haunts the mansion’s library. Uncle John also relates the weird family saga of a lost French wedding gown and valuable gifts which went to the bottom of a nearby cove in the sinking of the Lucy Belle a hundred years before. Could there possibly be some connection between the phantom and the old ship disaster? Nancy wonders.

  In between enjoying the university’s June Week boat races, river pageant, and fraternity dances, Nancy and her friends work diligently to solve the mystery of Pine Hill and to find the long-lost wedding treasures.

  The exciting climax will be as much of a thrill for the reader as it was for the famous teen-age detective herself.

  “It’s the phantom again!” Mrs. Holman exclaimed

  Copyright © 1993, 1965 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group,

  New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.

  NANCY DREW MYTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster,

  Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 65-13774

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07743-6

  2008 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Phantom Thefts

  NANCY Drew stared incredulously at the motel clerk. “But I made reservations!”

  The man shrugged. “Sorry. No vacancy. We’re jammed with visitors for Emerson University’s June Week.”

  The two girls with Nancy looked despairingly at their attractive, titian-haired friend. One, George Fayne, dark-haired and boyish, declared, “The motel can’t get away with this!”

  Blond, pretty Bess Marvin, George’s cousin, asked in a worried tone, “What will we do, Nancy?”

  “Here comes our answer—Ned Nickerson!”

  A handsome, athletic young man was striding toward them, grinning broadly. He and two fraternity brothers had invited the girls for the long weekend. After greeting Ned, Nancy told him about their reservation problem.

  “I’ll find rooms for you,” Ned assured the girls, “if Nancy wants to solve a mystery while she’s here.”

  “Of course I do!” she exclaimed.

  Ned went to a lobby phone booth and dialed a number. After a few minutes’ conversation he rejoined the girls, his eyes twinkling.

  “I called the uncle of one of our young professors. He lives a short distance out of town in a fine old house on Pine Hill—it’s a big place with grounds that run down to the river. He’s an elderly bachelor and has a housekeeper.”

  “Yes. Go on,” Nancy urged.

  “His name is John Rorick, but everyone calls him Uncle John. He likes young people and we fellows go there often.”

  Bess spoke up. “We’re to stay at his house?”

  “Yes. Uncle John was eager to have you girls as guests when I told him Nancy is an amateur detective with two fine assistants. Queer things have been happening out there lately.”

  Bess looked concerned. “Do you mean we may be getting into something dangerous? Dave invited me up here to have fun.”

  “That’s why Burt asked me,” said George. “But what’s the mystery?”

  Ned whispered, “All you have to do is catch the phantom of Pine Hill!”

  “Catch the what?” Bess cried out. “A spook?”

  “Uncle John will tell you all about the phantom. I’ll phone Burt and Dave of the change in plans, then drive you to Pine Hill.”

  The girls’ luggage was put back in Nancy’s convertible and the group piled in, with Ned at the wheel. They drove through the pretty, tree-shaded little university town which lay at the end of a cove on a tributary of the Ohio River. Presently they turned down a side road and could see the glistening water in the distance.

  “Part of the June Week entertainment will bea pageant in the cove depicting the life of the early settlers in the Ohio Valley,” Ned told the girls. “Burt and Dave and I will be in it.”

  “We’ll get front-row seats,” Bess said. With a dimpled giggle, she added, “I can’t wait to see you boys in costumes. What are you going to wear?”

  “That’s a secret,” Ned replied. “But we’ll wow you!” In a few minutes he called out, “Here we are!”

  He swung left into a curving driveway and pulled up at the front entrance of the Georgian Colonial house The door was opened by a tall, white-haired man with bright blue eyes.

  “Hello, Ned!” he called. “This is my lucky day. A bevy of beautiful girl detectives!”

  Ned introduced them and at once the elderly man said, “Call me Uncle John. And welcome to my home.” He stepped aside and his housekeeper appeared. “This is Mrs. Holman, my right-hand man!”

  “Thank you,” the three chorused, laughing, and Nancy added, “It is very kind of you to let us come here. In return I’ll try hard to capture your phantom.”

  She was thinking, “Mrs. Holman is so much like our Hannah!” Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ housekeeper, had helped Mr. Drew, a busy, well-known lawyer, rear Nancy since she was three, when her mother had died. Nancy and Hannah were the closest of confidantes.

  The trio’s luggage was carried inside. From the moment the girls stepped over the threshold, they felt at home. The large center hall of oak-paneled side walls and the graceful spiral stairway, all heavily carpeted, lent a welcoming atmosphere.

  Nancy noticed, however, that the door to a room at the left of the hallway had a stout padlock on it. Was this because of the phantom? she wondered.

  Ned announced that he had to return to the university. Nancy offered to drive him there, but Ned said that the girls just had time to unpack and dress for the late-afternoon party at his fraternity house.

  “I’ll hop a bus at the next road. Be seeing you!”

  After he had gone, Mrs. Holman led the way upstairs to two adjoining rear bedrooms. They had been newly decorated with Colonial-style wallpaper, in keeping with the lovely old four-poster beds and hooked rugs. Nancy put her bag in the smaller room, then joined her friends and the housekeeper.

  “Isn’t it charming!” Bess exclaimed.

  Nancy hurried to a window and sighed in delight. Below was a garden of roses in a wide expanse of lawn. Back of this stood a large grove of pine trees with the sparkl
ing water beyond.

  “That’s Settlers’ Cove,” Mrs. Holman explained. “In the 1700’s Mr. Rorick’s ancestors came down the river on a flatboat and landed here. They put their log cabin up on Pine Hill because of the lovely view. Later they built this house.”

  Crowning the hill across the cove were the sprawling buildings of Emerson University.

  “What a marvelous sight!” Nancy exclaimed.

  “It used to be beautiful at night, too, when the moon was out,” said Mrs. Holman. “But now—” As the housekeeper paused, Nancy thought she detected a frightened expression. The girls waited for Mrs. Holman to finish the sentence. Finally, with fear in her voice, she burst out, “Now the phantom flits among the trees like a giant firefly.”

  “You’ve seen it?” Nancy asked, intrigued.

  “No, but he’s there all right. I’ll have Mr. Rorick tell you the rest. Come down when you’re ready.” She left the room.

  Curious to hear more of the mystery, the girls quickly hung up their dresses and went downstairs. Uncle John Rorick met them at the foot of the stairway and escorted his guests through an open doorway to their left into the living room. It ran the full depth of the house and was attractively furnished with fine eighteenth-century pieces.

  Uncle John motioned his guests to tapestried chairs. Smiling, he said, “I dare say you want to learn about the phantom of Pine Hill. Apparently he wants something in my library. That’s the locked room across the hall. The first time I noticed books out of place I made sure the windows were locked and put a padlock on the door. Despite these precautions, the intruder got in and has kept right on entering mysteriously!”

  “It certainly sounds weird,” George declared. “Do you have any clues?”

  “Not one.” Uncle John chuckled. “Mrs. Holman declares he must be a phantom and come through our walls!”

  Nancy asked Mr. Rorick if he kept any money in his library. He nodded but said he had never missed any. “I must confess though,” Uncle John went on, “I may have overlooked something. I’m pretty forgetful.” He added, “It gives me a creepy feeling to know there’s a ghostly visitor in my home.”

  “Oh goodness, yes,” Bess agreed. “I hope I never see this phantom. I’ll lock my door and cover my head at night!”

  The others laughed and Nancy said, “I hope I’ll meet this apparition. I’m sure he’s a real live person. What we must find out right now is how he enters the library.”

  “Right now,” said Bess, “we’d better dress for the Omega Chi Epsilon party.”

  Reluctantly Nancy agreed. “But I’ll start work on the mystery as soon as possible,” she declared.

  A short time later the three girls, wearing pretty afternoon dresses, drove off to the campus. The fraternity house held a gay, chattering crowd of students and girls, sipping cool drinks and eating tiny sandwiches. Nancy, Bess, and George knew many of the young people from previous parties. They were whisked from group to group by their dates.

  Like Ned, Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans were athletic and played on the football team. Burt was husky and blond, while Dave, who had fair hair and green eyes, was rangy.

  Presently a thin young man about twenty-five years old, with a slightly sagging jaw and wearing an ill-fitting waiter’s coat, came toward the group. He was carrying a tray of pink lemonade on the palm of one hand, and grinning in a rather silly fashion at the guests. As he reached Nancy the glasses suddenly slid. The waiter tried to save them, but the next moment they showered their contents onto Nancy, then crashed to the floor.

  Ned said angrily, “Why don’t you watch what you’re doing, Fred!”

  “I’m sorry,” the young man mumbled. He began to gather up the broken glass.

  Nancy looked in dismay at her white dress, the front now stained and wet. “I’ll have to go home and change,” she told Ned.

  At once he offered to drive her to Pine HilL When they reached the house, Uncle John and Mrs. Holman met them and were annoyed upon hearing of the accident.

  “Fred Jenkins did it,” Ned explained. “He works for you sometimes, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes,” the housekeeper replied. “Fred’s clumsy here, too, but I’ve grown used to him. Can I help you, Nancy?”

  “Oh no. Thank you, anyhow.” She hurried up the stairway, took off her dress, and put on a flowered print. “I think I’ll wear my pearl necklace,” Nancy decided, and reached into the pocket of her suitcase for the box. She opened it, then gasped.

  The pearl necklace was gone!

  Nancy closed her eyes for a moment, refusing to believe the truth. A thought instantly came to her. Had the phantom stolen her jewelry?

  She returned the empty box, closed the bag, and slowly went downstairs. Nancy hated to tell Mr. Rorick what had happened but felt it her duty to do so in view of the other mysterious happenings at the house. Uncle John, Mrs. Holman, and Ned were astounded and immediately Mr. Rorick said he would pay for a new necklace.

  “Why don’t you watch what you’re doing, Fred!” Ned said angrily

  “That won’t be necessary because Dad insured it,” Nancy said. “But don’t you think the police should be notified?”

  “I suppose so. I’ll attend to that. You run back to your party.”

  After Nancy had written out a description of the necklace, she and Ned drove away. He said sympathetically, “You’ve had a lot more excitement today than you bargained for!”

  She smiled. “I loved it—except about my neck lace.”

  After the fraternity party was over, Nancy’s friends went to a country restaurant to have dinner and dance. It was midnight by the time the three girls reached home and tumbled into bed.

  Nancy fell asleep immediately, but later a creaking sound awakened her.

  “Someone’s walking around downstairs,” she thought, and in an instant was out of bed, thrusting her arms into a robe.

  Nancy tiptoed into the dark hall and looked down the spiral stairway. At first there was only silence, then suddenly a door squeaked. In a few moments a shadow moved through the hall past the front windows. Then it disappeared.

  The young sleuth pondered for several seconds on what to do. Should she arouse the others in the house? But this would alert the intruder, she knew, and he would escape.

  “I’d better go alone and learn what I can!” Nancy decided, and cautiously started down the stairs.

  CHAPTER II

  The Shipwreck

  WHEN Nancy reached the first floor she stood motionless. There was not a sound. Was someone watching her? She felt a chill race down her spine.

  Then softly a door closed. From the location of the sound she judged it to be the outside kitchen door. Her eyes completely adjusted to the dimness, Nancy tiptoed around the staircase to an open door which led into the kitchen.

  Through a window Nancy had a clear view of the moonlit garden and lawn. No one was hurrying away. Was she too late to see the intruder? And where had he gone?

  Just then Nancy noticed a tiny light bobbing in the grove of pine trees, and recalled Mrs. Holman’s remarks about the phantom. “I wonder if he’s the person who was in the house,” Nancy thought, “or was it someone else?”

  She overcame a desire to go outside and investigate. Although brave, the young detective tried not to take unnecessary chances. Nevertheless, from her first case, The Secret of the Old Clock to her most recent, The Clue of the Whistling Bag-pipes, she had often met danger while sleuthing.

  After making sure the intruder had not unlatched the rear and front doors or any windows, Nancy went back to bed. Despite her interrupted sleep, she was the first one awake in the morning. After bathing and dressing, she hurried downstairs to examine the house for clues to the intruder.

  The padlock on the library door was still in place. “He certainly couldn’t have gone in there,” Nancy thought. “Since he didn’t pass me near the staircase, he couldn’t have doubled back into the kitchen.”

  Only one door remained—the open one to the left
at the rear of the hall. Nancy walked through the doorway into a charming, completely pine-paneled dining room. The big mahogany table in the center was flanked with graceful chairs. Fine old porcelain pieces lined the plate rail.

  On the wall adjoining the library was a large brick fireplace with a mantelshelf. Candles in brass holders stood at each end of it.

  An open door on the opposite wall led into a butler’s pantry, and from there Nancy stepped into the kitchen. “I’m sure this was the phantom’s route,” she thought. “Maybe I scared him off!”

  At that moment Mrs. Holman came into the kitchen. When she heard about the intruder, the housekeeper became upset. “It’s dreadful—the goings-on here! But I can’t make the police believe anything’s wrong. I sometimes think they suspect me!”

  “Oh, I’m sure they don’t,” Nancy said reassuringly.

  As Mrs. Holman started to prepare breakfast, Nancy said she wanted to check something, then would be right back to help. She hurried to the fireplace in the dining room, leaned down, and tapped its sooty brick walls. Nancy hoped to detect a hollow area that might mean a secret entrance to the library, but found nothing.

  Just as she and Mrs. Holman had breakfast ready, Mr. Rorick, Bess, and George came downstairs. The elderly man was dressed for traveling and told the girls he was leaving for a class reunion at his college several hundred miles away.

  He chuckled. “I expect you to have my mystery solved by the time I get back,” he said.

  “I hope I can,” Nancy answered.

  After they sat down at the table, Nancy told the others what had happened the night before. They were astounded and Uncle John remarked, “It may have been a real burglar instead of our phantom.”

  “I don’t think so,” Mrs. Holman spoke up. “None of the silver is missing. I checked when I set the table.”

  Bess dug a spoon into her grapefruit. “I don’t know which is worse—burglars or spooks. I just hope both of them leave me alone!”

  When the group finished breakfast, Mr. Rorick said he would give the key to the library padlock to Mrs. Holman so his “girl detective force” could investigate at any time.