The Sign of the Twisted Candles Page 5

  The old man looked at the spot in amazement. “Why, no, of course not. What do you know about it?”

  Nancy told her story and added, “I hope I did the right thing. Anyway, here is the receipt.” She took it from her handbag and handed it to Mr. Sidney.

  “You certainly used your head,” the old man told her. “Thanks.” Then he chuckled. “Outwitting Jemitt, who’s three times your age, is an accomplishment. You’re proud of her, aren’t you, Mr. Drew?”

  The lawyer looked grave. “This is a very serious matter, Nancy. I’m relieved that everything turned out all right, but I think we should ask Jemitt for an explanation of his action.”

  He went downstairs and a few minutes later returned with the manager of The Twisted Candles. Frank Jemitt was told about the chest.

  A look of fright came over his face for the fraction of a second, then he said smoothly, “Sure I took the chest. Mr. Sidney slept later than usual and I was afraid those conniving relatives of his would come up here and steal it. I assume the contents are valuable?”

  Asa Sidney did not reply. He seemed to be lost in thought.

  Nancy and her father exchanged glances. They doubted Jemitt’s story but had to admit his motive might have been an honest one.

  “All right, Frank,” Asa Sidney said finally, “I accept your explanation, but don’t take anything more out of this house.”

  The innkeeper bowed and without a word hurried off.

  Asa Sidney said to the Drews, “There are valuable papers and some silver pieces in the chest.” Nancy had speculated correctly. After a pause he added, “I realize I am at a great disadvantage being up here alone. Perhaps I depend too much on Carol to keep me informed on the management downstairs.”

  Nancy thought, “And Carol’s too considerate to upset him by telling about the way she’s treated and the run-down condition of the inn.”

  A faraway look came into the old man’s eyes. “It is my turn to reveal a secret. My memory isn’t what it used to be. My dear wife and I had camouflaged cupboards built in this house and hid many things of hers and mine in them, but I’ve forgotten where they are. She took hers away. Let’s hope the rest haven’t been found and stolen. I hereby appoint you, Nancy, and Carol—and your friends Bess and George—to do some searching. But one word of caution. It must be done without the knowledge of the Jemitts.”

  “Oh, I’d love that!” Nancy exclaimed. “Okay, Dad?” Her father nodded approval and she grinned happily. “But I’ll have to eat an awful lot of meals here and call on you very often to make my sleuthing look natural.”

  “Remember,” the old man warned, “secrecy! Secrecy!”

  CHAPTER IX

  Doubtful Friendship

  MR. DREW said he would meet Nancy downstairs —he wanted to speak to Frank Jemitt before leaving. His daughter lingered to ask Asa Sidney a few questions.

  “Please tell me which bedroom you and your wife used to occupy.”

  “The master bedroom at the east end of the hall overlooking the driveway.”

  “Do the Jemitts use it now?” Nancy queried.

  “No, they’ve taken one at the west end. Carol’s is opposite theirs. Mine and two others used to be given to travelers, but no guests have been here for a couple of years. Emma said the place was making enough money without it.”

  Nancy made no comment. Instead she asked, “Would there be any special way to identify the hiding places of the articles?”

  “Oh yes. By the design of a twisted candle. It is also on boxes and chests.”

  “That will make it easy,” Nancy said.

  With a sudden feeling of affection and pity for the old man, she kissed him and said good-by, promising to start her search the next day.

  At the front porch Nancy came upon another dramatic scene and stepped back a couple of feet into the hall so as not to intrude. Her father was talking to Frank Jemitt, whose back was against an open window in the dining room.

  “What was your income from the pastureland last year?” Mr. Drew was saying.

  “Only about two hundred dollars.”

  “Did you give Mr. Sidney an accounting of it?”

  “I spent the money fixing up the place.”

  “In general repairs to the building, or in the restaurant equipment?” Mr. Drew asked.

  “I—I forget,” Jemitt said, wiping his brow. “General repairs, of course. Sure, that’s right.”

  “The house hasn’t been painted,” Mr. Drew commented. “The grounds are in bad shape. What improvements did you make?”

  “Say, I’m not on the witness stand!” Jemitt snarled. “I’m not going to answer questions you got no business asking. If you think there’s anything crooked going on, maybe you’re right. Keep an eye on those two guys who were here this morning.”

  Nancy had stood so quietly that she had not been noticed by Mrs. Jemitt, who had sneaked in from the kitchen. The woman cautiously took up a position at the window near her husband.

  As Mr. Drew paced up and down the porch, Mrs. Jemitt, using the drapery for concealment, whispered something to Mr. Jemitt. He slyly pulled a long envelope from beneath his jacket and held it behind him. His wife’s hand reached out and took it.

  “Yes, Mr. Drew,” Jemitt went on, “and what’s more I think each one of those fellows suspects the other of sneaking things out of this house.”

  Nancy stepped softly from the hall and walked up behind Mrs. Jemitt, who smiled as she glanced at the letter, then turned noiselessly away. On her face was a look of secret triumph, but the expression was quickly wiped away as Nancy confronted her.

  “What do you want?” the woman snapped.

  “Nothing at all,” Nancy said with an innocent air. “I was just looking for an envelope—Oh, you’ve found it, haven’t you?”

  “Not at all,” Mrs. Jemitt replied, concealing the envelope beneath her apron. “This is for me and it just came in the morning mail.”

  “Perhaps you made a mistake?” Nancy remarked. “May I look at the address?”

  “You may not,” Mrs. Jemitt retorted. “I guess a body has a right to some privacy in her own house, even if it is open to the public.”

  She brushed past Nancy, only to meet Mr. Drew. Attracted by the sharp voices, he had entered the room to investigate.

  “What’s the trouble?” he asked.

  “No trouble at all, thank you,” Mrs. Jemitt said. “Just a little misunderstanding.”

  Nancy spoke up. “I happened to see Mr. Jemitt pass an envelope through the window to his wife, and thought it might—er—be for Mr. Sidney.”

  Her announcement took Mrs. Jemitt completely by surprise. In her agitation she dropped the envelope, and Nancy swiftly scooped it up.

  “There is a misunderstanding,” she said. “This letter is for Mr. Sidney.”

  “I was just going to take it up to the old gentleman,” the woman said.

  “Then I apologize for detaining you.” Nancy smiled. “I see it’s from the Midwestern Mining Company.”

  Without another word Mrs. Jemitt took it and hurried upstairs. Nancy, with a wink at her father, followed to be sure it was delivered.

  When she came down, Mr. Drew said, “My business here is finished. Let’s go!”

  As they walked to the car, he continued, “You’ve just given me some very valuable information, Nancy. Among Mr. Sidney’s assets are shares of stock in the mining company. The old man thought they were worthless because he had received no dividends in several years.

  “I promised to investigate,” the lawyer said, “because I have some of that stock myself and it pays well. I’m sure that envelope contained a dividend check because I’ve just received one.”

  “Then you suspect the Jemitts of taking Mr. Sidney’s dividend checks and forging the endorsements on them?” Nancy asked as they rode along.

  “I’m afraid so,” Mr. Drew replied. “It will take time to prove it, though.”

  “While you’re doing that,” said Nancy, “I’ll
start my search in the house for cupboards marked with the sign of a twisted candle,” She slid into the driver’s seat.

  Mr. Drew got out of the car at his office. Nancy, excited by the prospect of going back to the Sidney mansion with Bess and George, went directly to the Marvin home. To her dismay, she saw Peter Boonton’s car at the curb.

  “Oh dear! I don’t want to meet him,” she thought. “Maybe I’d better drive over to the Faynes’ and see if George is there.”

  As she sat debating, Nancy suddenly saw George look out a window directly at her. To Nancy’s surprise George did not wave; just stared, then moved out of sight.

  “How strange!” Nancy thought. “Something seems to be on George’s mind. I’m sure she saw me.”

  Nancy decided to try seeing the girls, anyway, and tell them of Asa Sidney’s request. She walked to the door.

  Bess answered the bell. “Hello, Nancy,” she said, stepping outside and closing the door behind her. “Great-Uncle Peter’s inside. I hear you were at The Sign of the Twisted Candles again today.”

  Nancy nodded. “That’s what I want to talk to you about, Bess. Call George, will you? I have some exciting things to tell you, and we must go out there tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I don’t think I care to come,” Bess replied. “And I’m sure George wouldn’t be interested, either.”

  Nancy flushed with disappointment and embarrassment at Bess’s cool retort.

  “I—I’m sorry,” she said with a lump in her throat. “Dad has been retained as Mr. Sidney’s lawyer, and I’ve been given a job too. Some problems have come up. We’d have fun tackling them together.”

  “Oh, so your father is really taking sides in the case, is he?” Bess asked frigidly. “I’m sorry, Nancy, but I must go back inside.”

  Stung by the snub, Nancy ran to her car and drove away, tears brimming in her eyes. What sinister influence in the bitter Boonton-Sidney feud had brought Bess and George to a point of breaking off a lovely friendship?

  Nancy drove on and on, lost in thought. Suddenly she realized that the road she had subconsciously chosen led to the Sidney mansion.

  “Maybe fate is steering me back there,” the young sleuth told herself.

  When she arrived at the turn and walked in, no one was around. The Jemitts’ car was gone. When Carol did not come out to greet Nancy, apprehension seized her. Had something happened?

  She shook off the feeling and ascended the stairs. After all, she had a right to be here—this was a public restaurant. At the top of the stairway she met Carol.

  “Nancy!” the girl cried. “Oh, I’m so glad you came back. I have something marvelous to tell you. Right after you left I heard Mr. Sidney’s bell ring and rushed up there. He said he’d asked you, Bess, George, and me to do some searching, but that you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, so he wanted me to start. The Jemitts have gone to town.

  “Mr. Sidney remembered a false drawer in the bottom of a bureau in the empty master bedroom and had me look there. What do you think I found?”

  “Clothes?”

  “No.”

  “Jewelry?”

  “You’re getting warm. Nancy, it was a diamond bracelet!”

  CHAPTER X

  A Shocking Summons

  “A diamond bracelet!” Nancy gasped. “What did you do with it, Carol?”

  “I gave it to Mr. Sidney.” She chuckled. “He hid the bracelet under the seat of his chair. Oh, Nancy, it was beautiful lying there in its velvet box.”

  “What did he say?” Nancy asked.

  Carol laughed softly. He said, ‘Keep going and bring everything to me before those vultures get my fortune!’ Nancy, nobody’s in the house. Let’s search right now.”

  Nancy did not need to be urged. First they scoured the master bedroom where the bracelet had been cached. Neither the walls, floor, nor closet yielded any clue to where there might be a camouflaged safe or other kind of hiding place. Next the bed, wardrobe, and other pieces of furniture were searched. They revealed nothing.

  “Let’s try another room,” Carol urged.

  Nancy glanced at her watch. “It’s four o’clock. By any chance did Mrs. Jemitt ask you to prepare food for dinner—like putting a roast in the oven?”

  Carol clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my goodness! I was supposed to put a leg of lamb in the stove.”

  Nancy chuckled. “Then you’d better go do it quickly. If Mrs. Jemitt returns and finds you haven’t done it—”

  Carol fairly flew from the room and down the stairs. Nancy continued the search alone. She walked into what had been the adjoining dressing room. As she gazed around, her eyes were attracted to an ornate wooden panel directly above the mirror of a walnut dressing table. At first glance one might mistake the small square as part of the furniture below it.

  At once Nancy noted two unusual features about the panel, which she suspected might be a door: it had no visible way to open it and a series of connecting loops was carved on its face. On a hunch Nancy bent over so she could view the pattern sideways.

  “I’m right!” she thought. “It is a twisted candle! Something must be hidden behind there. But how do I open that door?”

  Nancy gazed at it for fully a minute. Then she concluded that if a particular spot on the door were pushed, it might release a hidden lock.

  Not wishing to be disturbed and fearful the Jemitts might rush in, Nancy went into the bedroom and turned the key in the door to the hall. Then she hastened back and pulled the dressing table aside.

  “Oh, I hope I can get this open!”

  Nancy was breathing excitedly now. Inch by inch she pressed a thumb over the entire surface. Nothing happened.

  “It’s tricky,” she thought.

  Next Nancy tried both thumbs, experimenting with various combinations. Still nothing happened.

  “I’m sure I’m not wrong,” she murmured. Suddenly she smiled. “The candle, of course. That’s the clue!”

  This time she ran a finger over the whole design and finally felt a slight protrusion on one of the swirls. She pushed it hard and the panel with the carved candle dropped into her hand. At the rear of the opening was a latch. Quickly she lifted it and a door swung open.

  To her surprise a music box inside began to play. Now she could see that it was a highly ornate —and, she guessed, priceless old piece. Dainty dancing figures moved around the top. Nancy was about to lift the music box from its hiding place when there was a knock on the door. Instantly she replaced everything and hurried to open it.

  Carol stood there. She whispered, “They’re home! You’d better scoot!”

  “You’re right. Listen, Carol. Tell Mr. Sidney I found a gorgeous music box but didn’t have time to take it to him.”

  “How marvelous! It’ll make him very happy.”

  The two girls rushed down the stairs. Carol ran to the kitchen, while Nancy dashed out the front door. No one was in sight and she drove off quickly.

  It was not until she reached home that Nancy recalled Bess’s rebuff. Despite the exciting story she had to tell at dinner about her afternoon’s search, the diamond bracelet, and the music box, the young sleuth became glum and did not eat much.

  “What’s happened to your appetite?” Hannah Gruen asked her.

  “Nothing.”

  Mr. Drew regarded her thoughtfully. “Now then, partner!” he said, rising from the table and putting an arm about his daughter’s shoulders. “Out with it! Something’s bothering you.”

  “Oh dear! You always know, don’t you?” Nancy said with a pensive smile. “Dad, for some reason connected with Asa Sidney’s case, George and Bess are angry with me. George won’t speak to me at all, and Bess snubbed me this afternoon.”

  The panel with the curved candle

  dropped into her hand!

  Nancy’s lip quivered at the memory.

  “Hm!” the lawyer said. “That’s too bad.” He frowned. “Some people are hard to understand. Why should the Marvins and Faynes poison the minds
of their daughters with a family feud so old it concerns none of them? It’s pitiful. I don’t know how to help you, Nancy. You’ll have to accept the situation, I’m afraid, and trust that time will set matters straight.”

  “I suppose,” said Nancy, “that both sides are suspicious of you for being Asa Sidney’s counsel, and for that reason George and Bess are forbidden to be friends with me.”

  Mr. Drew nodded. “You’ll have to let events prove that neither you nor I have meddled in the affairs of the family.”

  “I’m disappointed in George and Bess just the same.” Nancy sighed again.

  The lawyer looked at his daughter sympathetically and decided that the best way to mend Nancy’s hurt feelings was to lead the discussion into other channels.

  “I’m afraid Mr. Sidney’s case is more complicated than we realize,” he remarked. “It’s a big puzzle.”

  Nancy instantly became alert. “What’s the trouble?”

  “I have a strong hunch there’s systematic pilfering that’s draining the old man’s fortune,” her father said.

  Nancy asked, “Do you suspect anyone besides the Jemitts? Surely Peter Boonton and Jacob Sidney are not dishonest, no matter how badly they act.”

  “We can safely rule out Boonton and Sidney,” Mr. Drew said.

  “Let’s call on Asa Sidney tomorrow morning and see what we can find out,” Nancy suggested.

  That night she slept uneasily. She kept thinking of the big sleuthing job ahead of her and of the problem with Bess and George. At breakfast she ate little. Her father sat lost in thought, with Hannah Gruen hovering over them, coaxing them to try her waffles.

  The telephone rang and she went to answer it. Nancy heard Hannah say, “I can’t hear you at all! Who is this?”

  “I’ll take it, Hannah,” Nancy said quietly as she hurried into the hall.

  “Nancy Drew speaking. Who is this?”

  “Oh, Nancy!”

  The exclamation came faintly over the wire, ending in a deep, shuddering sigh.

  “Hello? Who is this? VVho’s speaking? What’s the matter?”