The Hidden Window Mystery Read online

  At nine o’clock the following day, she called and learned that Luke did have a room there. He had left right after breakfast.

  “Would you mind telling me,” Annette said in an exaggerated coaxing drawl, “whether Mr. Seeny was in the hotel last night?”

  “I’m sorry, but we don’t keep track of our guests’ comings and goings.”

  After Annette had hung up, she reported to the others, adding, “I guess I’m not much good as a detective.”

  Nancy smiled. “I’d say you did a grand job. Our next project is to find out something about our other suspect, Alonzo Rugby. Let’s drive to the farmhouse where he lives.”

  “Please don’t be gone long,” Sheila requested.

  “We’ll be back by lunchtime,” Nancy promised.

  She drove off with Bess and George, and headed for Uplands Road. Reaching it, she slowed down to look at the name on each mailbox. Coming to one marked Paget, she turned into the lane leading to the rambling farmhouse.

  When the car stopped near the kitchen door, a slender, gray-haired woman came outside. Nancy asked her if Mr. Rugby was at home.

  “No, he’s not here and he hasn’t been here for a week. He stops in once in a while for mail, but he never eats or sleeps here any more,” Mrs. Paget answered.

  “Have you any idea where he’s staying?” Nancy prodded.

  “Well, I suppose he’s staying with that Mr. Bradshaw he works for—or isn’t he?”

  “I don’t know,” Nancy replied. “I’m from River Heights, where his sister lives. In fact, she’s a neighbor of mine.”

  “How do you like her?” the woman asked.

  “Well,” Nancy answered, “Mrs. Dondo hasn’t been very friendly toward me and my family. I heard she had a brother living in Charlottesville and I’m curious to meet him.”

  “She lived here in Charlottesville, you know,” Mrs. Paget continued, “and my, what a busy-body she was! Things got so bad she came near being sued.”

  “Oh, really?” Bess asked. “What did she do?”

  “She accused people of things they never did.”

  “Like what?” George asked.

  “Well,” Mrs. Paget replied, “It seems that Mrs. Dondo was expecting a letter with some money in it. When it didn’t arrive, she spoke to the postman. He said it might have got mixed in with other people’s mail. So Mrs. Dondo up and goes around asking everybody. Then she accused a woman she didn’t like of keeping the money.”

  Nancy and her friends were amazed. It was the same trick Mrs. Dondo tried in River Heights.

  “I understand,” said Nancy nonchalantly, “that Mr. Rugby has a lot of money and is very generous in helping his sister.”

  Mrs. Paget began to laugh. “Money! Neither one of them has got any money to speak of, but they both go around putting on airs.”

  The girls smiled. They were getting more information than they had hoped for!

  “Alonzo’s not so bad,” Mrs. Paget added. “The only thing I got against him is his bragging. He thinks he’s a great artist.”

  Mrs. Paget stopped to take a breath, and then went on, “What makes you think Alonzo sends his sister any money? If you ask me, he never gave her a nickel in his life!” Suddenly Mrs. Paget sniffed. “Oh, my goodness!” she cried. “My dinner must be burned to a crisp!”

  With that, she dashed toward the house. Nancy called after her, “I’m afraid we must leave now, Mrs. Paget, but we enjoyed meeting you.”

  “Thank you—call again!” the woman yelled back from inside the kitchen.

  Nancy remarked that she could hardly wait to get to a telephone and relay the recent conversation to her father. She suggested that they stop at Susan’s home, which they would pass. “I’d like to say hello, anyway.”

  The girls were disappointed not to find either Susan or Cliff at home. But Anna warmly welcomed them back. Hearing that they were not staying, she threw up her hands and exclaimed, “Why don’t you all remain here now that you’re back safe?”

  Nancy smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll be home again in no time.”

  Anna sighed and shook her head in disappointment. Nancy phoned Mr. Drew, and Bess followed the housekeeper to the kitchen. “Anna,” she said as she took a seat, “the worst thing about our mystery solving at Ivy Hall is not being able to enjoy your delicious cooking. No one can match your recipes!”

  Anna burst into laughter. “I can spot a hint from a hungry girl a mile away,” she said. She cut Bess a large slice of coconut cake.

  “Thank you,” Bess exclaimed happily and started eating with gusto.

  As she finished the last bite, a car stopped in the driveway. Susan stepped from it, waved good-by, and came into the kitchen.

  “Bess!” she cried in delight. “I’m so glad to see you! But where are George and Nancy?”

  Bess told her, then Susan said, “I was just thinking of you girls and the Pattersons.” She turned to Anna. “I’d like to have the girls take a basket of food with them. With all the excitement at Ivy Hall, it would help if Sheila didn’t have to cook dinners for a couple of days.”

  “A good idea, Miss Susan,” Anna said and went to pack a picnic hamper.

  “And now, tell me what has happened since you left there,” Susan said to Bess, linking arms and leading her into the living room.

  Nancy and George joined them and the four sat down. Susan listened intently as the others related their story. At the end Susan remarked, “It all seems unbelievable. I think the mystery is becoming more dangerous each day.”

  “And nearer a solution,” Nancy declared. She rose. “We must get back to our sleuthing.”

  As the girls drove off, Susan said, “Don’t forget we’re going on a tour of the gardens tomorrow. Pick me up early.”

  Nancy said she would and waved good-by. At Ivy Hall the girls found Sheila and Annette in a flutter of excitement. A messenger boy had just been there to deliver a long, narrow box, attractively wrapped, with Annette’s name on it.

  Excited, the girl raised the lid. Directly underneath lay a note, which she instantly read. Her face clouded. “It’s from Luke. He’s pleading that I make a date with him.”

  “Let’s see what he sent,” George said.

  Annette finished unwrapping the gift.

  Sheila shrieked. “A peacock fan! Oh, no, more bad luck!”

  Though Bess looked worried, Nancy and George did not take Sheila’s outburst seriously, and they asked Annette to spread open the fan.

  “This is exquisite,” Nancy remarked.

  Annette was impressed with the gift, yet she could not bring herself to make a date with the sender of the fan.

  “He’s still a ‘ghost’ prospect,” George observed.

  Nancy suddenly exclaimed, “Annette, I want you to make a date with Luke Seeny!”

  “Why?”

  “I think if you invite Luke here, we may solve the mystery,” Nancy replied.

  Sheila said disapprovingly, “I don’t want my daughter associating with such a person. What’s more, I insist that Annette return this fan.”

  “Just a moment, Mother,” Annette said. “First let’s hear what Nancy’s plan is.”

  “All right,” Sheila conceded. “What is it you want Annette to do, Nancy?”

  “Invite Luke here to dinner tomorrow evening,” the young sleuth replied. “I think we can trap him into telling the truth!”

  CHAPTER XVI

  A Wonderful Discovery

  AFTER some deliberation Sheila Patterson finally consented to Nancy’s plan. She was still worried and reluctant to have Luke around.

  “Don’t be concerned,” said George. “If anyone can set a trap for that cowboy, Nancy can!”

  “That’s right,” Bess agreed. “And we have another surprise for you!” She went out to the car and brought in the hamper of food.

  On seeing what it contained, Sheila cried. “The people around here have been so kind,” she said. “It makes me feel bad that I’m not in a position to return
their favors.”

  “I’m sure you can,” said Bess. “Everyone would certainly love to see you act. Perhaps you could put on a performance for them.”

  Sheila admitted she had already been asked by Susan Carr to put on a skit for a charity performance in a few weeks. “I really haven’t felt up to it,” the actress said. “But now you give me a new incentive, Bess. I’ll do it!”

  “And I’d like to entertain here,” said Annette wistfully, “if the grounds were only fixed up.”

  After lunch George proposed that the group tidy up the grounds. The Pattersons were delighted and the rest of the day was spent working with lawn mowers, rakes, spades, and shovels. By suppertime the grass, flower beds, and shrubbery looked trim and well-kept.

  Sheila smiled in delight. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she said. “I love this place, really. If only the mystery of Ivy Hall could be cleared up!”

  “I have a hunch,” said Nancy, “that it won’t be long before the ghost is caught. Annette, will you call Luke now?”

  Annette went inside to phone. She returned a few minutes later, saying that Luke would be there the following evening.

  The night passed without incident. Sheila was in good spirits the next morning and did not object when Nancy set off early with Bess and George to pick up Susan for the Garden Tour. “I know you’ll love it,” she said.

  The weather was perfect. The visitors gasped in admiration at the show gardens with their magnificent flowering shrubs and beautiful flowers.

  Toward the end of the afternoon Susan directed her friends to one of the oldest estates in the vicinity. She told them that the present owner, Mr. Van Buskirk, had bought the place intact, and all the servants had remained.

  “There’s one old woman here you’ll love,” Susan said. “She’s quite infirm and spends most of her time in a rocking chair. But she has a fabulous memory and loves to tell stories of the old South. She may be able to give you some helpful information, Nancy.”

  The young detective was thrilled. After she and her friends had admired the creamy-pink flowering magnolias, the lavender-tinted plum blossoms, and the extensive boxwood-enclosed beds of azaleas and tulips, they went to the old slave quarters. The Van Buskirks had modernized them as accommodations for their servants.

  Susan knocked on one of the doors. It was opened by a slight, stooped, white-haired woman.

  “Howdy, Mrs. Carr,” she said in a low, soft voice.

  “Hello, Mrs. Johnson. I’ve brought some friends of mine from the North,” Susan said. “They’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  “Please come in, young ladies,” the elderly woman invited.

  Susan introduced the girls and everyone sat down. “Miss Drew is a detective,” Susan explained. “She’s trying to find some trace of a family who may have lived around here. Their name was Greystone.”

  Mrs. Johnson put one hand to her forehead as if thinking hard. Finally she said, “I never heard of a family named Greystone, but I did know about one called Grayce. Do you suppose, Miss Drew, that they might have changed their name when they came to America?”

  Nancy was excited to hear this. “You say when they came to America? Where did the Grayce family come from?”

  “It was England,” Mrs. Johnson replied. “I say maybe they changed their name, ‘cause my folks told me that when Mrs. Grayce was dying, she cried out, ‘Please forgive us, Lord Greystone. We were wrong to come here!’”

  Startled, the callers stared at one another. Nancy quickly calculated that Mrs. Johnson’s great-grandmother might well have lived around 1850!

  “Where is the Grayce family now?” Nancy asked.

  “Oh, they all died off long ago,” Mrs. Johnson said sadly.

  There was a moment of sympathetic silence. Then Nancy asked, “Mrs. Johnson, did your mother ever tell you that the Grayce family had a stained-glass window in their home?”

  The old woman shook her head. “But if there was one, maybe it’s still there. Why don’t you go look for it?”

  “Where is the house?” Nancy asked, her heart thumping wildly as she waited for the answer.

  Mrs. Johnson said the place was only a few miles away. “It’s called—let me think—oh yes, I remember now. It’s Ivy Hall.”

  “Hypers!” George cried out.

  The old woman looked at the girl in surprise. George quickly explained that the visitors were staying at Ivy Hall.

  “We hunted for a window there,” Nancy said, “but we’ll search again. Thank you for telling us about the Grayce family.”

  As the group headed for Susan’s home, the conversation was full of speculation. Were the Grayce and Greystone families one and the same?

  If so, was Ivy Hall, the former Grayce home, the original property of the Greystones from England? Had the stained-glass window once been there? And was it hidden there now?

  Finally George chuckled. “I suppose, Nancy, that now you’ll want to tear the place down brick by brick to find out.”

  Her friend smiled. “I’m hoping Luke Seeny will spare us the trouble.”

  After they had dropped Susan at Seven Oaks, the girls reviewed their campaign for the evening. Each one was to play a part in trying to trick Luke into revealing whether or not he had been the ghost.

  Annette’s guest, immaculately dressed, arrived at seven o’clock. He was poised and polite. Luke was greeted in a very friendly fashion and seemed pleased to meet the girls from River Heights.

  “I’m sure that he’s not suspicious of us,” Nancy thought.

  Conversation remained light until dessert was served. Then Bess asked the visitor if he knew Alonzo Rugby.

  “No, I never heard of him,” Luke replied.

  Nancy, watching the cowboy closely, was convinced he was telling the truth. Presently George brought up the subject of Garden Week and remarked that everyone in the area was disappointed that Mr. Honsho would not open his estate to the public. “Why won’t he?” she asked.

  Luke frowned. “I don’t know. He’s kind of a recluse—doesn’t have much to do with people who live around these parts. When he heard I was visiting here from Oklahoma, he sent for me. Said he wanted to find out all about my home state.”

  “Oh, you don’t work for him?” Nancy asked. “We noticed that you had a key to the estate.”

  The young man reddened. “Mr. Honsho never leaves the grounds,” he replied. “He gave me a key.”

  Bess sighed. “It must be beautiful behind those brick walls,” she said. “Tell me about it, Luke.”

  “Not much to tell,” he replied. “There are nice flowers, trees, and bushes. That’s all.”

  Nancy mentioned the strange sounds the girls had heard coming from Cumberland Manor. Looking straight at Luke, she asked, “Does Mr. Honsho keep peacocks?”

  For the first time, Luke appeared nervous. He did not reply at once. When he did, he merely said, “I’m not privileged to discuss Mr. Honsho’s private business.”

  But Nancy was inwardly exulting. Luke’s reaction to the mention of peacocks must have some bearing on the mystery!

  When the meal was over, Annette asked Luke if he would like to see the house and some of its secrets. The young man’s eyes popped wide open as he answered, “Indeed I would!”

  Annette grinned impishly. Turning to the three girls, she said, “You and Mother must come too. I think you’d enjoy seeing some of the things.”

  This was all part of the prearranged plan to trap Luke, but Nancy, Bess, and George were thunderstruck when Annette led them to the old library and removed a section of the built-in bookcase. Behind it was a wall safe, its combination lock gone. There was nothing in the safe.

  “I guess the former owners took everything out of here,” Annette remarked.

  Luke showed great surprise and interest in the hiding place. Was he faking?

  Annette now led the group into the kitchen, where she tugged at one of the hearthstones and lifted it. To the amazement of the visiting girls, and apparently
Luke, a very narrow stairway was revealed.

  “I think it was a storage room,” said Sheila. “There’s nothing down there now but a lot of empty bottles.”

  Annette said that during the day, when the three girls had been away, she and her mother had instituted a search of Ivy Hall.

  “The next place I want to show you, Luke,” said Annette, “is our attic.”

  All eyes watched the guest closely. They were sure that this time he gave an involuntary start.

  When the group reached the third floor, George adroitly steered Luke toward the trunk from which the girls were sure the ghost had removed a sheet.

  “Luke Seeny, this is the hide-out of Ivy Hall’s ghost,” George intoned in a sepulchral voice.

  The girls laughed and Annette said, “Our tour is almost over, Luke, so don’t worry.”

  She locked an arm into his and guided him toward the trap door, from which the trunk had been removed. Pausing directly on top of the door, she pointed out an antique water jug.

  “Isn’t it quaint?” she asked.

  In the meantime, Nancy had moved to the side wall and was now pushing back the secret panel. “Luke,” she said, “there’s a lever back here that—”

  A look of terror came over the young man’s face. “Don’t touch it!” he yelled. “Don’t you dare touch it!”

  Luke jumped off the trap door, dragging Annette with him!

  CHAPTER XVII

  A Ghost Confesses

  “So you’re the ghost of Ivy Hall!” Nancy cried triumphantly.

  Luke kept silent.

  “You work for Mr. Honsho and brought a peacock from his place over here the other night, didn’t you?” George accused him.

  “I told you before I wouldn’t discuss Mr. Honsho,” Luke said defiantly. “What is this? The third degree?”

  Nancy smiled and said in a coaxing manner, “It’s no use, Luke. There’s too much evidence against you—your knowledge of the mechanism that opens the trap door, your leaving the trunk open after you took the sheet out of it, the bronze peacock’s foot strapped to your own shoes—and lost in the mud—”