(#20) The Clue in the Jewel Box (8 page)

“Putting other people to a lot of trouble is anything but princely!” her father declared. “Why don’t you wait here at the Gleasons, Nancy?” he suggested. “I’ll walk back and watch for Baum.”

“I wouldn’t desert you.” She snuggled dose to him. “His Royal Highness will arrive soon.”

Minutes elapsed and Mr. Drew became more impatient. Again he tried to get into the house, but the dog became even more ferocious. After nearly an hour had gone by, he announced he would telephone the young man again. At that instant a taxi came down the street and stopped.

“There he is now!” the lawyer muttered.

“I was just ready to go to bed when you called,” Baum complained as he reached the Drews. “Couldn’t you handle Rudy without bothering me?”

“I could have turned him over to the police,” the lawyer retorted testily.

Francis Baum called the dog, who responded readily to his master. He loaded the animal into the taxi and left without a word of apology.

“Dad, I’m afraid you weren’t very polite to the prince,” Nancy said teasingly.

“I’ve had enough of that young man,” Mr. Drew replied. “In fact, if I never meet him again, I will be pleased.”

Mr. Drew yawned upon entering the house. “Think I’ll turn in immediately. I’ve had a big day.”

“Me too,” Nancy added wearily. “Those hours on the Ferris wheel wore me out.”

Going at once to her room, Nancy undressed and tumbled into bed. She did not even hear Mrs. Gruen, who arrived home only a few minutes later. Nancy slept until nine o’clock the next morning, when the housekeeper entered the bedroom.

“Good morning, Nancy. I didn’t expect to see your picture in today’s paper.”

“What!” Nancy asked, sitting bolt upright.

“Just look at the front page.” Hannah handed her the newspaper.

The River Heights Gazette
carried a three-column picture of Nancy and Ned, their heads lowered, as they obviously fled from photographers. A headline proclaimed:

NANCY DREW SAVES CHILD FROM FALL

“How horrible!” Nancy exclaimed. “With the fashion show starting Thursday, people will think I’m looking for publicity.”

“Not those who know you,” Mrs. Gruen said kindly.

With the show almost at hand, Nancy had no time to think more about the incident. Immediately after breakfast she attended a rehearsal at the Woman’s Club with Katherine, Helen, Bess, and George. Beautiful paintings hung on the walls and many gorgeous ensembles were on display.

“But there’s not an entry to compare with the Kovna-Drew combination,” Helen Archer assured the girls confidently.

“I hope you’re right,” Nancy replied. “The competition will be keen.”

Although Katherine had declared the gown finished, she kept adding touches.

“I think I make loops of the dress material to swing gracefully from the back of your head,” she explained.

“I’ll feel like a young queen!” Nancy said, laughing.

To complete the elaborate headdress, Katherine needed the ornament that Mrs. Alexandra had promised to lend. Bess and George offered to accompany Nancy to get it.

“We’ll make sure that no thief outwits you this time!” George promised.

On the way to Mrs. Alexandra’s home, the girls stopped at Mr. Faber’s shop to say hello. He said that on the previous day he had been told by the police how the imitation ruby-and-diamond headpiece had been snatched from Nancy and decided to do some investigating. The girls were startled when he placed the ornament on the show counter.

“Why, Mr. Faber, where did you get this?” Nancy asked in astonishment.

“From a pawnbroker just a little while ago.”

“Then the man who snatched it from me must have pawned it!”

“Yes. The police are trying to track him down.”

Smiling, Mr. Faber placed the hair ornament in a padded case and gave it to Nancy.

With the imitation ornament once more in her possession, Nancy remarked that it would not be necessary for her to borrow the original.

“You make a mistake if you do not wear the genuine piece,” Mr. Faber advised. “This one does not sparkle as much as the original.”

The girls left the shop and continued to Mrs. Alexandra’s house. Nancy gave her the headdress and told how it had been recovered.

“I am glad for you,” the former queen said with a smile. “Now you will not be worried about it.”

The girls had hoped to talk with her alone, so they were disappointed to find Francis Baum there. He explained that he now had much leisure time.

“It’s not fitting for a prince to work,” he declared loftily.

“Michael will need time for his studies,” Mrs. Alexandra said. “I hope to engage a tutor for him within a few days.”

“No hurry about it,” the young man interposed. “I want to have a good time for a while.”

Bess and George noticed that many art treasures had been removed from the living room. Nancy had forgotten to tell them that Anna had put away the objects until the two women became better acquainted with the newcomer.

“Where is the Easter egg?” Bess asked.

Francis Baum became immediately alert. “Easter egg?” he demanded. “What’s that?”

“Merely one of the things I brought with me when I came to this country.”

“Let’s see what it’s like.”

Mrs. Alexandra ordered Anna to bring the little treasure. She obeyed reluctantly.

Francis Baum’s eyes brightened at the sight of the Easter egg with the gold-encrusted lid. He raised the lid. Beholding the nightingale, he astonished everyone by asking if it could sing.

“Then you too know the secret!” Mrs. Alexandra exclaimed.

She took the beautiful ornament from him. At the touch of her finger the nightingale sang its song. The young man gave no hint that he understood the words.

Mrs. Alexandra told the story of her escape from her country, much the same as Nancy had heard it from Mr. Faber.

“Michael dear, what did your nurse tell you about the nightingale?” she asked.

“Just about what you’ve told me. Why do you keep asking me?”

As if to escape further questioning, the young man arose and hurriedly left the room.

Nancy quickly told Mrs. Alexandra that Katherine thought the nightingale might be saying in her native tongue, “clue in jewel box.”

The former queen touched the secret spring several times. Finally she admitted that the little bird might be trying to convey such a message.

“Do you know what it means?” Nancy asked.

Before Mrs. Alexandra could reply, they were startled by a loud crash. From the kitchen Anna’s voice was raised in fright and anger.

“Oh, Michael!” they heard her wail. “What have you done now?”

Mrs. Alexandra and the three girls, alarmed by Anna’s cries, hastened to the kitchen. On the floor lay a porcelain bowl which had broken into a dozen pieces.

“Madame Marie, it was not my fault!” Anna said, her eyes fastened on Michael.

“No, blame me!” he retorted sharply. “Sure I did it. So the old bowl cracked.”

“Old? Cracked?” Anna’s voice rose in anger. “That lovely porcelain cannot be replaced. The king gave it to Madame. She—”

“There, Anna, please say no more,” Mrs. Alexandra interrupted. “It was an accident. After all, my grandson is far more precious to me than the most valuable piece of porcelain.”

“That’s the way to talk, Grandmother!” Michael nodded. “I’ll get you another bowl.”

It was easy to see that Mrs. Alexandra felt deeply distressed. Nevertheless, she passed the matter off with regal composure. Nancy decided it was not the right time to bring up the subject again of the nightingale’s mysterious reference to a jewel box.

I’m afraid to borrow it,” Nancy said

“We must leave now,” she said considerately. “May I take the hair ornament that Mr. Faber recovered?”

To her dismay, Mrs. Alexandra asked Anna to bring in the genuine headdress and place it on Nancy’s head.

“It suits you perfectly. You must wear it in the fashion show,” she insisted.

Nancy did not want to offend the woman a second time, yet she was fearful that something would happen to the tiara-like piece.

“I’m really afraid to borrow it,” she declared dubiously.

“Do take it to please me,” Mrs. Alexandra urged. “I assume all responsibility. Anna will wrap it for you.”

Nancy thanked the woman, and left the house with Bess and George. They carried the precious package at once to Katherine.

“Ah, it will set off the Renaissance costume!” the designer approved in delight. “I ask Jim to put the ornament in his safe!”

“Fine. See you at the picnic this afternoon.”

“It is sweet of Helen to give it for me,” Katherine said with a smile.

After picking up her car at the service station, she dropped Bess and George at their homes, then stopped at police headquarters to find out if there was any news of the pickpocket. Chief McGinnis said that a suspect had just been brought in for questioning.

“May I see him?” Nancy requested.

“Certainly,” the officer replied.

Well acquainted with both Nancy and her father, he frequently received useful clues and tips from them. In fact, Nancy had solved so many cases that the chief jokingly declared Nancy to be an unofficial member of his staff!

The man who had been captured was placed in a line-up with other suspects. Nancy studied each person as he stood on a platform under a powerful light. The wiry built pickpocket she had hoped to identify was not in the group.

“Sorry,” she said regretfully. “I’ve never seen any of these people before.”

As Nancy was about to leave the building, an irate man burst in.

“You policemen!” he fairly shouted. “I’ve been paying taxes here for twelve years, and what do I get in return? Nothing! When I need a policeman, I can’t find one! And when I finally get one, he arrests the wrong man!”

CHAPTER XI

The Island Trick

“If you have a complaint to make, the lieutenant will take it—over at that desk,” a sergeant told the complaining man.

He calmed down a bit and directed his remarks to the chief. In a bitter voice he revealed that his wallet had been snatched while he was standing in front of a store.

He had shouted for a policeman. The officer had arrested a man, who immediately established his innocence. Shortly afterward the wallet, empty, had been found in an alley.

“You can bet the thief had an accomplice,” the angry victim declared. “When the policeman came on the run, I heard someone in the crowd whistle as if in warning.”

“You did not see the person who whistled?”

“No, I didn’t.”

The lieutenant promised he would do what he could, and made a routine report. After the indignant man had left headquarters, the officer gazed rather apologetically at Nancy.

“What can we do?” he asked with a shrug. “Money can’t be traced, unless the bills were marked or the serial numbers recorded.”

Chief McGinnis said, “Nancy, I believe you’ll have to turn your talents to this case.” There was a twinkle in the eyes of the good-natured officer.

“Too busy today,” she joked in return.

Homeward bound, Nancy began to wonder whether this latest theft had been committed by the same man who had stolen her father’s wallet, and who was also responsible for the purse snatchings in River Heights.

“Somehow I must recover the money for the Boys Club, and the valuable papers Dad lost!” she thought resolutely. “This afternoon, I’ll be at Helen’s picnic for Katherine. Maybe tomorrow a new clue will come my way!”

The young people were to go by motorboat far up the river to Star Island. The outing promised to be an especially enjoyable one.

Ned Nickerson came for Nancy in his car. Upon reaching the dock, the couple found that the other picnickers had arrived ahead of them. Ned’s college friend Bob Dutton escorted Katherine. George Fayne and an athletic young man, Burt Eddleton, had come together, and Bess had brought her favorite date, Dave Evans.

“Everyone is here,” Helen declared, counting all of her guests, who numbered twelve.

Two motorboats, to be operated by Jim Archer and Ned, had been rented for the outing. The passengers were divided between the crafts, and Jim started off. The ropes of Ned’s craft were about to be cast off when a shout came from shore.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Francis Baum ran to the dock, followed by his dog. Thinking that he might have a message for her from his grandmother, Nancy asked Ned to wait. In a low voice she told him that the newcomer was Mrs. Alexandra’s grandson.

“What’s up? A boat trip?” the prince demanded as he reached the group.

“You guessed it,” Ned answered shortly.

“How about taking me along?”

“The boats are filled now. Otherwise—” Dave started to say.

“Oh, you can make room for me,” Michael insisted, jumping aboard and squeezing in between Nancy and Bess.

The dog also leaped into the craft. Before he could be made to lie down, he had put his dirty paws on Bess’s beige slacks, soiling them badly.

“Oh!” she cried out.

“Hey, pitch that beast out on the dock!” Ned ordered. “We’re not going to take him.”