Chapter 5 The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene
A Daring Scheme
Involuntarily Nancy sprang to her feet, hiding the doll garments and the broken halves of the locket behind her back. She was grateful that darkness covered her movements, which she felt had been awkward.
Mrs. Dunbar emerged from the shadows.
“Why, it’s you, Miss Drew!” she exclaimed.
“Yes,” Nancy stammered. “I—I was just out for a little air.”
“Don’t blame you a bit,” the actress said thickly. “Out for air myself. Stupid party. Didn’t mean to speak so sharply. Just wanted to know what you were doing.”
“Oh, just looking at something. I must hurry back to the nursery now.”
She moved away swiftly before the actress could question her further, or see what it was that she was holding behind her back. Without being detected, she slipped into the house and upstairs.
Bess was alone in the nursery with the sleeping twins.
“Oh, did you get the things?” she cried, spying the bundle. “I thought I heard a car drive up.”
“I hope the Blairs didn’t hear it.”
“I doubt it. They were playing too loudly on the piano at the time for them to pay attention to anything outside.”
“We must get away from here without further delay, Bess. I hope Colleen won’t be back for at least a minute or two.”
“I don’t believe she will. She’s expecting a young man to call and went downstairs to wait for him.”
“Good! It will take me only a second to change these bundles.”
Deftly she substituted the doll clothes for the baby garments, and thrust into her purse the broken locket which had come with the twins.
“I’m taking no chances on losing that bit of jewelry,” she told Bess. “I have a hunch it may be of use some day in proving the parentage of these poor babies.”
The girls were momentarily undecided as to how to carry away the baby clothes, for they dared not leave the house with a bundle which would excite suspicion. Nancy solved the problem by suggesting that they conceal the tiny garments in their bérets. After hiding the dresses beneath their headgear, the girls looked at themselves critically in the mirror.
“We’ll get by, all right, if we can manage to keep our bérets on,” Nancy decided. She bent down to kiss the sleeping babies good-bye.
“I dislike leaving them here, Bess.”
“So do I. I wish they had a real mother.”
“If we can find her, they shall be restored to her!” Nancy announced. “I’ll find some way to force Mrs. Blair to give up the children.”
Feeling somewhat self-conscious, the girls descended to the living room.
“Why, you have your coats on!” Johnny Blair cried in protest. “You’re not going yet! The party’s just starting.”
“Really, we must go,” Nancy interrupted him impatiently.
“At least, let us pay you for your trouble,” Johnny Blair insisted.
“No, thank you. Bess and I were glad to do what we could for the twins. They are going to need a great deal of mothering.”
That subtle suggestion fell upon deaf ears, but it recalled something to Kitty Blair’s befogged mind.
“Oh, I’ll make a wonderful mother,” she boasted. “That reminds me—we must have the ceremony.”
“What ceremony?” her husband demanded.
“To celebrate my motherhood. We must get rid of the ghost of that other mother once and for all. Burn up all the evidence!”
Nancy and Bess exchanged anxious glances.
“Sure,” Johnny Blair seconded his wife, “let’s burn the evidence. Where is it?”
“Upstairs. Colleen left the bundle in the nursery. Get it, Johnny, like a good boy.”
Again the girls moved to depart, but the protests of the guests made it impossible for them to do so. Kitty tried to induce them to take off their coats and bérets, but they were adamant on this point.
Johnny returned presently with the bundle which Nancy and Bess had substituted for the real baby clothes and locket. He was in jubilant spirits.
“The fire is burning low,” Kitty complained. “We must have a good blaze. Send for Rodney to bring in some more logs.”
One of the guests went out to find the chauffeur. When he did not come at once, Kitty grew impatient.
The idea of a grand “motherhood” ceremony had been merely a notion and passed away as suddenly as it had come.
“Oh, what’s the difference?” she cried. “Someone toss the bundle into the flames and we’ll be done with it.”
As no one made a move to do so, she carelessly caught up the parcel and flung it into the embers.
Fascinated, everyone watched. The paper became scorched, then burst into flames. Tiny blue and red tongues darted up about the flimsy white garments. The broken locket lay exposed.
Nancy and Bess were immeasurably happy that they had saved the real bundle and locket. Nevertheless, it was an uncomfortable moment for them. They feared that Kitty Blair might notice the substitution.
“The twins are really mine now!” the actress cried. “If the parents should ever turn up, there wouldn’t be a scrap of evidence to prove their right to the babies!”
At that moment Rodney appeared in the doorway with fresh logs, which Mrs. Blair bade him throw on the fire. The chauffeur moved forward to obey. His gaze traveled to the hearth and the tiny white garments which were ablaze.
Suddenly the logs slipped out of his arms to the floor. A strangled cry of anguish escaped from his lips and his face changed to an ashen hue. Then he pitched forward in a faint.
Kitty Blair emitted a piercing scream and slumped upon the sofa. She recovered herself quickly, when no one paid the slightest heed to her cries.
The guests were momentarily too stunned by the accident to make a helpful move. It was Nancy alone who had sufficient presence of mind to pull the unconscious man away from the hearth before he was seriously burned.
“Oh, oh, he’s dead!” Mrs. Dunbar moaned, wringing her hands. “What shall we do? What shall we do?”
“He’s only fainted, I think,” Nancy said calmly. “Help me turn him over.”
Bess, recovering from her fright, darted forward to aid her chum. By this time Phil Dunbar and Johnny Blair had gained control of themselves, and they, too, offered assistance.
Carefully the man was lifted and turned over. Then a little gasp of astonishment burst from the lips of those who had gathered about him. They stared at Rodney’s forehead in fascinated horror. Burned into the skin just above the right eye was the distinct imprint of a heart!
“See!” Kitty cried in terror. “A red heart! It’s an evil omen!”
The guests were frightened and half stupefied.
“It’s a warning to you because you burned the baby clothes, Kitty,” Boots Dunbar murmured in awe. “I’m glad I didn’t throw the bundle into the fire.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have adopted the twins,” Johnny said nervously. “They may bring us bad luck.”
Nancy made a swift observation of her own. When Rodney had pitched face downward into the embers, his forehead had come in direct contact with the hot metal of the broken heart-shaped locket. Naturally, it had left its mark.
Although no one wanted to touch the man, Phil and Johnny reluctantly lifted him from the floor. Bess ran to the kitchen for water. Before she returned with it, the chauffeur had regained consciousness.
Everyone was greatly relieved, although the telltale imprint of the heart continued to hold them spellbound. Had it not been for Nancy and Bess, little would have been done for the comfort of the unfortunate chauffeur. His eyes fluttered open and he stared vacantly about the room.
“What happened?” he gasped.
“You fainted,” Nancy told him gently, pressing a glass of water to his lips. “Here, drink this and you’ll feel better.”
The man did as he was bidden. Wearily he dropped his head back against the pillows Bess thrust behind him.
“I remember now,” he said slowly. “I came into the room and saw—” His voice trailed off. Then he continued:
“I was gassed in the World War. Haven’t been strong since. When the air gets close in a room, I don’t seem to be able to breathe.”
“Don’t try to talk,” Nancy soothed. “Just lie back and rest. I’ll bandage your head,” she added, not wanting the man to see the burn, for she feared that the sight of the red heart might unnerve him.
She hardly knew what to make of Rodney’s explanation. His gaunt appearance bore out his words; no doubt he had been gassed in the war. But certainly the burning baby garments had been the cause of his faint. Why should the sight have distressed him so greatly?
Nancy found a medicine cabinet in a bathroom. With Bess’s assistance she made a neat bandage about Rodney’s head. She was relieved to see the color returning to his face. With the windows open he breathed normally again.
Nancy could not fail to notice that his eyes frequently roved toward the fireplace. Yet whenever they did so, an expression of pain would cross his face.
“I must find a way of drawing him out later,” she thought. “He may know something about the twins.”
The girls had done all they possibly could for the chauffeur. Cautioning the Blairs to keep him quiet for a day at least, they prepared to leave the place.
“Miss Drew, you are simply marvelous!” Mrs. Blair gushed gratefully. “I don’t know what we’d have done——”
The sentence was never finished.
From upstairs there came a loud thud, followed by the crash of glassware. Then a girl’s piercing scream rent the air!