Chapter 17 The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene
A Hurry Call
“Then you are my long-lost brother! I’ve searched for you all these years!”
“And to think I didn’t recognize my own sister!”
Ruth and Rodney Brown moved forward slowly, as if in a trance. With laughter and tears of joy, they fell into each other’s arms.
“Ruth!”
“Rodney!”
Quietly, Nancy stole from the room, softly closing the door behind her. The reunion had been accomplished. Her presence would only detract from the happy scene.
As she stood by the living room window some time later, gazing dreamily out upon the garden, Hannah Gruen came in.
“Is it time to serve my cakes and chocolate yet, Nancy?”
“Oh, dear me, I had forgotten all about it!” Nancy laughed. “Yes, I’m sure this would be an appropriate moment. Ruth and Rodney have had at least half an hour together.”
“What are you up to, anyway?” the housekeeper demanded, casting a suspicions glance toward the closed doors of the study. “I don’t see why you invite folks here, and then go off and leave them alone.”
Nancy laughed heartily.
“I’ve just reunited a brother and a sister who haven’t seen each other in years.”
“Oh,” Hannah murmured, impressed, “that’s different. I’ll hurry and put the chocolate on the stove.”
While Nancy was debating whether or not to reënter the study, the door opened and Ruth and Rodney emerged, arm in arm. Tears glistened in the nurse’s eyes, but her face glowed with happiness.
“Miss Drew, we owe all this to you! How can we ever thank you for what you have done?”
“Please don’t try,” Nancy said uncomfortably, for praise always embarrassed her.
“Reverend Stafford is the one you are indebted to, for without his record the reunion might never have been brought about.”
“We’ll call on him tomorrow,” Rodney promised. “The remainder of this day we must spend together and just reminisce after all these years.”
“I had given up all hopes of ever finding my brother,” Ruth told Nancy tremulously. “The War Department reported that he had been killed in action. Later this was amended to ‘missing in action,’ but I never could force myself to believe that he was dead.”
“I had changed so much, I didn’t care to have my relatives see me,” Rodney explained. “Then, when I had grown less sensitive, I learned that everyone I knew had moved away.”
“I traveled about the country, looking for you,” said his sister.
“And to think that we should meet at the Blairs’ and I failed to recognize you,” returned Rodney.
“Everything about me has changed,” Ruth admitted ruefully. “I have had so much trouble. Now that we are together again, everything will be all right.”
Nancy had not forgotten that Bess wanted her to inquire about Jay and Janet. Adroitly, she led up to the subject.
“I suppose I am deeply interested in them because I am a twin myself,” the chauffeur told her. “It made me fairly sick to see Mrs. Blair destroy the only evidence of their parentage.”
“But she didn’t,” Nancy assured him. “I have everything. Mrs. Blair destroyed only some doll clothes which I substituted.” This assertion was a great surprise, and the young girl was forced to explain.
“I’m glad of that,” Rodney said in relief. “It worried me a lot.”
Nancy then told the chauffeur that his sister was the person who had found the babies.
“I’ve been amply repaid,” Ruth declared, “for it is really through the twins that Rodney and I have been reunited.”
Nancy at that moment caught a glimpse of Hannah coming from the kitchen with a plate of cakes and a pot of chocolate. She hurried to assist her, when the telephone rang.
“Someone always gets on the wire when I have my hands full!” the housekeeper gasped.
“I’ll answer it, Hannah. It’s probably Father.”
However, the call was not from Carson Drew, but from the Jolly Folly estate. As Nancy took down the receiver, she recognized Colleen’s distressed voice.
“Oh, Miss Drew, can you come at once? A terrible thing has happened! The babies have had a bad fall!”
“Are they seriously hurt?” Nancy gasped.
“I think they are dying!”
“Send for the doctor at once!” Nancy ordered tersely. “I’ll come as soon as I can.”
She wheeled from the phone to face her guests. Ruth already had a suspicion that some disaster had befallen the children.
“Is anything the matter?” she asked tremulously. “The babies aren’t sick, are they?”
“They’ve had a bad fall. I must get a nurse at once.”
In this sudden emergency Ruth Brown forgot her firm resolution never to set foot in the Blair home. She gripped Nancy’s arm.
“Oh, take me along! I must be with the twins! No one can care for them as well as I!”
Relief flooded over Nancy. In her heart, she had known all the time that the nurse would not fail her.
“My car is at the door!” Nancy cried. “We haven’t a second to lose!”
Hannah Gruen, a plate of cakes in one hand, a pot of chocolate in the other, stood aghast.
“You can’t go before you’ve eaten!” she wailed.
“Oh, I’m very sorry, Hannah,” Nancy called back over her shoulder. “We’re in a big hurry and can’t stop for anything now!”
Few words were spoken during the swift ride to Jolly Folly. Fear gripped everyone’s heart.
“It’s all Colleen’s fault, I’ll wager,” the chauffeur muttered once. “She leaves the babies alone half the time.”
They drew near the estate. From afar Nancy noticed a car driving hurriedly away.
“Can that be the doctor, I wonder?” she asked her companions.
Rodney fairly snorted.
“Doctor nothing! I’ve seen that rattle-trap often enough. It belongs to Francis Clancy!”
“Colleen’s friend!”
“Yes, he spends hours and hours hanging around the kitchen. Colleen sneaks off at night with him, too, when she’s supposed to be on duty.”
“I’m glad I came,” Ruth murmured. “Oh, to think of Jay and Janet being under the care of such a girl! If they die I’ll never forgive myself!”
Nancy’s face became grim. She, too, felt that she would never forgive herself if any serious harm had befallen the twins. She considered herself to blame for not having reported Colleen’s previous carelessness to Mrs. Blair.
She had guessed that the maid was spending too much time with Francis. Now she was convinced that the twins had injured themselves while they had been left alone.
The machine came to a standstill before the Blair residence. Nancy and the Browns flung themselves out of it.
“And the doctor isn’t here yet!” Rodney groaned. “Our automobile is the only one parked within the grounds.”
“Surely he has had ample time to arrive,” Ruth murmured anxiously.
It did not occur to either of them to doubt that Colleen had called the physician, but Nancy began to be suspicious.
Followed closely by Ruth and the chauffeur, the Drew girl ran up the steps to the house. As they jerked open the door, they could hear the heart-rending screams of the infants from the floor above.
“They’re in the nursery!” Nancy cried.
“Oh, my poor babies!” Ruth Brown half sobbed.
Fearing the worst, the three rushed blindly for the stairs.