Chapter 4 The Whispering Statue by Carolyn Keene
A WARNING DECLINED
“I didn’t mean to interfere,” Nancy said hastily. “I merely thought—that is, in a way if you should lose your money it would be my fault because of the dog——”
She began to stammer, painfully aware of Miss Morse’s increasing anger.
“Oh, now I recognize you! You’re the girl with the ferocious dog!”
“Well, scarcely ferocious,” Nancy smiled. “Togo is rather impulsive, but as I told you before, I’m very sorry he annoyed you. However, I’m not his owner.”
Miss Morse tossed her head indignantly, suggesting by her expression that she did not believe Nancy. She turned away coldly, and upon seeing Joe Mitza who had alighted from the train, waved to him. Immediately the man hurried up and with a sly, triumphant glance directed at the crestfallen Nancy, picked up Miss Morse’s suitcase. The queer couple then walked away together.
Nancy looked about for her own party. She found her father and the girls exercising Togo, who had just been taken from the baggage car.
“Oh, cheer up,” Mr. Drew advised his daughter kindly when he learned of the rebuff. “You’ve done all you can. I imagine the old lady really is capable of taking care of her money. She appears to be a rather shrewd individual.”
“Her tongue is sharp, anyway,” Nancy said ruefully.
While Togo was allowed to trot up and down the station platform, held firmly by a suitcase strap which had been attached to his collar, Mr. Drew discussed with his daughter what should be done. Although he did not like to be annoyed with Togo at Sea Cliff, it seemed out of the question to return him to Hannah Gruen.
“I’ll keep him under control somehow,” Nancy promised with a laugh. “Perhaps Togo will reform and be a good dog.”
While Mr. Drew arranged for the transfer to another train, the girls idled about the platform, allowing the animal to pull them from one spot to another. A child unexpectedly separated herself from her nurse and ran excitedly toward the dog.
“Jester! Jester!” she cried joyfully, gathering the terrier into her arms.
Nancy and her chums were nonplussed. They did not know what to make of the situation.
“He’s my dog,” the little girl declared, trying to take the leash from Nancy’s hand. “Let me have him.”
“Why certainly, if he is your pet,” Nancy agreed, her heart sinking. She had not realized until now how fond she was of Togo, and that it would be hard for her to give him up.
“Jester ran away about a month ago and I’ve looked everywhere for him,” the child went on, gazing at the girls a trifle accusingly.
Just at that moment the nurse appeared. She frowned in perplexity as she gazed at the terrier which her young charge claimed.
“Are you certain this dog is Jester, Barbara?” she asked doubtfully. “It looks like your pet, but you know we thought Jester had been run over by an automobile.”
“This is Jester,” the child insisted stubbornly. “I want him back.”
“Togo doesn’t seem to know you,” Nancy observed. “I admit the dog is a stray, but I found him a long distance from here—at River Heights.”
“You’re just saying that because you don’t want to give me my dog,” the child stormed. “You found Jester right here in Alton Junction. I know you did.”
“I can prove that he came from River Heights,” Nancy insisted, growing irritated. “Here comes my father, and he’ll tell you the same thing.”
Carson Drew listened with a sympathetic ear to the child’s claim, but said kindly that he felt certain that Togo could not be the lost Jester, for River Heights was too far away for the dog to have strayed such a distance.
“I’ll call my mother and she’ll make you give up the dog!” the child screamed furiously. “Mother! Mother!”
A tall, well-dressed woman, beautifully groomed, came up haughtily to confront Nancy and her friends.
“What is it, Barbara dear?” she asked the child.
“I’ve found my dog, Mother, and these mean people say I can’t have him!”
“What we said—” began Mr. Drew politely, but the woman cut him short.
“Give the child her dog instantly or I shall call the police and have you arrested for theft!”
“Call the police!” Mr. Drew challenged, for now he would not have relinquished Togo under any circumstances. “You’ll not get the terrier unless you can prove that you own him.”
Nancy and her chums thought the woman was only bluffing, but they were mistaken. She did summon an officer, and for a few minutes it appeared as if Togo must be given up, for the policeman tended to side with Mrs. Hastings, a well-to-do resident of Alton Junction.
However, Carson Drew calmly took the group to the baggage car. Through the testimony of the man in charge there he was able to prove that Togo had been brought from River Heights. Then he handed one of the officers his card.
“You’re Carson Drew, the lawyer?” the man asked in surprise. Upon receiving a curt nod he added with an abrupt change of tone, “Well, well, I never thought I’d meet you, Mr. Drew. I’ve heard about your work——”
“We’re in a hurry to catch a train,” the attorney interrupted. “What about the dog? Do we keep him or don’t we?”
“Yes, it’s obvious the little girl is mistaken. I’m sorry you were delayed, Mr. Drew.”
Mrs. Hastings might have offered a similar apology, but with an angry toss of her head she caught Barbara by the hand and marched away.
“We lost a wonderful chance to get rid of Togo,” Mr. Drew chuckled as the party hurried to find the Sea Cliff train. “Not sorry, are you, Nancy?”
“I want Togo to have a good master,” the girl replied. “That’s why I hope to keep him myself for a while.”
Mr. Drew and his party boarded the train only a minute before it left the station. Toward the rear of the car Nancy observed Miss Morse and Mr. Mitza chatting together like old friends, but she gave no outward indication that she was interested in the pair. When they finally reached Sea Cliff she lost sight of the couple at the station.
A taxicab carried Mr. Drew, the girls and Togo to one of the leading hotels located along the ocean front. On being assigned to the room which she would share with George and Bess, Nancy’s first act was to throw open the window and breathe deeply of the salty air.
“Just listen to the pounding of the waves against the rocks!” she exclaimed. “I love the ocean.”
“We’ll have a wonderful time here,” George declared gaily. “How long do you think we can stay, Nancy?”
“It’s hard to tell. Everything depends on how long it takes Dad to attend to the business that brought him here.”
“I hope it requires a month,” Bess laughed. “Not wishing your father any bad luck, of course.”
Togo had been established in a kennel at the back of the hotel, and as soon as the girls unpacked their suitcases they went downstairs to learn how he was getting along. The terrier seemed perfectly satisfied in his new quarters and was munching upon a juicy bone which the hotel chef had given him.
The girls walked down to the beach but felt unequal to a swim. So soon after their long train ride they were content to feast their eyes upon the view.
At breakfast the next morning Mr. Drew told Nancy that he would be absent from Sea Cliff for a day or two. This was not a surprise to her for he had explained before they made the trip that business would take him away from the summer resort city.
“We’ll manage to amuse ourselves while you’re gone,” she smiled. “Don’t hurry back.”
“You’re not by any chance anxious to get rid of me?” the lawyer asked teasingly.
“You know better, Dad,” Nancy laughed. “Togo may become mischievous again, and if so we may need you to bail us out of jail!”
After Mr. Drew had gone the girls ventured to ask the hotel clerk if he knew of a place called Old Estate in the vicinity of Sea Cliff. It was their intention to view “The Whispering Girl” statue at the first opportunity.
“I’m not sure just which place you mean,” the man replied in perplexity. “There are so many ancient estates around Sea Cliff. I’ll make a few inquiries and perhaps have definite information for you this afternoon.”
Nancy thanked the clerk and was about to turn away, when another question popped into her mind.
“Oh, by the way,” she asked carelessly, “do you know where Miss Morse lives?”
“Miss Morse?”
“Yes, I believe she’s a rather wealthy resident of Sea Cliff.”
“Her first name is Fanny, I think,” Bess supplied eagerly. She had gleaned this scrap of information herself from the train conductor.
“Never heard of anyone by that name living here,” the clerk returned.
He began to sort out mail, so the girls moved away.
“I can’t understand it,” Bess murmured as she sat down beside the other two on a bench overlooking the ocean. “Do you suppose our information about Miss Morse was incorrect?”
“I’d think the conductor had been mistaken,” Nancy admitted slowly, “only I heard Miss Morse tell Joe Mitza the very same thing—that she lived here in Sea Cliff.”
After a while the girls walked down to the business section of the little city, stopping to transact purchases at several stores on the pretext of making further inquiry about Miss Morse. No one had heard of the woman.
“If Miss Morse is as wealthy as she appeared to be, surely she’d be known here,” George commented thoughtfully.
“She was a queer type,” Nancy said slowly. “It occurred to me that she might be playing a hoax upon Mitza.”
“Why Nancy,” Bess said in quick protest, “you thought it was the other way around at first. You were afraid Mitza might be after Miss Morse’s money.”
“I do sound inconsistent,” Nancy admitted, laughing. “But the truth is, I’ve altered my opinion somewhat. I believe now that Miss Morse is a shrewd person who, to use her own words, is capable of looking after herself.”