Chapter 3 The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene
An Unpleasant Visitor
“Oh, I shouldn’t think of running away,” Nancy replied, rather amused at the housekeeper’s suggestion. “I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of.”
“But this woman is mean despite her fine manners,” whispered Mrs. Gruen. “She has such a hard spoken way about her.”
“Did she give her name?”
“Mrs. Thomas Joslin.”
“I don’t recall hearing it before,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll see her. She may have mistaken me for some other person.”
The visitor, who had advanced well into middle age, wore a tight fitting suit with an expensive fox fur thrown over her shoulders. Beneath a nose-length veil her sharp brown eyes studied the girl with undisguised scorn.
“So you are Nancy Drew?” she asked quickly.
“Yes, Mrs. Gruen said you wish to see me.”
“Indeed I do. I have considerable to say. I’ll not mince matters,” the woman said coldly. “I have come here because I understand you expect to take a trip with a group of Laurel Hall girls.”
“Yes, that is true.”
“Then you will be compelled to change your plans!”
Nancy wondered if she had heard the woman correctly. As Mrs. Joslin waited for her to reply, she said easily, “Will you explain why I should change them?”
“Because I’ll not have my daughter Nestrelda associating with any girl who goes around prying into people’s affairs, that is why!” the woman exclaimed. “I am sure I don’t know why you were ever asked to join the group in the first place. It was a mistake on the part of the headmistress to include a—a detective with the others.”
With difficulty Nancy kept control of her temper.
“I suppose you are saying these things because you have heard I happen to have solved a few mysteries. I am not a professional detective in any sense of the word.”
“Nestrelda has been brought up to mingle only with persons of her own set,” said the woman haughtily.
“I am certain, Mrs. Joslin, that you are under a wrong impression. You don’t know me. Would you mind telling me just what you do mean?”
“I’ll not elaborate,” the woman retorted. “I will grant that you look like a nice girl and you speak very well, but looks are deceiving!”
“Yes, they can be,” agreed Nancy.
Mrs. Joslin stared hard at the Drew girl, then said, “My daughter is beautiful.”
“I suppose so,” murmured Nancy.
“She is especially talented in the arts,” continued the visitor.
Her listener nodded understandingly.
“Some day Nestrelda will marry nobility and great wealth, so of course I could not permit my daughter to be associated with you.”
“I have high ideals, too, Mrs. Joslin,” Nancy stated staunchly.
“You are entirely too conceited to appeal to me,” snapped the older woman crossly.
“I really cannot understand your attitude,” Nancy said, trying not to show how deeply she had been hurt. “The headmistress invited me——”
“She made an unfortunate mistake,” Mrs. Joslin interrupted. “However, as you appear to be a fairly reasonable person, everything can be arranged. You will cancel your reservation at once, Miss Drew.”
“I am a reasonable person,” Nancy replied quietly. “In fact, I am so reasonable that I believe in justice to myself. I have no intention of giving up the trip.”
The woman looked startled, as indeed she was, for she had assumed that the girl would be bluffed easily.
“You will not need to give up the trip,” she said in a milder tone. “You could take another boat.”
“For that matter, so could your daughter.”
“I prefer to have Nestrelda travel with her school friends.”
“And I choose to travel with those girls too,” said Nancy spiritedly.
“Then you refuse to do as I request?”
“I am afraid so, Mrs. Joslin. Your attitude doesn’t seem reasonable.”
“You are an impertinent, ill-mannered girl!” the woman cried, turning away abruptly. “I shouldn’t have wasted time talking with you. I’ll arrange everything with the headmistress.”
Mrs. Joslin reached for her purse and gloves which she had dropped on a chair. Unnoticed until that moment, Snowball had curled herself on the cushion. One of the gloves lay between her paws.
“Horrid creature!” exclaimed the woman, giving the cat a push. “Now my glove is covered with white hair! O—oh!”
Her words ended in a scream of pain. The pet, annoyed by the rough treatment, had made a quick thrust with her paw, scratching Mrs. Joslin across the left cheek as she bent over the chair.
“F—tt, f—tt,” Snowball hissed, making another attack, this time tearing the skin on the woman’s wrist.
Mrs. Joslin backed away from the chair, a handkerchief pressed to her face. “My cheek!” she moaned. “I’ll be scarred for life! And a cat scratch is dangerous. I may get some dreadful disease.”
Nancy rescued Snowball, who became quiet in her arms. The girl tried to apologize, but Mrs. Joslin would not listen. Slamming the door behind her, she ran out to her car and ordered the chauffeur to drive away quickly.
“Oh, dear,” Nancy sighed as she watched from the window. “I’m sorry that happened. Now she’ll try to cause no end of trouble.”
“It was all her own fault,” declared Hannah Gruen, who had overheard the conversation.
“Yes, Snowball never would have scratched her if she hadn’t been annoyed.”
“That woman should talk about ill-mannered people!” the housekeeper went on indignantly. “Why, I never saw such an ill-bred person in all my life.”
“She seems to have a great idea of her own importance,” said Nancy. “I wonder if she really has any influence with the headmistress?”
Later in the afternoon, when George and Bess called, Nancy reported the incident to them.
“I guess I’m not such a desirable person,” she said ruefully. “It never occurred to me before that anyone would regard me as unfit company simply because I have solved a few mysteries!”
“And no one does,” George declared instantly. “Why, you’re the envy of the town. Mrs. Joslin is just jealous because you have had so much publicity. There isn’t a finer, nicer girl in River Heights than you, Nancy.”
“Nor one with higher social qualifications,” added Bess heartily. “Who is this Nestrelda anyway? I’ll venture she hasn’t a single friend at Laurel Hall.”
“I believe her mother wouldn’t be of much help in making them,” laughed Nancy. “But I have an uneasy feeling about the trip. The Joslins probably have money, and money does talk, you know.”
“Now don’t you worry,” Bess said comfortingly. “Your passage has been booked, so of course you’ll go.”
To make Nancy forget the unpleasant interview, the girls deliberately changed the subject. Before long she was telling them about her latest “case,” and the request which her father had made regarding the Trentons.
“I’m not sure just what Dad wants me to do yet,” she admitted to her chums. “However, I think he expects me to become acquainted with Doris and try to make her change her mind.”
“Do you know the Trentons?” George inquired curiously.
“I met Mrs. Trenton nearly a year ago. She seemed nice, although I talked with her only a minute. I have an idea, girls! Why don’t we run out there now?”
“What excuse could we give there for our call?” asked Bess.
“Oh, we’ll think up something. I’ll just say that Dad had spoken of Doris so many times, I’d like to meet her.”
George and Bess agreed to the plan. Twenty minutes later found them in the Marvin automobile, drawing up before an imposing three-story stone dwelling. The girls crossed a well-tended grass lawn and rang the bell. After a long wait the door was opened by a butler.
“Is this the Trenton home?” inquired Nancy doubtfully.
“Yes,” the man responded politely, “but Miss Doris is not at home this afternoon.”
“Oh,” murmured Nancy in disappointment, “then perhaps Mrs. Trenton will see us.”
The butler seemed to hesitate and half inclined his head as if to gaze back over his shoulder. Nancy imagined she could hear a woman crying in one of the nearby rooms.
“Mrs. Trenton is unable to see any visitors today,” said the man. “She is indisposed. Will you leave your card?”
“I haven’t one with me,” replied Nancy, turning away. “We will call again.”
As the girls walked back to the car she asked Bess and George if they had heard the sound of weeping from the direction of the living room.
“Yes, I did,” declared Bess. “Do you suppose Mrs. Trenton is really ill?”
“It’s my opinion she is upset over the actions of her daughter,” Nancy responded, climbing into the car. “She probably wasn’t in a mood to see anyone, and Doris may have done something today which hurt her.”
As the hour was growing late, the girls drove toward their homes. In passing an intersection at one of the neighborhood business districts, Nancy suddenly craned her neck to gaze at a large limousine parked at the curbing.
“Do you see someone you know?” questioned George curiously.
“Girls, look there,” Nancy urged. “That is Mrs. Joslin’s car.”
Bess stopped her machine for a traffic light and turned her head to gaze back. The woman sat alone in the rear seat, but she seemed to be waiting for someone. She kept tapping her pocket book nervously, and glanced at her wrist watch frequently.
Before the light turned green a thin man with a felt hat pulled low over his eyes came hurriedly from a jewelry store. Mrs. Joslin swung open the car door and he stepped inside. Then the limousine pulled away from the curb, made an illegal turn in the street, and drove off in the opposite direction.
“Surely he isn’t her husband,” remarked Bess thoughtfully. “He looked years younger than she.”
“I didn’t like his appearance at all,” George declared with emphasis. “Or hers either, for that matter.”
“I am afraid I prejudiced you against Mrs. Joslin,” commented Nancy as Bess drove on again. “Probably I shouldn’t have been so outspoken.”
“On the contrary, you were far too charitable,” said George feelingly. “She looks like an old shrew to me.”
“Do you know, I’ve been thinking,” remarked Bess slowly. “Seeing these two together, both of them people we don’t like, makes me wonder——”
“Makes you wonder what?” George demanded as her cousin hesitated.
“Do you suppose there could be any reason except false pride for Mrs. Joslin not wanting Nancy to travel on the same boat with her daughter?”
The question startled the other two girls.
“I never even thought of such a possibility,” Nancy acknowledged. “Just what do you mean, Bess?”
“Mrs. Joslin may be pretending to dislike your ability as a detective because she is afraid of it!”
“Perhaps that’s why she’s trying to keep you off the boat, Nancy,” added George with sudden conviction. “She has something to hide and she doesn’t want you to pry into her secrets!”