Chapter 8 The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene
The Missing Passport
“Oh, what will you do, Nancy?” moaned Hannah, beside herself with worry. “If you don’t find your passport, you’ll not be able to sail!”
“I hope that intruder didn’t steal it,” said Nancy in a shocked voice.
“Oh, goodness, that would be awful,” muttered the housekeeper dolefully. “There certainly seems to be a jinx connected with your trip. Maybe we’ve mislaid the paper after all,” she said soothingly.
“Oh, I only hope so,” replied the distraught girl.
“Try to think, Nancy. Do you suppose you could have dropped it into your trunk?” Hannah suggested.
“No,” said Nancy, shaking her golden curls. “I’m certain I didn’t do that.”
“The trunk stood open in your room.”
“I left it that way so I could put in things at the last minute. But I know I didn’t touch the passport.”
“You sent Effie to the living room for your sweater,” the housekeeper said slowly. “Do you suppose——”
“I remember seeing Effie drop something besides the sweater into the trunk. Oh, maybe it was my passport! I must find the girl at once and ask her.”
There followed a never to be forgotten hour of anxiety as Nancy and Hannah made a desperate attempt to locate Effie. A call at her home brought only the vague information that the maid had gone out.
Quickly they went on a tour of the prominent streets of River Heights. Finally, when the two had lost all hope, they chanced upon the girl in a drug store, blissfully drinking a large glass of chocolate soda.
“Oh, Effie, we’ve found you at last!” Nancy exclaimed.
“Why, have you been looking for me?” inquired the maid innocently.
“Have we been looking for you! Effie, we’ve searched all over!”
“Oh, I just been walking around, looking in the shop windows.”
“Effie,” interrupted Mrs. Gruen impatiently, “did you take any papers from the top of the desk?”
“Papers?” the maid asked blankly. “Desk?”
“The one in our study,” supplied Nancy. “My passport was lying there.”
Light broke over Effie. “Oh, you mean that little book with your picture in it?”
“Yes, did you touch it, Effie?”
“Now lemme think. I put some papers in your trunk because I was afraid you might forget ’em. Maybe that picture thing was in the pile.”
“Oh, Effie!” scolded the housekeeper. “Of all the trouble you’ve caused!”
“Now what have I done?” the maid wailed. “I only meant to help. Didn’t you want those papers in the trunk?”
“I certainly did not,” Nancy said with emphasis. “But then I’ll not blame you because you didn’t understand. The important thing now is to stop that trunk and find out if you did put the passport in it, or whether somebody else took it.”
Leaving a very bewildered Effie behind, Mrs. Gruen and Nancy set off in a taxi cab for the express office. They found the building closed for the night! Undaunted, Nancy obtained the manager’s name and telephoned him at his house, telling of her plight.
“I remember that trunk,” the man said after a moment of thought. “Brass-bound, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Nancy declared eagerly, “and my initials, N. D., also were in brass. The trunk must be stopped.”
“Sorry, Miss, but it’s too late. Your luggage went off to New York this afternoon.”
“Oh, dear, what shall I do?” the girl asked in distress. “I must find out if my passport is locked inside the trunk. If I don’t get it I’ll not be allowed to sail.”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” the manager said finally. “I can send a wire to our New York office. I’ll ask them to hold the trunk and not put it aboard the Patrician until after you have inspected it.”
“Oh, thank you!” Nancy cried gratefully. “Will you send the wire right away?”
“I’ll take care of it at once. Your trunk will be waiting for you when you reach New York. I suggest you get there as soon as you can. It may take a little time to straighten out matters.”
Enroute home Nancy and Hannah discussed the situation. Both were agreed that, considering the emergency, it would be wise for the girl to leave for New York on the midnight train.
“Bess and George may not wish to change their plans,” Nancy said anxiously. “If they feel they can’t start tonight, then I’ll have to go on alone.”
However, both girls were willing to hasten their leave-taking by a day. Yet Bess pointed out one objection to the plan which had not occurred to Nancy.
“What shall we do about the farewell party that Mable Arnold is holding in our honor?”
“We’ll have to ask her to speed it up,” Nancy said regretfully. “We could dance until nearly midnight and then go directly to the train.”
In the end it was so arranged. During the early hours of the night the young people danced and made merry, but promptly at the stroke of eleven-thirty they piled into cars and drove to the railroad station.
A large group, including Hannah Gruen and Effie, had gathered to see the girls on their way. Observing the maid standing alone, Nancy went to speak to her.
“Did you find your passport, Miss Nancy?” Effie inquired. “I been worryin’ about it ever since I heard.”
“I haven’t located the trunk yet, but I expect to get it when I reach New York.” She explained nothing further, but her heart became heavy as she thought again of the possibility she might not find the precious paper.
As the train came into the station, Nancy, Bess and George said good-bye to their friends and climbed aboard. Ned helped the porter with their hand luggage and assisted the girls in locating their berths in the Pullman.
“Don’t stay too late, Ned,” Nancy warned her friend uneasily. “It must be about time for the train to start. You may be taken along.”
“I might at that.”
Nancy failed to notice the significant tone, for at that moment Effie, her hat at a rakish angle, came running down the aisle.
“Miss Nancy!” she called in an excited voice.
“Effie, what are you doing on the train?”
“Oh, Miss Nancy, I had to tell you! I just saw the men putting it into the baggage car!”
“What are you talking about, Effie?”
“Your trunk. They’re putting it on this very train.”
“How can that be?” Nancy murmured in bewilderment. “The manager of the express company told me the trunk had been shipped. You’re sure it was mine, Effie?”
“It was a great big trunk with a lot of brass trimming. And your initials were on it too.”
Before Effie could say more the train gave a sudden jerk and started to move. With a shriek the woman ran for the vestibule. Ned followed and helped her swing down to the platform. Then he walked back leisurely into the car.
“Ned!” Nancy exclaimed. “Why didn’t you get off?”
The young man grinned. “You see, I have a ticket.”
He then explained that Carson Drew had asked him to see the girls to their boat.
“And all this time you never said a word about it!”
“You’ve been so busy I didn’t have a chance,” Ned defended himself. “Anyway, I thought I would hand myself to you as a nice surprise package.”
Effie’s loud talking had disturbed many persons who were trying to sleep. As someone called out, “Quiet, please!” the young people lowered their voices. However, they went on conversing in whispers, discussing the news which the maid had brought.
“Effie makes so many mistakes I hardly know whether to believe her or not,” Nancy declared. “Still, I can’t afford to overlook any possibility. I’ll talk with the conductor.”
She and Ned found the man in another car. To their request that they be allowed to visit the baggage car, he turned a deaf ear.
“Sorry, it’s against the rules,” was his gruff reply.
“It would save me so much trouble if only I could get into my trunk tonight,” Nancy pleaded with him. “Unless I locate my passport I’ll not be able to sail.”
“I can’t allow you in the baggage car,” the conductor repeated, “but since it’s so important I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” he added, relenting a little, “I’ll go myself and see if the trunk is on the train.”
“Oh, thank you,” Nancy said gratefully, handing him the key. “If you find the trunk, please open it for me. The passport should be in the top tray.”
“Describe the trunk.”
“You can’t possibly miss it,” Nancy replied. “It is brass trimmed and has a tag bearing the number of my stateroom aboard the Patrician.”
While awaiting the conductor’s return, she and Ned wandered toward the lounge car. In the doorway the boy stopped short.
“Nancy,” he said in a whisper, “Henry Washburn is on the train!”
He indicated a well dressed young man who sat reading a newspaper.
“Are you sure?” Nancy inquired in a low tone.
“Yes, I met him once at a party. I know I’m not mistaken. Would you like an introduction?”
“Not now,” Nancy said hastily. “Perhaps later. Ned, he must be on his way to New York!”
“Probably.”
“Perhaps he expects to sail on the Patrician. In that case, what a surprise Doris Trenton will receive!”
“You don’t think she would like it?”
“She would be furious, Ned, and I can’t blame her. It does look as if her father is scheming to throw the two of them together. No wonder she is rebellious.”
Not wishing the young man to see them, Ned and Nancy returned to their own car. They did not have long to wait for the conductor, who came back in a few minutes and handed over the key.
“Oh, you didn’t find the trunk?” Nancy inquired in disappointment.
“I found one trimmed in brass and marked with the initials N. D.”
“That would be mine. My name is Nancy Drew.”
The conductor smiled and shook his head. “I am satisfied the trunk isn’t yours, young lady.”
“But it must be mine,” argued Nancy. “It was sent by express and has an identifying tag.”
“This trunk has no express tag attached.”
“But it answers the description perfectly. Brass-bound, and with my initials——”
“The key does not fit,” the conductor told her with finality. “Except for the lock, some other person has a trunk exactly like yours.”
Scarcely had the words been spoken when a terrific grinding of brakes sent the standing passengers sprawling in different directions. Nancy was flung with great violence against the wood paneling at the end of the car.
The railroad man was pitched into the entryway, his head striking an iron rail. Though he groaned in pain, he arose and strove to calm the many travelers who were calling out from their berths.
The Drew girl wondered what could be the meaning of all this. Was it another jinx to postpone her trip?
She hoped not.