Chapter 19 The Clue of the Dancing Puppet by Carolyn Keene
A Puppeteer’s Secret
“Wh-what’s that?” Bess screamed in fright.
Nancy and George stood frozen to the spot. The hollow laugh was not repeated.
Nancy, sure the laugh had come from behind the back of the secret closet, began to look around for another opening. But though she scrutinized the wooden wall for several minutes, the young detective could not locate any hidden springs or latches. The closet walls seemed perfectly solid.
“I wonder what’s on the other side of this,” Nancy said, frowning.
She stepped from the closet and looked questioningly at her chums. Bess had come to the side of George, whose grim look and stance indicated she was poised to greet the mysterious laughter, should he appear.
“Maybe,” Nancy said, “there’s a roof behind this closet, and someone’s standing there.”
She ran to one of the small attic windows. After some difficulty she managed to open it and look outside. There was no roof beyond the closet, but Nancy saw that the closet itself formed the top of an extension of the main house.
“See anybody?” George asked.
“No.”
As Nancy returned to her friends, Bess said in a tremulous whisper, “I’m beginning to think this place is haunted!”
Nancy laughed. “I’ll think so too, until the mystery is solved and I know just who has been doing queer things around here. Personally, I believe Terrill and Longman are guilty.”
“But they’re both in jail!” Bess reminded her. “So they couldn’t have given the hollow laugh.”
Nancy had to admit her friend was right, but said, “They could have confederates.”
The girls waited for several more minutes. There was no further disturbance and Nancy suggested that they start looking through the books stored in the attic. “We may find a clue tucked in one of them to help us solve the mystery.”
Since there were three large boxes of them, the girls divided the work. For the next half hour there was silence in the attic as book after book was carefully examined, page by page. No papers, no letters, and no reading matter which was of any help to them came to light.
“This is a week’s work,” Bess said finally, giving a great sigh. “Let’s take a rest and come back to the job later.”
“Yes, let’s,” George agreed.
At that moment Nancy was deep in a small volume she had come across. It was the diary of a Ralph Van Pelt, written nearly fifty years before.
“I think I may have found something!” she told her friends excitedly. “Listen!”
She explained that Ralph Van Pelt had been an inventor, who had come to the United States from Holland. He had never married but had lived with a brother on the estate, which was then a farm. Every year, as Christmas gifts, he carved toys for his grandnieces and grandnephews.
“And guess what!” Nancy went on. “The children loved puppets, so their uncle used to make sets of them and put on little shows.”
Bess and George, intrigued by the story, had come forward and seated themselves on the trunk to listen. Nancy now began to read the diary word for word. They learned from the well-written account that Ralph Van Pelt had become so interested in making puppets that he decided to try contriving life-size ones with mechanical devices inside to make them move. One section of the diary read:
“ ‘Today I had my first show out of doors. Relatives and friends were here for a Fourth of July picnic. Two of my marionettes performed very well. One danced and the other, a witch, frightened the children out of their wits!’ ”
“The puppets we found!” George exclaimed.
“What a clever man he must have been!” Bess commented. “I wonder how many puppets he made in all?”
Nancy read on. Presently she came to a passage which said that the grandnieces and grandnephews had nearly ruined one of the puppets playing with it. “ ‘So I decided to hide the marionettes,’ ” Van Pelt had written. “ ‘I built a secret closet in the attic and placed my four puppets inside for safety.’ ”
“Four!” George repeated. “Then one is still missing!”
“Probably Terrill and Longman have it some place,” said Bess.
Nancy did not agree. “I’m positive that the reason they were displaying the dancing puppet here was to scare people away from this mansion. Those men, or pals of theirs, could then have more freedom to search this place for the fourth puppet. But why did they want it so badly? Well, let me read some more.”
There were several pages in the diary which had no bearing on the present mystery. Then suddenly Nancy came across an exciting item. It read:
“ ‘I took one of my puppets from the secret closet today. Inside the puppet I deposited a valuable secret. It would not help anyone today, but I assume the puppet will not be found for some years to come. When it is, the secret will make the finder wealthy. I hereby decree that whoever does find the puppet shall become the true owner of its secret.’ ”
Nancy paused, and the three girls looked at one another in complete amazement. What was the secret? And where was the puppet? Had it been stolen, or was it still in its hiding place?
“I certainly hope we can find that puppet!” George muttered.
Nancy said pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place now. “I believe someone found this diary and read it not too long ago,” she said. “I’m sure he was still hunting for the fourth puppet up to the time of the dancer’s last appearance.”
“Then it could still be here!” George exclaimed.
Nancy nodded. “On the other hand, it may have been found years ago by someone who already has made use of the secret.” Nancy’s eyes roamed the attic, trying to imagine a hiding place for it.
Suddenly Bess spoke up. “Don’t you think we’d better give up our attic sleuthing for now? Someone in this house may get suspicious and come up here. After all, Cally old boy hasn’t been eliminated as a suspect in this case.”
Before Nancy had a chance to reply, she heard Mr. Spencer calling her from the first floor. She hurried downstairs, followed by Bess and George.
“I’d like you to go over some of the lines in the show,” he told Nancy. “You did very well last night, and I want everything to run just as smoothly this evening. We’ll have an early supper and go over to the theater for a rehearsal.”
As they were finishing dessert, Mr. Spencer was called to the telephone. Nancy waited and waited for him to finish. Since the conversation went on and on, she decided to go over to the theater herself and practice some of her lines.
“Bess, will you please tell Mr. Spencer where I am?” she asked, as she opened the kitchen door to leave.
“Will do,” Bess promised. “See you later. Good luck!”
Nancy quickly crossed the yard and went in the side entrance of the theater, which was unlocked. She had not made a sound in her soft-soled shoes, so anyone inside would not have become aware of her presence.
Suddenly Nancy stopped dead in her tracks. Were her eyes deceiving her? The theater was only dimly lighted, but she was sure her imagination was not playing tricks on her.
A life-size puppet was dancing jerkily across the stage!
“That must be the missing puppet!” Nancy told herself. “But someone has put a modern dress on it!”
Though moving jerkily, this figure was far more graceful than the dancing puppet Nancy had seen performing on the lawn.
Reaching the far side of the stage, the figure disappeared into the wings. At once Nancy ran after it. But before she herself had reached the opposite wing of the stage, the puppet suddenly returned. To Nancy’s amazement, it came at her and began to attack her wildly with its arms and legs!
Warding off the blows, Nancy reached out to hold the puppet back. At this point she received a distinct shock. The puppet’s body was warm! This was not a wood-and-plaster figure. It was a human being, wearing a mask!
Now Nancy fought with the attacker, and managed to pull off the mask.
“Tammi!” Nancy cried out, astounded.
“Yes, I’m Tammi,” the other girl flung back in a hoarse whisper. “I’ll teach you to steal my part in the show!”
In a frenzied rage the jealous girl grabbed Nancy and began to hit her with her fists!