Chapter 8 The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene
Trickery
As Nancy opened the door, Togo bounded outside. The little dog raced directly toward the garage, barking furiously.
“He saw someone, all right,” Nancy declared. She could see the vague impressions of a man’s footprints that led directly to the window near the telephone. “Someone was listening. I’m going to look around outside.”
“Don’t do it,” Mrs. Gruen said nervously. “It may be that thief seeking revenge!”
“In broad daylight?” Nancy laughed.
Telling the housekeeper to watch from the window, she followed the dog to the garage. The building was empty.
Togo ran around the yard, his nose to the ground. Picking up the stranger’s scent, he followed it to the street and there became confused.
“Whoever it was, he’s gone now, Togo,” Nancy said, calling her pet back into the house. “Good dog! You tried hard.”
The housekeeper was greatly concerned by the disturbance.
“Probably it was a member of that Velvet Gang,” she remarked. “I suspect the man wanted to get his black hood.”
“Now stop worrying,” Nancy begged. “If he’d wanted it, he would have tried harder to get it. Nevertheless, I’ll get in touch with Chief Denny.”
She telephoned, bringing him up to date on all she had learned and asking if she might still retain the mask since her father wanted to see it again.
“All right,” the chief said. “So long as we have those dates that’s the important thing. Be sure you don’t lose the mask,” he warned her jokingly.
“I promise.”
Mrs. Gruen remained jumpy and Nancy did not leave her. Hours later, when she and Nancy were upstairs, the housekeeper gave a sudden start.
“Listen!” she said tensely. “What was that?”
“Only the front doorbell. I’ll go.”
“Be careful, Nancy. It may be a trick.”
The housekeeper’s suspicions were unwarranted. Opening the door, Nancy found a telegraph messenger boy standing there. She took the envelope which was addressed to her and tore it open. The wire read:
HAVE FOUND WHAT DATES MEAN. NO NEED CONTACT LIGHTNER. COME MY HOTEL THIS EVENING. BRING MASK.
It was signed “Dad.”
“Bad news?” Mrs. Gruen asked, hovering near.
“Not exactly,” Nancy was rereading the telegram. “This message has me puzzled, though. Why should Dad ask me to come to Amster when he expects to arrive home today?”
She offered the telegram to Mrs. Gruen for her opinion. The woman shrugged.
“Apparently your father has solved the mystery,” she said after reading it. “You’ll go, of course.”
“I’m wondering if I should.”
“Why, Nancy!”
“This telegram may be a hoax.”
“That’s so,” Mrs. Gruen admitted. “I never thought of that! Well, the only thing to do is to verify it.”
Nancy put in a long-distance call to her father. The hotel operator informed her that Carson Drew was not in his room. She assured the girl, however, that he had not checked out.
His daughter further learned that a telegram had been sent to her from the hotel, charged to her father’s bill. Turning from the telephone, Nancy said reassuringly to worried Mrs. Gruen:
“Evidently Dad sent the telegram, so I’ll take the mask and meet him.”
She got in touch with the railroad station and learned that the only through train from River Heights to Amster left in less than two hours.
“Since Dad wants me there this evening, I’ll have to take it,” she remarked.
She had barely said this when Togo growled and ran to the door.
“Another eavesdropper!” Hannah Gruen cried, and went outside herself this time.
But there was no one in sight. A car was just pulling away from in front of the house next door. Could the driver have been spying on the Drew home? she wondered. Annoyed and ill at ease she returned to tell Nancy about it.
“Maybe you’d better have Bess and George sleep here tonight,” Nancy urged. “I’ll call them.”
She phoned George and asked her to pick up Bess.
“Be there in fifteen minutes,” George promised.
While Hannah Gruen hurriedly pressed a suit for Nancy, the girl brought an overnight bag from the attic.
“I mustn’t forget to pack the black mask,” she told herself. “Dad especially asked for it—I can’t imagine why.”
Bess and George arrived before she had decided what clothes to take with her. They were astonished to learn that she was leaving at once for Amster.
“Nancy, you’re not going alone!” George protested. “Why, someone might try to snatch that mask from you.”
“It does worry me a little,” Nancy admitted. “The mask is my only important clue. I’d hate to lose it.”
“Why go?” Bess asked.
“Dad is expecting me.”
“He wouldn’t want you to take any risks,” George declared. “And I have a hunch this thing isn’t quite on the level.”
“Me too,” Bess added. “I almost wish we were going instead of you. How about it?”
“I wish you could, girls, but—”
George snapped her fingers. “That gives me an idea. It will make everything safe as a bank vault!”
Nancy was folding the black velvet mask into the open traveling case, but she looked up startled.
“What’s your idea?”
“I’ll masquerade as you! I can wear your clothes and carry your bag.”
“But what about your hair?” Nancy asked, surveying George’s dark close-cut bob.
“That’s where the Lightner Entertainment Company comes in. I’ll rent a blond wig for me and a black one for you.”
Nancy was thoughtful. The idea appealed to her, and if the girls’ hunches were right, she might even catch the person who wanted the mask back!
“Well, what say?” George prodded.
“There’s one drawback,” said Nancy. “With eavesdroppers around I think none of us should rent the wigs.”
“It’s easy to solve that one.” George looked over Nancy’s shoulder. “Here’s the person to do it. Hello, Mrs. Gruen.”
George flew to the phone and called Mrs. Fayne and Mrs. Marvin, who gave their permission for the girls to go. Then, before the housekeeper knew what was happening, she was in a taxi and on her way to the Lightner Entertainment Company.
Meanwhile, it was decided that the mask would be carried in Bess’s bag. As soon as Mrs. Gruen returned with the wigs and the train tickets, George took Nancy’s initialed suitcase and the cousins left to return home to dress for the trip.
“Hurry! There’s not much time!” Nancy called to them. “And, Bess, take a bag without initials. I will too.”
Bess and Nancy met on the station platform a short while afterward.
“If George misses the train, I’ll never forgive her,” Bess remarked as they looked about anxiously.
It was only two minutes to train time. A long, shrill whistle warned that it was nearing the station.
Nancy was hopefully watching an approaching cab. It careened up to the platform. To the relief of the two girls, George leaped out.
“Why, Nancy, she looks like your twin!” Bess said in an undertone. “Or at least the way you looked before you changed yourself into George Fayne!”
“Sh!” Nancy warned. “Not so loud or someone will hear you. And don’t watch George as she boards the train.”
By prearrangement she and Bess sat down near the rear of the second coach. Soon George came in with her luggage. In seating herself at the front of the car, she set the case so that the initials N.D. were plainly visible to anyone passing through the aisle.
“I hope the trick works,” Bess whispered to Nancy.
“It will,” she predicted.
She nudged her friend to draw attention to three passengers who had entered the car directly behind George. One was a dark-eyed, sullen-looking woman in smartly tailored clothes. She was accompanied by two men.
They scrutinized George, who pretended to be thumbing through a magazine. Then their gaze wandered down the aisle to Nancy and Bess.
The woman and one of the men sat down in the double seat across the aisle from George.
The second man came down the aisle, taking a seat directly in front of Bess and Nancy. This was an unforeseen complication, for now they were unable to talk without fear of being overheard.
Nancy and Bess, however, were jubilant. They were certain their ruse had worked!
The three passengers easily might have chosen other seats, for there were several empty ones in the car. Instead, two had deliberately sat near the girl they thought was Nancy, and the third had probably stationed himself to listen to Nancy and Bess.
Bess leaned over and whispered into Nancy’s ear, “I wonder if they’re members of the Velvet Mask Gang?”
“Time will tell,” she replied in a low voice.
Nancy settled back in her seat and opened a magazine but did not read.
The man in the seat ahead paid no attention to the other passengers and devoted himself to a copy of a New York newspaper.
Half an hour later the conductor called out the name of a small but busy town. Nancy noticed that the stranger had put aside his newspaper. Was he going to leave the train? Had she been entirely mistaken about him?
Nancy and Bess did not venture even a whispered remark. Nevertheless, they exchanged glances.
The train began to slow down for the station. Nancy and Bess looked up to see what the couple across the aisle from George would do.
The girls were just in time to see the dark-haired woman arise, step across the aisle, and bend over George. When she straightened, the masquerading “Nancy Drew” had slumped over, apparently in a faint!