Part 24 (1/2)
”And you haven't seen her since the fire?” Nancy questioned softly.
”She came to my cabin twice-once to ask me to search for something she had lost. But I couldn't find it. I hunted everywhere. I told her that later and she never came here again.”
Mr. Haley closed his eyes and turned his face toward the wall. Nancy and her father longed to ask him other questions but refrained. It was dear that the man was exhausted from talking.
Before Carson Drew and Nancy had a chance to discuss what Mr. Haley had told them, Ned, Burt, and Dave came into the bedroom.
”We're ready to leave, Nancy,” Ned announced in a whisper.
”You all look handsome in your new outfits,” she commented. The boys wore different colored striped sports jackets and dark-brown pants. ”It's hard to tell who is the handsomest,” she added.
”You'd better say Ned,” Dave teased.
As the young people were driving away from the cabin in Ned's car he observed that Nancy was strangely silent.
”Is your hand bothering you?” he inquired anxiously.
”Not much,” Nancy replied. ”There's really nothing wrong with me, Ned. I was just thinking about Margaret Judson again. Ned, I must find her!”
”That's easier said than done.”
”Yes, but I believe she's near here.”
Ned glanced curiously at Nancy. Her next words astonished him even more, as with a quiet intensity in her voice, she added:
”It may sound silly to you, Ned, but I have a strange feeling-call it intuition if you will-that tonight I'll find Margaret Judson!”
”You seem very positive,” Ned commented. ”I certainly hope your hunch is right.”
”Can you help me?” Nancy asked.
”I thought you didn't need my a.s.sistance,” he replied impulsively.
”Oh, Ned, it was just that I couldn't explain everything to you about Mr. Wardell, and I'm afraid I can't even now. But sometime I'll be able to.”
”That doesn't matter, Nancy. Just tell me what to do and I'll try to carry out orders.”
”Ned, are you willing to subst.i.tute sleuthing for dancing tonight?”
CHAPTER XVI.
The Hidden Note
MEANWHILE, at the Deer Mountain Hotel, George and Bess were wondering what had become of Nancy. They were pacing the lobby waiting for her. Finally she came in, and to their delight the three boys were with her.
”I didn't mean to worry you,” Nancy apologized to the cousins. ”I jumped from one thing to another so fast I forgot to leave word where I was going to be.”
Bess and George were enthusiastic tc have their favorite dates take them to the dance, and promptly forgave Nancy for the anxiety she had caused them.