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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:03:07 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:03:07 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/45497-0.txt b/45497-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e43efd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5634 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45497 *** + +[Illustration: They had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + NANCY BRANDON + + By + + LILIAN GARIS + + _Author of_ + "JOAN'S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE," "GLORIA AT BOARDING + SCHOOL," "CONNIE LORING'S AMBITION," + "BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER," + "CLEO'S MISTY RAINBOW," ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY + + THELMA GOOCH + + + + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + _Copyright, 1924_ + By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY + Springfield, Massachusetts + _All Rights Reserved_ + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS + + I. THE GIRL AND THE BOY + II. DINNER DIFFICULTIES + III. BELATED HASTE + IV. NEW FRIENDS + V. ORIGINAL PLANS + VI. FAIR PLAY + VII. THE SPECIAL SALE + VIII. FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS + IX. THE BIG DAY + X. STILL THEY CAME + XI. THE FAILURE + XII. THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE + XIII. BEHIND THE CLOUD + XIV. A PLEASANT SURPRISE + XV. TALKING IT OVER + XVI. JUST FISHING + XVII. THE CAVE-IN + XVIII. INTRODUCING NERO + XIX. A DISCOVERY + XX. THE MIDNIGHT ALARM + XXI. FOR VALUE DECEIVED + XXII. TARTS AND LADY FINGERS + XXIII. THE STORY TOLD + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + NANCY BRANDON: ENTHUSIAST + + + CHAPTER I + + THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + +The small kitchen was untidy. There were boxes empty and some crammed +with loose papers, while a big clothes basket was filled--with a small +boy, who took turns rolling it like a boat and bumping it up and down +like a flivver. Ted Brandon was about eleven years old, full of +boyhood's importance and bristling with boyhood's pranks. + +His sister Nancy, who stood placidly reviewing the confusion, was, she +claimed, in her teens. She was also just now in her glory, for after +many vicissitudes and uncertainties they were actually moved into the +old Townsend place at Long Leigh. + +"You're perfectly silly, Ted. You know it's simply a wonderful idea," +she proclaimed loftily. + +"Do I." There was no question in the boy's tone. + +"Well, you ought to. But, of course, boys--" + +"Oh, there you go. Boys!!" No mistaking this tone. + +"Ted Brandon, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. To be so--so mean to +mother." + +"Mean to mother! Who said anything about mother?" + +"This is mother's pet scheme." + +"Pretty queer scheme to keep us cooped up all vacation." He rocked the +basket vigorously. + +"We won't have to stay in much at all. Why, just odd times, and +besides--" Nancy paused to pat her hair. She might have patted it +without pausing but her small brother Ted would then have been less +impressed by her assumed dignity, "you see, Teddy, I'm working for a +principle. I don't believe that girls should do a bit more housework +than boys." + +"Oh, I know you believe that all-righty." Ted allowed himself to sigh +but did not pause to do so. He kept right on rocking and snapping the +blade of his pen-knife open and shut, as if the snap meant something +either useful or amusing. + +"Well, I guess I know what I'm talking about," declared Nancy, "and now, +even mother has come around to agree with me. She's going right on with +her office work and you and I are to run this lovely little shop." + +"You mean _you_ are to run the shop and _I'll_ wash the dishes." Deepest +scorn and seething irony hissed through Teddy's words. He even flipped +the pen-knife into the sink board and nicked, but did not break, the +apple-sauce dish. + +"Of course you must do your part." Nancy lifted up two dishes and set +them down again. + +"And yours, if you have your say. Oh, what's the use of talkin' to +girls?" Ted tumbled out of the basket, pushed it over until it banged +into a soap box, then straightening up his firm young shoulders, he +prepared to leave the scene. + +"There's no use talking to girls, Ted," replied his sister, "if you +don't talk sense." + +"Sense!" He jammed his cap upon his head although he didn't have any +idea of wearing it on this beautiful day. The fact was, Teddy and Nancy +were disagreeing. But there really wasn't anything unusual about that, +for their natures were different, they saw things differently, and if +they had been polite enough to agree they would simply have been fooling +each other. + +Nancy smiled lovingly, however, at the boy, as he banged the door. What +a darling Ted was! So honest and so scrappy! Of all things hateful to +Nancy Brandon a "sissy" boy, as she described a certain type, was the +worst. + +"But I suppose," she ruminated serenely, "the old breakfast dishes have +got to be done." Another lifting up and setting down of a couple of +china pieces, but further than that Nancy made not the slightest +headway. A small mirror hung in a small hall between the long kitchen +and the store. Here Nancy betook herself and proceeded again to pat her +dark hair. + +She was the type of girl described as willowy, because that word is +prettier than some others that might mean tall, lanky, boneless and +agile. Nancy had black hair that shone with crow-black luster in spite +of its pronounced curl. Her eyes were dark, snappy and meaningful. They +could mean love, as when Ted slammed the door, or they could mean +danger, as when a boy kicked the black and white kitten. Then again they +could mean devotion, as when Nancy beheld her idolized little mother who +was a business woman as well, and in that capacity, Nancy's model. + +A tingle at the bell that was set for the store alarm, sent the girl +dancing away from the looking-glass. + +"Funniest thing about a store," she told herself, "there's always +someone to buy things you haven't got." + +The catch was on the screen door and, as Nancy approached it, she +discerned outside, the figure of an elderly woman. It was Miss Sarah +Townsend from whom her mother had bought the store. + +"Oh, good morning, Miss Townsend. I keep the door fastened when I'm +alone, as I might be busy in the kitchen," apologized Nancy. + +"That's right, dear, that's right. And I wouldn't be too much alone if I +were you," cautioned the woman who was stepping in with the air of +proprietorship, and with her little brown dog sniffing at her heels. +"Don't you keep your brother with you?" + +"Ted? Oh yes, sometimes. But he's a little boy, you know, Miss Townsend, +and he must enjoy his vacation." Nancy was making friends with Tiny, the +dog, but after a polite sniff or two Tiny was off frisking about +happily, as any dog might be expected to do when returning to his +old-time home. + +Miss Townsend surveyed Nancy critically. + +"Of course your brother is a little boy," she said, "but what about you? +You're only a little girl." + +"Little! Why I'm much stronger than Ted, and years older," declared +Nancy, pulling herself up to her fullest height. + +The woman smiled tolerantly. She wore glasses so securely fixed before +her deep-set eyes that they seemed like a very feature of her face. She +was a capable looking, elderly woman, and rather comely, but she was, as +Nancy had quickly observed, "hopelessly old-fashioned." + +"We haven't anything fixed up yet," said Nancy apologetically. "You see, +mother goes to business and that leaves the store and the house to me." + +"Yes. She explained in taking our place that she was doing it to give +you a chance to try business. But for a girl so young--Come back here, +Tiny," she ordered the sniffing, snuffing, frisky little dog. + +"If I'm going to be a business woman I've got to start in," interrupted +Nancy. "They say it's never too early to start at _housework_." + +"But that's different. Every girl has to know how to keep house," +insisted Miss Townsend. She was busy straightening a box of spools that +lay upon the little counter, but from her automatic actions it was +perfectly evident that Miss Townsend didn't know she was doing anything. + +"I can't see why," retorted Nancy. "Just look at mother. What would she +have done with us if she hadn't understood business?" + +Miss Townsend sighed. "Being a widow, my dear--" + +"But I may be a widow too," breezed Nancy. "In fact I'm sure to, for +everyone says I'm so much like mother. Do let me fix that box of spools, +Miss Townsend. Someone came in for linen thread last night and Teddy +looked for it. I'm sure he gave them a ball of cord, for all the cord +was scattered around too." She put the cover on the thread box. "Boys +are rather poor at business, I think, especially boys of Teddy's age," +orated the important Nancy. + +Miss Townsend agreed without saying so. She was looking over the little +place in a fidgety, nervous way. Nancy quickly decided this was due to +regret that she had given the place up, and therefore sought to make her +feel at ease. + +The little brown dog had curled himself up in front of the fireplace on +a piece of rug, evidently his own personal property. The fireplace was +closed up and the stove set back against it, out of the way for summer, +and handy-by for winter. + +Nancy smiled at the woman who was moving about in a sort of aimless +restlessness. + +"It must seem natural to you to be around here," Nancy ventured. + +"Yes, after thirty years--" + +"Thirty years!" repeated Nancy, incredulously. "Did you and your brother +live here all that time?" + +"Yes." A prolonged sigh brought Miss Townsend down on the old hickory +chair that stood by the door, just out of the way of possible customers. + +"Brother Elmer and I kept on here after mother died. In fact, so far as +I was concerned, we might have gone on until we died, but there was a +little trouble--" + +"Just like me and my brother, I suppose," intervened Nancy, kindly. "We +love each other to death, and yet we are always scrapping." + +"In children's way, but that's different, very different," insisted Miss +Townsend. "With me and Elmer," she sighed again, "it became a very, very +serious matter." + +"Oh," faltered Nancy. Things were becoming uncomfortable. That kitchen +work would be growing more formidable, and Nancy had really wanted to +settle the store. She would love to do that, to put all the little +things in their places, or in new places, as she would surely find a new +method for their arrangement. She hurried over to the corner shelves. + +"I hope no one comes in until I get the place fixed up," she remarked. +"Mother doesn't intend to buy much new stock until she sees how we get +along." + +"That's wise," remarked Miss Townsend. "I suppose I know every stick in +the place," she looked about critically, "and yet I could be just as +interested. I wonder if you wouldn't like me to help you fix things up? +I'd just love to do it." + +Now this was exactly what Nancy did not want. In fact, she was wishing +earnestly that the prim Miss Townsend would take herself off and leave +her to do as she pleased. + +"That's kind of you, I'm sure," she said, "but the idea was that I +should be manager from the start," Nancy laughed lightly to justify this +claim, "and I'm sure mother would be better pleased if I put the shop in +order. You can come in and see me again when I'm all fixed up," (this +gentle hint was tactful, thought Nancy) "and then you can tell me what +you think of me as the manager of the Whatnot Shop." + +Miss Townsend was actually poking in the corner near the hearth shelf +where matches, in a tin container, were kept. She heard Nancy but did +not heed her. + +"Looking for something?" the girl asked a little sharply. + +"Looking?" Yes, that is--"Tiny keep down there," she ordered. "I can't +see what has got into that dog of late. It was one of the things that +Elmer and I were constantly fussing over. Tiny won't let any one touch +things near this chimney without barking his head off. Now just watch." + +As she went to the shelf back of the stove the dog sprang alongside of +her. He barked in the happy fashion that goes with rapid tail wagging, +and Nancy quickly decided that the dog knew a secret of the old chimney. + +[Illustration: Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove.] + +Again Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove, and Tiny +all but jumped into the low, broad door. + +"Now, isn't that--uncanny?" asked the woman, plainly bewildered. + +"Oh, no, I don't think so," said Nancy. "All dogs have queer little +tricks like that." + +"Do they? I'm glad to hear you say so," sighed Miss Townsend, once more +picking up a small box of notions. "You must excuse me, my dear. You see +the habit of a life time--" + +"Oh, that's all right, Miss Townsend, I didn't mean to hurry you," spoke +up Nancy. "But the morning goes so quickly, and mother may come home to +lunch." This possibility brought real anxiety to Nancy. If she had only +slicked up the kitchen instead of arguing with Teddy. After all the +plagued old housework did take some time, she secretly admitted. + +But Miss Townsend laid down the unfinished roll of lace edging, although +she had most carefully rolled all but a very small end, walked over to +Nancy, who was just attempting to dust out a tray, and in the most +tragic voice said: + +"Nancy, I think you really have a lot of sense." + +Nancy chuckled. "I hope so, Miss Townsend." + +"I mean to say, that I think you can be trusted." + +"Well," stammered Nancy, forcing back another chuckle, "I hope so, to +that too, Miss Townsend." She was surprised at the woman's manner and +puzzled to understand its meaning. The dog was again snoozing on the +rug. + +"Let's sit down," suggested Miss Townsend. + +"Oh, all right," faltered Nancy, in despair now of ever catching up on +the delayed work. + +"You see, it's this way," began the woman, making room for herself in +the big chair that was serving as storage quarters for Teddy's +miscellany. "Some people are very proud--" + +Nancy was simply choking with impatience. + +"I mean to say, they are so proud they won't or can't ever give in to +each other." + +"Stubborn," suggested Nancy. "I'm that way sometimes." + +"And brother and sister," sighed Miss Townsend. "I never could believe +that Elmer, my own brother, could, be so--unreasonable." + +"Why, what's the matter?" Nancy spoke up. "You seem so unhappy." + +"Unhappy is no name for it, I'm wretched." The distress shown on Miss +Townsend's face was now unmistakable. Nancy forgot even the unwashed +breakfast dishes. + +"Can I help you?" she asked kindly. + +"Yes, you can. What I want is to come in here sometimes--" + +"Why, if you're lonely for your old place," interrupted Nancy. + +"It isn't that. In fact I just can't explain," said Miss Townsend, +picking up her hand bag, nervously. "But I'm no silly woman. We've +agreed to sell this place to your mother and I'm the last person in the +world to make a nuisance of myself." + +"You needn't worry about that," again Nancy intervened, sympathetically. + +"You are a kind girl, Nancy Brandon, and I guess your mother has made no +mistake in buying the Whatnot Shop for you. You'll be sure to make +friends, and that's what counts next to bargains, in business," declared +the woman, who had risen from the big chair and was staring at Nancy in +the oddest way. + +"If I had a chance--" again the woman paused and bit her thin lip. She +seemed to dread what she evidently must say. + +"I'll be busy here tomorrow," suggested Nancy briskly, "and then perhaps +you would like to help me. But I really would like to get the rough dirt +out first. Then we can put things to rights." + +"The fact is," continued Miss Townsend, without appearing to hear +Nancy's suggestion, "I have a suspicion." + +"A suspicion? About this--store?" + +"Yes, and about my brother. He's an old man and we've never had any real +trouble before, but I'm sorry to say, I can't believe he's telling me +the truth about an important matter. That is, it's a very important +matter to me." + +"Oh," said Nancy lamely. She was beginning to have doubts of Miss +Townsend's mental balance. + +"No, Elmer is a good man. He's been a good brother, but there are some +things--" (a long, low, breathful sigh,) "some things we have individual +opinions about. And, well, so you won't think me queer if I ask you to +let me tidy the shop?" + +"Why--no, of course not, Miss Townsend." + +"Thank you, thank you, Nancy Brandon," emotion was choking her words. +She was really going now and Tiny with her. "And perhaps it would be +just as well not to say anything about it if my brother should drop in," +concluded the strange woman. + +"Oh, do you suppose he will?" asked bewildered Nancy. "I mean, will he +drop in?" + +"He's apt to. Elmer is a creature of habit and he's been around here a +long time, you know." The dark eyes were glistening behind the gold +framed glasses. Miss Townsend was still preparing to depart. + +Nancy opened the screen door and out darted Tiny. + +"Good-bye, my dear, for the present," murmured Miss Townsend, "and I +hope you and your mother and your brother will--be happy--here," she +choked on the words and Nancy had an impression of impending tears. "We +wouldn't have sold out, we _shouldn't_ have sold out, but for Elmer +Townsend's foolishness." + +Back went the proud head until the lace collar on Sarah Townsend's neck +was jerked out of place, a rare thing indeed to happen to that prim +lady. + +"Good-bye," said Nancy gently, "and come again, Miss Townsend." + +"Yes, yes, dear, I shall." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + DINNER DIFFICULTIES + + +Nancy jerked her cretonne apron first one way and then the other. Then +she kicked out a few steps, still pondering. When Nancy was thinking +seriously she had to be acting. This brought her to the conclusion that +she should hurry out to the porch and look after Miss Townsend, but she +had decided upon that move too late, for the lady in the voile dress was +just turning the corner into Bender Street. + +Nancy's face was a bed of smiles. They were tucked away in the corners +of her mouth, they blinked out through her eyes and were having lots of +fun teasing her two deep cheek dimples. She was literally all smiles. + +"What a lark! Won't Ted howl? The dog and the--the chimney secret," she +chuckled. "And dogs know. You can't fool them." She came back into the +store and gazed ruefully at the squatty stove that mutely stood guard. + +"I don't suppose mother will want that left there all summer," Nancy +further considered. "It might just as well be put out in the shed, and +the store would look lots better." + +She could not help thinking of Miss Townsend's strange visit. The lady +was unmistakably worried, and her worry surely had to do with the +Whatnot Shop. + +"But I do hope we don't run into any old spooky stories about this +place," Nancy pondered, "for mother hates that sort of thing and so do +I--if they're the foolish, silly kind," she admitted, still staring at +the questionable fireplace. + +"What-ever can Miss Townsend want to be around here for? No hidden +treasures surely, or she would say so and start in to dig them up," +decided the practical Nancy. The clock struck one! + +"One o'clock!" she said this aloud. "Of course it isn't," laughed the +girl. "That clock has been going since the moving and it hasn't unpacked +its strike carefully. But, just the same, it must be eleven o'clock, and +as for the morning's work! However shall I catch up?" + +One hour later Ted was in looking for lunch. He had been out "exploring" +and had, he explained, met some fine fellows who were "brigand scouts." + +"I'm goin' to join," he declared. "They're goin' to let me in and I'm +goin' to bring a lot of my things over to the den." + +"Den?" questioned Nancy. "Where's that?" + +"Secret," answered Ted. "An' anyhow, it isn't for girls." This was said +in a pay-you-back manner that Nancy quickly challenged. + +"Oh, all right. Very well. Just as you say, keep it secret if you like," +she taunted, "but I've got a real one." The potatoes were burning but +neither of the children seemed to care. + +Ted looked closely at his sister and was convinced. She really was +serious. Then too, everything was on end, no dinner ready, nothing done, +the place all boxes, just as they were when he left. Something must have +been going on all morning, reasoned Ted. + +"Good thing mother didn't come home, Sis," he remarked amicably. "Say, +how about--chow?" + +"Chow?" + +"Yes. Don't you know that means food in the military, and I'm as starved +as a bear." + +"Well, why don't you get something to eat? I understood we were to camp, +share and share alike," Nancy reminded him, giving the simmering +potatoes a shake that sent the little pot-cover flying to the floor. + +"That was your idea. But mother said you had to be sure we ate our +meals," contended Ted. "I'll get the meat. It's meat balls, isn't it?" + +"It will be, I suppose, when _I_ make them," said Nancy, deliberately +shoving everything from one end of the table with a sweep that rattled +together dishes, glasses and various other breakable articles. + +There was no doubt about it, Nancy Brandon did hate housework. Every +thing she did was done with that degree of scorn absolutely fatal to the +result. Perhaps this was just why her mother was allowing her to try out +the pet summer scheme. + +"I'd go mad if I had to stick in a kitchen," Nancy declared +theatrically. "I'm so glad we've got the store." + +"But we can't eat the store," replied Ted. "Here's the meat. Do get it +going, Sis. I've got to get back to the fellows." + +"Ted Brandon! You've got to help _me_ this afternoon. Do you think, for +one instant, I'm going to do everything?" + +"'Course not, I'll do my share," promised the unsuspecting boy. "But +just today we've got something big on. Here's the meat." + +"Big or little you have just got to help me, Ted. Look at this place! It +seems to me things walk out of the boxes and heap themselves up all +over. Now, we didn't take those pans out, did we?" + +"I don't know, don't think so. But here's a good one. It's the meat +kind, isn't it?" + +"Yes. Give it here." Nancy took from his hand a perfectly flat iron +griddle. "I'll fix up the cakes if you make place on the table. We'll +eat out here." + +"All right." Ted flew to the task. "But you know, Sis, mother said we +might eat in that sun porch. It's a dandy place to read. Look at the +windows." + +Nancy had flattened the chopped meat into four balls and was pressing +them on the griddle. + +"There. What did you do with the potatoes?" + +"Nothing. I didn't take them." + +"But we had potatoes--" She lighted the gas under the meat. + +"Sure. I smelled them burning." + +"Well, hunt around and see if you can smell them now," ordered Ted's +sister. "I can't eat meat without potatoes." + +Ted dropped his two plates and actually went sniffing about in search of +the lost food. Meanwhile Nancy was standing at the stove, a magazine in +one hand and the griddle handle in the other. Her eyes, however, were +not upon the griddle. + +Presently the meat was sizzling and its odor cheered Ted considerably. + +"Don't let's mind the potatoes," he suggested. "I can't find them." + +"Can't find them? And I peeled three! We've _got_ to find them." + +"Then you look and I'll stir the meat." + +"It doesn't have to be stirred." But Nancy stood over the stove just the +same. + +"Then what are you watching it for?" + +"So it won't burn, like the potatoes." + +"Maybe they all burned up." Ted didn't care much for potatoes. + +"Oh, don't be silly. Where's the pan?" + +"Which pan?" + +"Oh, Ted Brandon! The potato pan, of course!" + +"Oh, Nancy Brandon! What potato pan, of course! Has it got a name on +it?" + +Nancy dropped her magazine on a littered chair, in sheer disgust. She +realized the meat was cooking; (it splattered and spluttered merrily on +the shallow griddle,) and she too was hungry. Ted might be satisfied to +eat just bread and meat, but she simply had to have freshly cooked +potatoes. Wasn't housework awful? Especially cooking? + +There was a jangle of the store bell, actually some one coming at that +critical moment. + +"Oh, dear!" groaned Nancy. "What a nuisance! I suppose I'll have to +go--" + +"But the meat?" Ted was getting desperate. + +"It's almost ready." Nancy wiped her hands on the dish towel and hurried +to the store. + +"A man!" she announced, as she went to open the screen door. + +Ted left his post and cautiously stole after her. A customer was a real +novelty and Ted didn't want to miss the excitement. A pleasant voice +filled in the moment. A gentleman was talking to Nancy. + +"I'm glad to find some one in," he was saying. "Since my friend, Elmer +Townsend, left here I've been rather--that is, I've missed the little +place," explained the man. Ted could see that he was very tall and +looked, he thought, like a school teacher, having no hat on and not much +hair either. + +"We've just been unpacking," Nancy replied. She was conscious of the +confusion in the store as well as she had been of things upset in the +kitchen. + +"Oh, yes," drawled the man, stepping behind the counter. "It will take +you some time to go over everything. But you see, Mr. Townsend and I are +great friends, and I know where most of the things are kept. You don't +mind if I take a look for a ball of twine?" + +"No, certainly not," agreed Nancy. + +"I can get you that," spoke up Ted. "I had it out last night," and he +jumped behind the counter to the littered cord and twine box. + +Nancy pulled herself up to that famous height of hers. She +smelled--something burning! + +"Ted!" she screamed. "It's a-fire! The kitchen! I see the blaze!" + +"The meat!" yelled Ted, springing over the low counter and following his +sister toward the smoke filling place. + +"Oh-h-h-!" Nancy continued to yell. "What shall we do!" + +"Don't get excited," ordered the stranger. "And don't go near that +blazing pan. Let me go in there," and he brushed Nancy aside making his +way into the untidy place, which now seemed, to the frightened girl, all +in flames. + +"The meat--gosh!" moaned poor Ted, for the stranger had opened the back +door, and having grabbed the flaming pan with that same towel Nancy had +tossed on the chair, he was now tossing the blazing pan as far out from +the house as his best fling permitted. + +"There!" he exclaimed, brushing one hand with the other. "I guess we're +safe now." + +"Oh, thank you, Mister, Mister--" Nancy waited for him to supply the +name, but he only smiled broadly. + +"Just call me Sam," he said pleasantly. + +"Sam?" echoed Ted. + +"Yes, sonny. Isn't that all right?" asked the stranger. + +They were within the cluttered kitchen now and, as is usually the case +with girls of Nancy's temperament, she was much distressed at the looks +of the place. In fact, she was making frantic but futile efforts to +right things. + +"What's the matter with Sam?" again asked the man, curiously. + +"Oh, nothing," replied Ted. "Only it isn't your name." + +"No? How do you know?" persisted the stranger, quizzically. + +"You don't look like a Sam," said Ted, kicking one heel against the +other to hide his embarrassment. He hadn't intended saying all that. + +The man laughed heartily, and for the moment Nancy forgot the upset +kitchen. But the dinner! + +"I hope your dinner isn't gone," remarked the stranger who wanted to be +called Sam. + +"Oh, no," replied Nancy laconically, avoiding Ted's discouraged look. +"That was only some--some meat we were cooking." + +"Can't keep house and 'tend store without spoiling something. But I feel +it was somewhat my fault. Suppose we lock up and trot down to the corner +for a dish of ice cream?" he suggested. "It's just warm enough today for +cream; don't you think so?" + +"Oh, let's!" chirped Ted. A hungry boy is ever an object of pity. + +"You go," suggested Nancy, "but I think I had better stay here." + +"Oh, no. You've got to come along. Let me see. If you call me Uncle Sam +what shall I call you?" + +"I'm Nancy Brandon and this is my brother Ted," replied Nancy. "But I'd +like much better to call you by your real name." + +"Real name," and he laughed again. "I see we are going to be critical +friends. Now then, since you insist Sam won't do suppose we make it +Sanders. Mr. Sanders. How does that name suit?" and he clapped Ted's +shoulders jovially. + +"Then Mr. Sanders, you and Ted go along and get your cream. I really +must attend to things here," insisted Nancy. "We are all so upset and +mother will expect us to have things in some sort of order." + +"Oh, Sis, come along" begged Ted. "I'll help you when we get back. It +won't take a minute." + +Hunger is a poor argument against food, and presently the back door was +locked, the front door was locked, and the two Brandons with the man who +called himself Mr. Sanders, because they refused to call him Uncle Sam, +were making tracks for the ice cream store. + +Burnt potatoes, burnt meat with ice cream for dessert, thought Nancy. +But she was still convinced that business was more important than +housekeeping. + +"Glad we didn't burn up," remarked Ted, as he trotted along beside Mr. +Sanders. + +"Never want to throw water on burning grease," they were advised. "And +always keep a thing at full arm's length, if you must pick it up. Of +course, if you turned out the gas and pushed the pan well in on the +stove it would eventually burn out, but think of the smoke!" + +"You bet!" declared Ted, as they reached the little country ice cream +parlor. Two girls, whom Nancy had seen several times since she came to +Long Leigh, were just leaving the place and she thought they looked at +her very curiously as they passed out. Then, she distinctly heard one of +them say: + +"Fancy! With him!" + +And Nancy knew she had made some sort of mistake in accepting the +well-intentioned invitation. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + BELATED HASTE + + +Instinctively Nancy sought a sheltered corner of the ice cream room. She +was greatly embarrassed to have come along the road with a stranger whom +she knew nothing about, and now she was determined to leave him alone +with Teddy. There must be something odd about him, to have drawn that +remark from the girls. Nancy looked at him critically from her place +below the decorated looking glass, and decided he did appear queer to +her. + +"But I'm just starved," she told herself, "and I've got to have +something to eat." The girl in the gingham dress, with a great wide +muslin apron, took an order for cake and cream and a glass of milk. +Fortunately, Nancy had her purse along with her. That much, at least, +she had already learned about being a business woman. + +Teddy was chatting gaily with the man down near the door. They seemed to +be having a great time over their stories, and Nancy rightly suspected +the stories concerned Ted's favorite sport, camping. + +She ate her lunch rather solemnly. Everything seemed to be going wrong, +but the escape from fire, with the frying meat on a shallow griddle, was +surely something to be thankful for. + +Oh, well! Only half a day had been lost, and she really couldn't have +done more when Miss Townsend took all that precious time with her +lamentations. + +Miss Townsend! Nancy sipped the last of her milk as she reflected on the +little dog's interest in the old fireplace. Of course, Miss Townsend +would come again, and Tiny would always be along with her. And Nancy +hadn't yet told Ted about that experience. + +"Just buying a country store didn't seem to mean buying a lot of freaks +along with the bargain," Nancy speculated. "And now here's Mr. Baldy who +wants to be called after Uncle Sam, going right in back of my counter +and helping himself--" + +"Ready, Sis!" called out Teddy, as he waited for Mr. Sanders to pay his +bill. + +"You go along, Ted," called back Nancy. "I've got to stop some place, +but I'll be there in time to open the door for you." + +Ted never questioned one of those queer decisions of Nancy's. He knew +how useless such a thing would be; so off he went with the man in the +short sleeved shirt, while Nancy tarried long enough to give them a fair +start. + +Then, easily finding a way through the fields, she raced off herself, +although getting through thick hedges and climbing an occasional rail +fence, proved rather tantalizing. + +In front of the store she found Mr. Sanders just leaving Ted. They were +both talking and laughing as if the acquaintance had proved highly +satisfactory, but it irritated Nancy. + +"Now, I suppose, _he'll_ come snooping around," she grumbled. "Well, +there's one thing certain, I'm not going to keep an old-fashioned +country store. No hanging around my cracker barrels," she told herself, +although there was not, and likely never would be a cracker barrel in +the Whatnot Shop. + +Once more left to themselves, the burnt dinner was not referred to, as +Ted helped at last to clear up the disordered kitchen. Not even the lost +potatoes came in for mention as brother and sister "made things fly," as +most belated workers find themselves obliged to do. + +"Here, Ted, get the broom." + +Ted grabbed the broom. + +"No, let me sweep. You empty those baskets of excelsior." + +"Where?" + +"Where?" + +"Yes. Can we burn it?" + +"No, never. No more fire for us," groaned Nancy. "Just dump the stuff +some where." + +"But we can't, Sis," objected Ted. "Mother 'specially said nothing could +be dumped around." + +"Well, do anything you like with it, but just get it out of the way," +and Nancy's excited broom made jabs and stabs at corners without quite +reaching them. + +Ted was much more methodical. He really would do things right, if only +Nancy would give him a chance. Just now he was carefully packing the +excelsior in a big clothes basket. + +"You know, Nan," he remarked, "Mr. Sanders is awfully funny." + +"How funny?" asked Nancy crisply. + +"Oh, he knows an awful lot." + +"He ought to, he's bald headed," answered Nancy, implying there-by that +Mr. Sanders was an old man and ought to be wise. + +"Is he?" asked Ted innocently. + +"For lands sake! Ted Brandon!" exclaimed Nancy. "Can't you think what +you're saying? Is he what?" + +The thread of the argument thus entirely lost, Ted just crammed away at +the excelsior. + +"I'm just dying to get at the store," said Nancy next. "I want to fix +that all up so that mother will buy more things to put in stock." + +"She's going to bring home fishing rods. I'm goin' to have a corner for +sport stuff, you know," Ted reminded the whirl-wind Nancy. + +"Oh, yes, of course, that's all right. But we'll have to see which +corner we can spare best. The store isn't any too big, is it?" + +"Big enough," agreed the affable boy. "And I'll bet, Nan, we'll have +heaps of sport around here this summer. There's fine fellows over by the +big hill. That's more of a summer place than this is, I guess." + +"Where does your friend Uncle Sam live?" + +"You mean Mr. Sanders. Why, he didn't say, but he went up the hill +toward that old stone place." + +"Yes. I wouldn't wonder but he would live in an old stone place," echoed +Nancy sarcastically. + +"Why, don't you like him?" + +"Like him?" + +"I mean--do you hate him?" laughed Ted. His basket was filled and he was +gathering up the loose ends of the splintered fibers upon a tin cover. + +"I don't like him and I don't hate him, but I do hope he won't come +snooping around _my_ store," returned Nancy. + +Teddy stopped short with a frying pan raised in mid air. He swung it at +an imaginary ball, then put it down in the still packed peach basket. + +"Now, Nan," he protested, "don't you go kickin' up any fuss about Mr. +Sanders. He always came around here; he's a great friend of the +Townsends." + +"Ted Brandon!" Nancy flirted the dust brush at the gas stove, "do you +think I am going to take all that with this store? Did we buy all the +Townsends' old--old cronies along with the Whatnot Shop?" + +"There's someone," Ted interrupted, as the store bell jangled timidly. + +"Oh, you go please, Ted," begged Nancy, who had glimpsed girls' skirts +without. "I'm too untidy to tend store this afternoon." + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + NEW FRIENDS + + +Nancy never looked as untidy as she really felt. In fact, she always +looked "interesting and human," as her friends might say, but she was +sensitive about the disorder she pretended to despise. Now, here were +those two girls! She simply could not go in the store as she looked. + +"You're all right," Ted insisted, as they both listened to the jangling +bell. "You look good in that yellow dress." + +"Good?" she took time to correct. "You mean--something else. And it +isn't yellow," she countered. "But please, Ted, you go. There's a dear. +I'll do something for you--" + +Ted started off dutifully. "But I won't know," he argued. + +"Run along, like a dear," whispered Nancy, for persons were now within +the store, she could easily hear them talking and could even see their +reflections in the little hall mirror. + +Ted went. He was such a good-natured boy, and Nancy was glad to notice +once more "so good-looking." + +After exchanging a few questions and answers with the girls in the +store, Ted was presently back again in the kitchen. + +"Blue silk!" he sort of hissed at Nancy. "They want--_blue silk_." + +"We haven't any. Tell them we're out of it." + +Ted went forth with a protest. + +A few seconds later he again confronted Nancy. + +"Blue _twist_ then. What ever on earth is blue _twist?_" + +"We haven't any!" Nancy told him sharply. "We're all out of sewing +stuff, except black and white." + +"Oh, you come on. They're just laughin' at me. It's your store. You go +ahead and 'tend it." Ted was on a strike now. He wasn't going to be that +kind of store keeper. Twist and silk! + +"But I'm so dirty," complained Nancy, brushing at her skirt and then +patting her disordered hair. She had been rushing around at a mad rate +since noon hour and naturally felt untidy. + +"Well, any how, go tell them," suggested Ted. "They're just girls like +you. You needn't worry about your looks." His eyes paid Nancy a decided +compliment with the careless speech. Evidently she was not the only one +who found good looks in the family. + +Out in the store the girls were waiting, and when she finally walked up +to them, Nancy was instantly at ease. + +"Oh, hello!" greeted the stouter one. She was genuinely pleasant and +Nancy at once liked her. "You're the girl we've been trying to meet. +This is Vera Johns and I'm Ruth Ashley. We live over on North Road and +we've been wanting to meet you." + +"I'm Nancy Brandon," replied Nancy pleasantly, "and I'm glad to meet +you, too. I was wondering if I would get acquainted away out here. Won't +you sit down? Here's a bench," brushing aside the papers. "It takes so +long to get things straightened out." + +The girls murmured their understanding of the moving problem, and after +Teddy had called out from the back door, that he was going "over to see +the fellows," all three girls settled down to chat. + +"Is it really your own store?" asked Ruth. She had reddish-brown hair, +gray eyes and the brightest smile. + +"Yes," replied Nancy. "Just a little summer experiment. You see, I +perfectly despise housework and mother believes I should learn something +practical. I just begged for a little country store. I've always been so +interested reading about them." + +"How quaint!" murmured Vera Johns. Her tone of voice seemed so affected +that Nancy glanced quickly at her. Was she fooling? Could any girl mean +so senseless a remark as "How quaint!" to Nancy's telling of her +practical experiment? + +"Do you mean," murmured Nancy, "why, just--how quaint?" + +"Yes, isn't it?" Vera again sort of lisped. At this Nancy was convinced. +Vera was that sort of girl. She would be apt to say any silly little +thing that had the fewest words in it. Just jerky little exclamations, +such as Nancy's mother had taught her to avoid as affectations. + +Vera's hair was of a toneless blonde hue, cut "classic" and plastered +down like that of an Egyptian slave. Her eyes, Nancy noticed were a +faded blue, and her form--Nancy hoped that she, being tall herself, did +not sag at all corners, as did Vera Johns. + +"I think it's a wonderful idea," chimed in Ruth, "to have a chance +really to try out business. Just as you say, Nancy, we learn to wash +doll dishes as soon as we can reach a kitchen chair. Then why shouldn't +we learn to make and count pennies as early as we possibly can?" + +"Do you hate housework too, Ruth?" Nancy asked, hoping for the joy of +finding a mutual understanding. "Are you also anxious to try business?" + +"I hate housework, abhor it," admitted Ruth, dimpling prettily, "but +mother says we just have to get used to it, so we won't know we're doing +it. You would be surprised, Nancy, how easy it is to wash dishes and +dream of babbling brooks." + +"Really!" That was Vera again. "I adore dishes, but I won't dream of +bobbling brooks, ever." + +"Bobbling," repeated Ruth. "That's good, Vera. I suppose they bobble +more than they babble. But I guess you're not much of a dreamer, Vera," +she finished, in a doubtful compliment. + +Nancy was amused. Ruth was going to be "good fun" and Vera was already +proving a pretty good joke. Their acquaintance was surely promising, and +Nancy responded fittingly. + +She had time to notice in detail each of these new friends. Ruth was +dimply and just fat enough to be happily plump. She also was +correspondingly sunny in her disposition. She wore her hair twisted into +three or four "Spring Maids" and it gave her the effect of short, curled +hair. Her summer dress was a simple blue ratine, and Nancy admired it +frankly. + +Vera was affected in manner, in style, in dress and every way. Her hair +was so arranged Nancy couldn't be sure just how it was done, but it +looked like a model in a hairdresser's window. Also, she wore, bound +around it a Roman ribbon, with a wonderful assortment of rainbow colors. +Her costume was sport, with a very fancy jacket and a light silk and +wool plaid skirt. That she had plenty of money was rather too obviously +apparent, and Nancy wondered just how she and Ruth were connected. + +They were inspecting the newly acquired little store. + +"And you are the manager, the proprietor--" + +"The clerk and the cashier," Nancy interrupted Ruth. "I've always loved +to play store, so now, mother says, she hopes I'll be satisfied. But +this is a very old-timey place. I don't see how the Townsends ever made +it pay." + +"Miss Townsend is a queer old lady," replied Ruth. "I guess of late +years they didn't have to worry about making things pay in the store." + +"Why Ruthie!" exclaimed Vera. "Don't you know every body says they went +bankrupt?" + +"Oh, that," laughed Ruth. "I guess Mr. Townsend lent out his money and +couldn't get it back handy." + +"But he and his sister had a perfectly desperate fight over it," +insisted Vera, eyes wide with curious interest. + +"Desperate," repeated Ruth, as if trying to give Nancy a cue to Vera's +queer vocabulary. "I can imagine their sort of desperate fight. Sister +Sarah would say to Brother Elmer: 'Elmer dear, you really can't mean a +thing like that,'" imitated Ruth, "and Brother Elmer would clasp and +unclasp his thin hands as he replied: 'I'm sorry, Sister Sarah, but it +looks that way.'" + +Ruth and Nancy laughed merrily as the little sketch ended. + +"That's about how desperate those two would fight," Ruth declared. + +"Then why did they sell out?" demanded Vera. "Every body knows they lost +everything." + +"We haven't actually bought the place," Nancy explained, "just have an +option on it. You see, we had to go to the country every summer, and +mother thought this might suit us. It is so convenient for her to +commute, and Ted and I can't get into a lot of mischief in a place like +this. So it seems, at least," she hastened to add. + +"Well, if you let your brother go around with that queer old fellow we +saw him with today, he may get into mischief," intimated Vera, +mysteriously, with a wag of her bobbed head. + +"Mr. Sanders? What's the matter with Mr. Sanders?" demanded Nancy, +rather sharply. + +"Oh talk, talk, and gossip," Ruth interposed. "Just because he sees fit +to keep his business to himself--" + +"You know perfectly well, Ruth, that is more than gossip," insisted +Vera. + +"What is? What's the mystery?" again demanded Nancy, dropping her box of +lead pencils rather suddenly. + +"Well," drawled Vera, getting up with a tantalizing deliberateness, "if +you were to see a person in front of you one minute and have him vanish +the next--" + +A peal of laughter from Nancy broke in rudely upon Vera's recitation. + +"All right," Vera added, in a hurt tone. "Don't believe me if you don't +want to, but just wait and see." + +"Disappearing Dick?" chanted Nancy gaily. "Do you mean to say he's one +of those so-called miracle men?" + +"Oh, no, nothing of the sort," protested Ruth. "But there is +something--different about him. A lot of people say he does disappear, +but of course, there's nothing uncanny about it. It's probably just +clever," Ruth tried to explain. + +"Rather," drawled Vera. + +And Nancy could not suppress an impolite but insistent chuckle. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + ORIGINAL PLANS + + +During the next half hour the girls busied themselves playing store. +Ruth was almost as keenly interested in the little place as was Nancy, +herself, but it was noticeable that Vera was more curious. She poked +into the farthest corners, even opening obscure little cubby-holes that +Nancy had not yet discovered. All the while they talked about the +Townsends and the mysterious Mr. Sanders, declaring that something +around the Whatnot Shop held the clue to the Townsend disagreement, and +Mr. Sanders' mysterious power of disappearing. + +"I think it's the funniest thing," ruminated Nancy, clapping the wrong +cover on the white thread box, "here we came away out here to be +peaceful, quiet and studious. Mother looked for a place just to keep Ted +and me busy, and then we run into a regular hornet's nest of rumors." + +"Don't you know," replied Ruth, "that still waters run deepest?" + +"But I didn't know we had to take on a whole Mother Goose set of fairy +tales with a little two cent shoe-string shop," protested Nancy. "Of +course it will serve me right if I get into an awful squall. My +rebellion against the long-loved house-work idea, is sure to get me into +some trouble, isn't it?" + +"Who doesn't rebel secretly?" admitted Ruth. "Isn't it fairer to up and +say so than to be always hoping the dishpan will spring a leak, and +dish-towels will blow away?" Ruth was making rapid strides in gaining +Nancy's affection. She was so unaffected, so frank, and so sensible. + +Vera wasn't saying much but she was poking a lot. Just now she was +fussing with some discarded and disabled toys. She held up a helpless +windmill. + +"Imagine!" she said, simply. + +"Well, what of it?" asked Ruth. "It was pretty--once!" + +"Pretty! As if anyone around here would ever buy a thing like that." + +"Let me see it," Nancy said. "I'm sure Ted would love 'a thing like +that.' He'd spend days tinkering with it." Nancy took the red and blue +tin toy and inspected it critically. As she wound a tiny key a little +bell tinkled. + +"Lovel-lee!" cried Ruth. "That's a merry wind. Or is it a tinkle-ly +wind? Anyway it's cute. Save it for the small brother, Nancy. And I +think he's awfully cute. Here's something else for his camp," she +offered, handing Nancy over a red, white and blue popgun. + +"Great!" declared Nancy. "Ted has been too busy to rummage yet, but he's +sure to be thrilled when he does go at it. Yes, I think Ted is cute, and +I hope the disappearing man won't cast a spell on him," she finished, +laughing at the idea, and meanwhile inspecting the toy windmill. + +"You can joke," warned Vera, "but my grandmother insists that what +everyone says must be true, and everyone says Baldy Sanders is +freakish." + +"Baldy," repeated Nancy gaily. "I noticed that. But he has enough of +eyes to make up for the lost hair. I never saw such merry twinkling +eyes." + +"Really!" Vera commented. "I never notice men's eyes." + +"Just their bald heads," teased Ruth. "Now Vera, if Mr. Sanders is a +professor, as some folks claim, and if he ever gets our class in +chemistry, I'm afraid you would just have to notice his merry, twinkling +eyes. Anyhow," and Ruth cocked up a faded little blue muslin pussy cat, +"he's merry, and that is in his favor. What are you doing with that +windmill, Nancy?" + +"Inspecting it. It's a queer kind of windmill. Look at the cross pieces +on top and this tin cup." + +All three girls gave their attention to the queer toy. It was, as Nancy +had said, different from the usual model. It had cross pieces on top +instead of on the side, and one piece was capped off with a metal cup. + +"I'll save it for Ted," Nancy concluded. "But I hope it isn't dangerous. +It takes boys to find out the worst of everything. Just before we moved, +most of our furniture is in storage you know," she put in to explain the +scarcity of things at the country place, "Ted went up to the attic and +found an old wooden gun. It would shoot peas, and what those boys didn't +shoot peas at wasn't worth mentioning. I'll put the freak windmill away +for him, though. It looks quite harmless." + +"Oh, I think it's just joyous to have a shop," exclaimed Ruth, "and if +you'll let me, Nancy, I'll come in and 'tend sometimes." + +"I'd love to have you," replied Nancy earnestly. "I did expect my chum, +Bonny Davis, to visit me, but she's gone down to the shore first. +Bonny's lots of fun. I'm sure you'd like her if she does come," declared +Nancy, loyally. + +"I like her name," Ruth answered. "What is it? Bonita?" + +"No, it's really Charlotte, but she's so black we've always called her +Bonny from ebony, you know. Now Vera, what have you discovered?" broke +off Nancy, looking over to the comer in which Vera was plainly +interested. "Anything spooky?" + +"Not spooky," replied Vera, "but I never saw such odd looking fishing +things. No wonder the Townsends went bankrupt. Here are boxes and boxes +of wires and weights, and I don't know what all. Oh, I'll tell you!" she +exclaimed, in a rare burst of enthusiasm. "Let's have a fishing sale?" + +"And sell fish!" teased Ruth. + +"No," objected Nancy, taking Vera's part. "I think a special sale of +fishing and sport supplies would be great. Let's see what we've got +toward it." + +"It would draw the boys and that's something," joked Ruth. "But I'll +tell you what, Nancy, you had better be careful what you try to sell to +the young fishermen around here. They're pretty particular and rather +good at the sport. I like to fish myself." + +"Oh, I'd love to," declared Nancy. "Where do you go?" + +"Dyke's pond and sometimes the old mill creek," replied Ruth. "But we +only get sunnies there. There's perch in the pond, though." + +This led to discussing the fishing prospects in brooks, ponds and other +waterways around Long Leigh, until it was being promptly decided that +Ruth and Vera should very soon introduce Nancy to the sport. The idea of +having a sale of the outfit at the shop was also entered upon +enthusiastically, until the afternoon was melting into shadows before +the girls realized it. + +"But what ever you do," Ruth cautioned Nancy, "don't let any one induce +you to take the Whatnot out of the window. That's the sign of this old +shop that's known for miles and miles." + +"I think a cute little windmill would be lots nicer," suggested Vera. +"That Whatnot is--atrocious." + +"Windmill!" repeated Ruth. "But we don't sell windmills." + +"Certainly not. Neither do we sell Whatnots," contended Vera. + +"But we sell the things that are on the Whatnot," argued Ruth. "And +besides Whatnot stands for _What Not!_" + +It was amusing Nancy to listen to their assumed partnership. They were +both talking about "_our_ shop" and insisting upon what "_we_ sell." +This established at once a comradeship among all three, and Nancy was +convinced that her own desire to go into business was not, after all, +very queer. Other girls, no doubt, shared it as well, but the difference +was--Nancy's mother. She was the "angel of the enterprise," as Nancy had +declared more than once. + +"And I'll tell you," confided Vera, quite surprisingly, "if you'll let +me, I'll help you with your housework. I don't mind it a bit, and you +hate it so." + +"Oh, that's just lovely of you, Vera," Nancy replied, while a sense of +fear seized her, "but I really must do some of it, you know. Even a good +store keeper should know how to cook a little," she pretended, vowing +that her house would be in some kind of order before Vera ever even got +a peek into the living rooms. + +When they were finally gone Nancy stood alone in the little store, too +excited to decide at once which way to turn. She liked the girls, +especially Ruth, and even Vera had her interesting features. At least +she said odd things in an odd way, and her drawl was "delicious," Nancy +admitted. Of course she was gossipy. There was all that nonsense about +Mr. Sanders. As if any human being could really disappear. Ted would +just howl at the idea, Nancy knew, and if the man were really a +professor of some sort, that ought to make him interesting, she +reflected. At any rate, he was, the girls had said, a friend of the +Townsends, and Nancy would make it her business to ask Miss Townsend +about him the very next time she came into the store. + +Her mind busy with such reflections, Nancy hooked the screen door, (the +shop was not yet supposed to be open for business) and turned toward the +upset kitchen. + +"I've just got to do something with it," she promised, "before mother +comes. I wish Ted would hurry along home. Of course, he's a boy and boys +don't have to worry about kitchens." + +Nevertheless, as Nancy dashed around she did make a real effort to +adjust the disordered room, for her pride was now prompting her. +Whatever would Vera Johns say to such a looking place? And was all this +fair to a mother so thoughtful and so good-natured as was Nancy's? + +"I begin right here at this door," she decided, feeling she had to begin +at a definite spot, "and I just straighten out every single thing from +here to the back door." + +Peach baskets idling with the odds and ends of packing, Ted's red +sweater, Nancy's blue one, Nancy's straw hat that she felt she must have +within reach and which therefore had been "parked" on the floor, safe, +however, under a big chair, and a paste-board box of books that she also +didn't want to lose track of, the portable phonograph cover, the +phonograph itself was reposing safely on the corner of the sink where +Ted had been trying a new record; all these and as many more +miscellaneous articles Nancy was briefly encountering in her general +clearing up plan "from one door to the other." + +But she forged on, the old broom doing heroic duty as a plough cutting +through the débris. Finally, having gotten most of the stuff into a +corner, she undertook to scatter it in a way peculiar to one with +business, rather than domestic, instincts. + +"I'll need the baskets, all of them, when I'm settling the store," she +promptly decided, "and I'll get Ted to put the box of books in there +too, so I can read while I'm waiting. Then the phonograph--That can go +in there just as well, it may draw customers." At this Nancy laughed, +but she picked up the little black box, it had been her birthday +present, and put it right on the small table under the old mantle in the +store. A phonograph in the store seemed attractive. + +"I guess we'll find the store handy for lots of things," Nancy was +thinking, for the difference in the size of their old home, and the +limits of this new one, was not easy to adjust. + +With a sort of flourish of the broom at the papers and bits of excelsior +that were still an eyesore about, Nancy at length managed to "make a +path," as she expressed it, through the kitchen. + +"And I'll gather some flowers to greet mother with," she insisted. +"There's no reason why we shouldn't make a pretty room of a kitchen like +this, with one, two, three, good sized windows," she counted. + +But the glorious bunch of early roses must have felt rather out of +place, trying to conserve their wondrous perfume from contamination with +the remains of a smudgy odor from burnt potatoes--which by-the-way, had +not yet come to light, not to say anything of the real fire smell of +burnt meat, that ran over from a pan-cake griddle into a seething gas +flame. + +"Oh, those flowers!" exhaled the triumphant Nancy, pushing the dishpan +away so as not to bend the longest stalk, which was brushed against it. +"Won't mother just love it here?" + +After all, is not the soul of the poet more valuable than the skill of a +prospective housewife? + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + FAIR PLAY + + +Mrs. Brandon was such a mother as one might readily imagine would be the +parent of Nancy and Ted. In the first place she was young, so young as +to be mistaken often for Nancy's big sister. Then she was lively, a real +chum with her two children, but more important than these qualities, +perhaps, was her sense of tolerance. + +Fair play, she called it, believing that the children would more surely +and more correctly learn from experience than from continuous preaching. +Perhaps this was due to her own experience. She had been a girl much +like Nancy. She had not inherited the so-called domestic instinct; no +more did Nancy. To that cause was ascribed Nancy's unusual disposition +toward business and her dislike for all kitchens. + +"Those roses!" she breathed deeply over the scented mass Nancy had +gathered. "Aren't they just um-um? Wonderful?" + +"I knew you would like them, mother," responded Nancy happily. "I'm +sorry we couldn't get things slicked up better today, but we were so +constantly interrupted." + +"You will be, Nan dear. It is always just like that when business runs +into housework." + +"Oh, but say, Mother," interrupted Ted. "It's just great here. There's +the best lot of boys. And we've got a camp, a regular brigand camp--" + +"Look out for mischief, Teddy boy," replied his mother fondly. "I want +you both to have a fine time, but a little mischief goes a long ways +toward spoiling things, you know," she warned, earnestly. + +"Oh, I know. I'll be careful. We won't have any real guns nor knives, +nor swords--" + +"Ted Brandon! I should hope not!" cried Nancy. "Real guns and swords and +knives, indeed! If you go out playing with that sort of ruffian--" + +"But they aren't. We don't have them. No real firearms at-all," +protested Ted. "And the boys are nice fellows." + +"But just imagine what I would do if you came in hurt. And mother away +and everything," reasoned Nancy foolishly, as if she enjoyed the +sensation. "It is not like it was when Anna was with us. Mother," Nancy +asked, "don't you really think we should have someone in Anna's place?" + +"No, girlie, I don't," promptly replied the mother, who was just taking +from the gas oven a deliciously broiled steak. "While we had Anna you +never had a chance to find out all the simple things that you didn't +know. Anna was an ideal maid, but maids are not educators and none of us +can learn without being given a chance. Ted, please get the ice water. +And I would try, Nancy, to have every meal, no matter how simple it is, +served either on the side porch or in the dining room," counselled Mrs. +Brandon. "Nothing so demoralizes us as upset kitchen meals." + +"Yes, mother, I know that," admitted Nancy, who, with her mother nearby +for inspection, was daintily arranging the salad. "As a matter of fact, +I lose things in the kitchen. Imagine losing the potatoes, pan and all!" + +A hearty laugh followed the recalling of Nancy's and Ted's dinner +disaster. But even to that accident Mrs. Brandon insisted that her +daughter was one of the girls who must learn by experience, so there +were no long arguments given to point out her weakness. + +"But Anna is coming back, isn't she?" Ted pleaded. A boy wants to be +sure of his meals in spite of all the educational processes necessary +for training obdurate sisters. + +"Yes, dear. I expect she will be back to us in the autumn, and I'm sure +she will be benefited by her vacation," said Mrs. Brandon. "Anna does +not really have to work now. The salary and light expenses of maids soon +place them in a position to retire, you know," she pointed out +practically. + +"And besides," chimed in Nancy, "it's lots of fun to live all alone for +the summer, at least. Why, if Anna were here she would be forever poking +in and out of the store, and really mother," Nancy's voice fell to a +very serious tone, "when I get things going, I intend to make _you_ take +a vacation. I'm going to make that store _pay_." + +"That's lovely, girlie," replied the mother, "and I'm sure you and Ted +are going to be wonderful little helpers. Now, come eat dinner. You must +be ravenous. Here, Nancy, carry along the beans with the butter. Make +each hand do its share to help out each foot, you know," she teased. + +"But I'm starved," declared Ted, making a rather risky dive for the +three dinner plates and hurrying into the little dining room with them. +"That ice cream was good while we were eating it, but it doesn't last +long, does it, Nan?" + +This brought up the story of Mr. Sanders' treat, and as her children +related it, each outdoing the other in vivid description and volumes of +parentheses, Mrs. Brandon listened with but few interruptions. When the +story was told, however, she gave her version of the gossip concerning +the stranger. + +"He is really a professor, I'm sure," she stated, "for Miss Townsend +told me that much. Of course professors can be as queer as other +folks--" + +"Queer?" interrupted Ted, holding his plate out for another new potato. + +"Yes, they are often odd," admitted his mother, smiling at the boy's +joke. "But then, too, we expect to depend upon their intelligence for +reasonable explanations." + +"Mother, anyone would know you were a librarian, the way you talk," said +Nancy. "I suppose we act booky too, only we can't realize it ourselves. +Ted, your knife is playing toboggan--" + +"I'm too starved to notice," said Ted. "Hope you won't lose the potatoes +and burn the meat again, Sis," he added, "I can't stand starvation." + +"I didn't do it, _we_ did it," insisted Nancy. "I'm sure we were both +getting dinner--" + +"But about Miss Townsend, dear," her mother forestalled their argument. +"Did she say she regretted agreeing to sell?" + +"No, mother; that's the queer part of it all," Nancy replied. They were +now settled at their meal and could chat happily. "She acted so +mysterious about everything. And you should see her little dog, Tiny, +sniff around! Honestly, I thought he'd sniff his little stumpy nose off +at the fireplace. By the way, mother, can't we have the old stove moved +out into the back storeroom? We don't want it standing around all summer +waiting for a blizzard next Christmas, do we?" + +"No. But I'm afraid we will have to put off that sort of work until my +vacation, Nancy. You must remember, dear, we have only agreed to let you +run the little store practically as it is, to sell out Miss Townsend's +stuff and to give you some experience." + +"Oh, yes. I know," said Nancy a little ruefully. "But mother--" she +hesitated. Then began again, "Mother, I simply can't have the girls come +in and have things so upset, and I won't, positively won't have Miss +Townsend fussing around--" + +"You can't be rude to her, Nan," the mother said rather decidedly. "And, +after all, there is nothing here she doesn't know about." + +"Well, there seems to be," sighed Nancy, "or else what did she start +right in to search for? And the very first time she met me, too." + +"Perhaps her brother lost some papers, or something like that," +suggested Mrs. Brandon. "I _do_ know he is a little odd in his manner." + +"But if it were only that she wouldn't need to act so mysteriously about +it, would she, mother?" + +"And the dog," put in Ted. "He couldn't know about papers, could he? +Dogs are awfully wise, I know that much, and I'm going to get one--" + +Paying no attention to Ted's last sentence, Nancy continued to deplore +Miss Townsend's threat of more visits to her shop. + +"And the girls, that is Vera, said that she and her brother had a +quarrel about the place before they left," Nancy continued. "Vera is +talkative, but I could see myself that Miss Townsend was awfully unhappy +about something." + +"Yes," snapped Ted, again allowing his fork to rest in the prohibited +sliding position from his plate, "and she's the one who talks about Mr. +Sanders, too. That girl Veera--" + +"Vera, Ted. Just like very," said Nancy critically. + +"Yeah," groaned Ted. "Just like scary, too. That's what she is, scary. +And the fellows say Mr. Sanders is a first-rate scout, a real scout. +They say he's even a scoutmaster--" + +"Did they say anything about his habit of disappearing?" asked Nancy, +quizzically. + +"Now, Nan. You know very well that isn't so. It couldn't be. How could +any one dis-sa-peer?" inquired Ted, emphatically. + +"That wasn't the question, brother," insisted Nancy. "I just asked you +if the boys spoke of his reputation as Disappearing Dick?" + +This was too much for Ted, and again his mother was forced to intervene. + +"Anyway," the boy managed to interject, "if they did say something about +it they didn't say he was a spook, like your old Very-scary girl told +it." + +"Ted Brandon! Nothing about spooks! We never even mentioned them, that I +remember. But they said that Mr. Sanders lived somewhere around here but +no one knew where, that he went right up the hill to the stone house and +never went in the house nor in the barn nor anyplace but just +disappeared," rattled off Nancy. + +"Why daughter!" protested Mrs. Brandon, "how perfectly absurd. I'm +surprised that you should listen to such truck." + +"But of course I don't believe it, Mother, it's just funny, that's all," +explained Nancy, who had begun to carry the dishes to the kitchen quite +as if she just loved to do it. + +According to their new schedule, both Ted and Nancy were expected to do +their part in the clearing of the table, and washing the dishes, and as +this was a beautiful summer evening, the children "fell to" very +promptly. + +"It's too lovely to stay inside," remarked Nancy. "You'll come out with +us, won't you Mother? There's heaps of things you haven't yet had a +chance to see around here," she pleaded. + +"But we really must get things in order," declared the mother. "You and +Ted hurry along with your work--Ted will dry and you wash tonight, +Nancy, and meanwhile I'll sort of dig in--" + +"Mother! You can't. You have just got to have your evenings free," +protested Nancy. "You need lots of fresh air out here--" + +"I know, dear, but after all we are just ordinary mortals and we must +live as such. That means--civilization, around here," laughed Mrs. +Brandon, who was already "digging in." + +"I'll put these pans away first." She paused. "Whatever is this? I do +declare, children, here are your lost potatoes, packed away in among the +empty pans. Now, who could have done that?" + +"Ted did," replied Nancy. "He was sorting the tins. But Mother," she +said, in a grieved tone, "I know I did waste a lot of time today." + +Nancy was carrying out a tray but she had stopped abruptly. No +punishment could be greater to her than the loss of a summer evening out +of doors, except it was her mother's loss of that self-same evening. + +"I'm so sorry," she sighed. "I know I did idle my time today, Mother +dear, but I can't bear to have you--pay for it." + +"Nonsense, dear, I don't mind. Really the exercise will do me good," +insisted Mrs. Brandon. "Just attend to the dishes and you won't know +these quarters presently. I'm glad we found the potatoes," she said, but +Nancy was now too serious to joke. + +A call from the side porch checked their argument. It was Ruth calling +to Nancy. + +"Come along!" she shrilled through the screen door. "There's going to be +a band concert--" + +"Oh, I can't, Ruth," Nancy called back. "I must do--" + +"You _must_ go, dear," interrupted her mother. + +At this Ruth came in to wait. Ted was already off--he did not need to be +coaxed to give up his task, and when dishes were not being washed surely +they could not be dried. + +But Nancy felt guilty. In fact the band concert, novelty though it was, +with firemen and a baseball team making up the "scrambled" programme, +was not loud enough to still the voice of regret. + +"I can't bear to think of mother doing, now on this beautiful evening, +what I should have done today," she confided to Ruth, as they waited +between numbers. + +"I'll help you tomorrow," offered Ruth kindly. "And I won't bring Vera. +She's rather critical--" + +"I'll be up at daybreak," resolved Nancy, really determined now to get +the little country home in order. + +A band concert in Long Leigh was plainly an important event, and the +numbers of persons crowding about the band-stand on the village green +attested hearty appreciation for the musical efforts. The firemen, +however, seemed to draw out the heaviest applause, but that was because +old Jake Jacobs, the best piccolo player around, had been training them. +Still, there was Pete Van Riper, the drummer on the baseball side of the +platform. He certainly could drum, and the small boys around kept +calling to him in baseball parlance such encouragements as "Make it a +homer, Pete! Hug the mat! Hit her hard!" and such outfield coaching. + +Ruth had met a number of her friends and some she introduced to Nancy, +but the concert was spoiled for Nancy. She could see and actually feel +her mother working in that little country place to which she had come, +just to give Ted and Nancy a happy vacation. + +When her worry was becoming so keen that she felt she must ask Ruth to +go home with her, there pushed into the crowd an old man in a +broad-brimmed straw hat, although the sun was well out of all mischief. + +"Look!" whispered Ruth. "There's Mr. Townsend! And that's Mr. +Sanders--with him!" + +Just then the two men stepped over to the little mound where the girls +were. They did not see the girls, but Mr. Sanders drew Mr. Townsend to a +sudden stop in a space directly in front of Nancy and Ruth. + +"I tell you, Sanders," Mr. Townsend said, in a voice not at all suitable +for his surroundings, "the whole town is talkin'. They say all kinds of +things and you had better out with the whole thing." + +Mr. Sanders laughed as if he enjoyed the joke. + +"Keep cool, keep cool, friend," he said. + +But Mr. Townsend was by no means keeping cool, and he said so, sharply. + +"And I've left my home, got my sister on her ear, made a poor man's name +for myself--" + +Mr. Sanders grasped his arm with a sudden movement, perfectly evident to +the astounded girls. + +"When you are tired of your bargain, Elmer Townsend," he said, "just let +me know." + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE SPECIAL SALE + + +They had worked like slaves, according to Nancy, while Ted insisted he +was too tired even to eat. + +"But it's going to be a grand success," promised Ruth. "I can hardly +wait until morning for the doors to open." + +"Sale now going on!" chanted Isabel, a friend of Ruth's, who had come in +to help. "Ladies and gentlemen! Step this way for your fish lines!" she +called out, testing the possibilities of the next day's special sale. +"Here's where you get your fish-hooks that never slip, and your tackle +that always tacks, and as for sinkers--" + +"You'll sink, first shot," Ruth interrupted, from her perch on the +stepladder, where she was waving a Japanese lantern as if that flimsy +article had anything to do with fishing tackle. + +"Oh say! Look here! Who took my best reel?" cried Ted. "I want that for +myself. It was in a dollar box--" + +"Then it's got to be sold," called back Nancy. She was sitting on the +counter counting fish lines, a dozen to each box. + +"Sold nothing!" retorted Ted. "I'd like to know why I can't have the +best--" + +"You can, Teddy dear," Ruth told him. "You have been a perfect lamb to +help us all afternoon, and I never did see two legs do more trotting +than yours have done since Nancy locked the front doors and put us all +to work like prisoners. You may certainly have the reel, and there's a +wonderful pole back of the empty cigar boxes--there on that first shelf. +See it? It's in a gray case--" + +"Ruth Ashley! Whose store is this?" Nancy pretended to be very severe +but her jolly little laugh filtered through the words in giggles and +titters. "If you are going to give things away, why not start in with +the perishables? There's a basket of apples, Ted himself bought out of +the general fund, and unless they can be sold as bait, I don't see what +we're going to do with them." She had counted out all the fish lines and +was resting against the old-time candy glass case, now neatly filled +with post cards and stationery supplies. + +They had had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready for the first +special sale, and girl-like, had expended a lot of energy upon pretty +effects in the arrangements of articles. Mrs. Brandon "chipped in" as +Ted expressed it, and Nancy was able to supplement her stock +considerably. She had also made a very attractive poster for the big +front window, in fact, it was so attractive that Ruth put another sign +right alongside of it which stated: + + This poster, handmade, for sale + Price $2.00 + +"We always sell our charity posters," she insisted, "and they are never +as pretty as this. Just look at that fish. What is he, Nancy? A cat-fish +or a pickerel?" + +"I'm totally ignorant of the varieties," replied Nancy grandly. "But I +like the flecks on his back so I made him up flecked." + +"The fellows will be here awfully early," Ted warned the girls, "so you +better be ready to sell, quick as the door's opened." + +"We'll be here," sang out Ruth. "And Ted, be sure to tell them this is a +strictly cash sale. No charging and no refunds. If you buy a fish pole +and find it's a curtain rod you've got to go fishing with the curtain +rod. Nancy, here's those fancy little colored bags to fool the poor fish +with. Where do you want them put? Some place very safe, for they're +easily broken, you know," Ruth cautioned. + +"Right here in the show case," Nancy directed. "They're too cute to be +stuck away on a shelf. Ted, you better run off and have some fun. I +don't want mother to think we've been stunting your growth. You know how +particular she is about exercise." + +"Exercise!" repeated Isabel. "As if the poor child hasn't been +stretching every muscle to its utmost all afternoon. Take my advice, +Ted, and lie down. I'll make an ice bag out of an old bathing cap--" + +But Ted was not waiting to hear Isabel's kind, if foolish, offer. His +merry shout as he rounded the corner, however, spoke decidedly against +ice bags as well as couches. + +"Let's quit," suggested Nancy. "Honestly girls, I thought housework was +tedious, but I can't see much difference. I believe I'll be winding fish +lines all night, I've got them tangled in my brain." + +"Then you're the one for the ice bags," pronounced Isabel. "I love to +make them and I love to put them on pretty heads. Here Ruth, let's put +her on the couch. I think she looks a bit feverish." + +Kicking and protesting Nancy was forced to get down from "her perch," +and stretch out on the little leather couch in a favorite corner of the +sun porch. Then, while Ruth literally held her there, Isabel cracked +ice, put it in a green rubber bathing cap, that leaked like a sieve, +tied it up most imperfectly, and presently clapped it on Nancy's head. + +"Oh, please! It's leaking! I'm all wet. Isabel, you're freezing my--my +thinker!" yelled Nancy, as she struggled to free herself from her +playful companions. + +"That's the idea," replied Isabel. "We've got to freeze your thinker to +make you forget your fish lines. Here now, dearie," she mocked "lie +perfectly still--" + +"You're spoiling my pretty new gown," yelled Nancy, referring to the +oldest and most faded gown she could find that morning, in preparation +for the extra work. + +But Isabel held the bag in the general direction of Nancy's forehead, +while little icy cold streams tinkled down her neck and into her ears. +Ruth served as body guard, and almost kept Nancy on the couch, her feet, +arms, and other "loose ends" hanging over untidily. + +The store bell was jerked suddenly and violently. + +"Oh me, oh my!" groaned Nancy, jumping up so as to smash the ice bag to +the floor, cut its string loose and send the remaining chunks of ice +flying. "I can't go. Ruth, will you--" + +"Love to," chanted Ruth, starting off promptly. + +"Look at the puddle," bewailed Isabel, but Nancy interrupted her. + +"No one, simply no one can come in to-day. Do run out, Belle and +restrain Ruth. Just listen to her sweetest tones--" + +Isabel went. She liked to "'tend store" and each possible customer +represented to her, as well as to Ruth, a possible adventure. + +"No, I'm not the proprietor," Nancy heard Ruth saying. + +"No, she really can't see you," was Isabel's contribution. + +A man's voice, full, rich, persuasive, was speaking in so low a tone +that his words did not convey meaning to the listening Nancy. + +She listened! She crept nearer, and finally realizing that both Ruth and +Isabel were not being able to dismiss the stranger, she attempted to +right her rumpled self, to pat the unruly hair into place, and not +knowing that her forehead looked like a beefsteak from the ice freeze, +she sauntered out into the store. + +"This is Miss Brandon," announced Ruth as she entered. "She is the +proprietor." + +Nancy found herself in the presence of a very important looking young +man. His Panama hat was on the counter, his suitcase was on the floor, +and he stood in the most attentive, courteous attitude, bowing as if she +were meeting him in a reception room. + +"I've heard of your store, Miss Brandon," he said. "In fact, its fame +has travelled far and wide, and I'm here representing a Boston firm of +sporting goods. I would like you to see--" + +"Really," faltered Nancy, "this is only sort of a play store. We are +doing it for a vacation experience." + +"Exactly the thing," insisted the young man, who was not polite to the +point of affectation but simply polite as a gentleman. "I know this +territory pretty well, and you will possibly be surprised at the class +of customers who will, doubtless, seek you out. The motor people come +along here from Gretna Lake. There's good fishing on that lake, and +fishing supplies have a way of giving out suddenly when the +inexperienced handle them. If you will let me--" he was tackling the +suitcase. + +"But you see," protested Nancy, much embarrassed, "I really have no +authority to--buy. Mother is not here--" + +"You assume no obligation," insisted the man. "As this is your store we +are glad, in fact anxious, to leave you a sample line. If you sell them +you make a very fair commission, if you do not I pick them up and try +something else on my next trip." + +He opened the case, and presently was displaying a bewildering line of +such fishing tackle and general sport supplies as Nancy had never +dreamed of. Ruth and Isabel were fascinated. They suggested, in spite of +their better judgment, that Nancy stock up with the pretty little trout +flies, the feathery kind tied to fish hooks. Then Ruth thought they +ought to have at least one box of the dry flies, the sort that floats +without the hook, and before they knew it the salesman had deposited +upon the counter, goods worth so much money, that Nancy could only gasp +at the transaction. + +"But I haven't any place--" + +"This little case, if I may suggest," said the salesman, "is admirably +suited. You could move your cards to the far end, couldn't you?" + +"Oh, yes," chimed in Ruth, "and Nancy, just see the lovely window card!" +She was holding up a big folder that had been neatly packed in, folded +in sections, within the suitcase. "Why, it will be wonderful to have +such goods, and I'm sure the summer folks from Breakneck Hill will just +buy us out as soon as they hear we have such splendid stuff." + +"I think you are right," replied the salesman. "But as you seem +doubtful, Miss Brandon, I'll return later and talk with your mother, if +you wish." + +Nancy considered quickly. Her mother should not be annoyed with such +details; also, the special sale was to be a matter left entirely with +the girls and Ted. He was claiming and entitled to a share in certain +articles. So she answered: + +"I don't think that will be necessary. Mother won't object, I guess, if +I don't have to sign anything--" + +"Nothing whatever," she was assured. + +"But how did you find out about us?" asked Isabel. "This is such a tiny +store and it is on the back road, really." + +"The tiny store on the back road with the quaint name Whatnot Shop is +more attractive than a big public place," replied the salesman. He had +handed Nancy his card and she saw that his name was W. S. Webster. "As a +matter of fact, one of our firm was passing here in his car, and he left +me the memorandum. But I've heard of the special sale of fishing tackle +out on the Long Leigh road from perhaps a half dozen persons." + +The girls gasped, simultaneously. They were overwhelmed. If their fame +had thus travelled afar, what would the day of the sale bring them? + +"Very well," stammered Nancy, trying once again to keep her wet dress +out from her neck while she worried over the effect of that besprinkled +garment. "I'll be glad to do what I can with the goods, but really, I +had no idea of going in for such, such important articles." + +"If you will let me say so," remarked Mr. Webster in a gentlemanly way, +"I think you girls have the right idea. So many putter around with art +stuff these days, that they don't realize the big chances they are +missing in business. Some of America's brainiest women are heads of our +wholesale firms, and they make more money than movie queens," he +finished pleasantly. + +When he was finally gone and the door well bolted this time, the three +girls joined hands and danced around like a kindergarten class. + +"Me for the movie queen!" sang out Isabel. "You, Nance and Ruthie, can +sell fish hooks. Just watch this pose and see if I couldn't pass in a +beauty contest--" + +There was a racket, a very noisy one, at the side door. + +"It's Ted!" exclaimed Nancy, apprehensively. + +"And he's got a crowd with him." + +"They can't come in," Nancy declared. "We are not going to show goods or +take any advance orders." + +"Oh me, oh my!" cried Ruth. "No wonder the fine looking drummer said +that the brainiest girls in America were in business." + +"He didn't," contradicted Nancy. "He said women." + +"Very well, Nancy. Just you wait. Go sit down on a big stump in the +woods and wait. By and by you'll be a woman." + +Then, in spite of all their eloquence, in marched Ted heading a parade +of the "fellers." And what could Nancy do but show them the +arrangements. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS + + +"Mother! Are you awake?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"There's someone knocking--" + +"I'm getting up." + +The knocking continued. + +"Hey there, Nan!" called out Ted. "Get up and answer that noise. See +what your old sale did! Wake us all up--" + +"Ted, hush! Be quiet, Mother's going down--" + +"You ought to go. It's your bargain day." + +As usual Ted was charging Nancy with delinquency. He wasn't really +quarreling, but just talking, as Nancy defined it. Mrs. Brandon had been +dressing when the early knock first sounded, so that she was able to get +down stairs almost directly afterward. + +A dread, a sort of feeling that something might happen in regard to that +expensive outlay of goods left by the travelling salesman, seized Nancy. +She crept to the top of the stairs to listen, but all she could hear was +a man's voice; his words were lost behind the closed doors. + +She ventured down to the second landing. Her mother was chatting +pleasantly with whoever the early visitor might be, and at the sound +Nancy's spirits rose. + +"He's no collector," she decided, turning quickly back to her room and +starting at once to dress. She must be ready early. All signs pointed to +an early patronage, and although Ted had declared he would be up at +daybreak, it was all right, Nancy concluded, for him to sleep until +seven o'clock. + +Her mother was calling in a subdued voice. + +"Nancy, I'll get breakfast now, as I hear you stirring," she said. "I +want to leave things ready for your lunch today, so I came down early." + +"All right, Mother," Nancy replied over the balustrade. "I'll be down +soon. Who called?" + +"Is Ted awake?" Mrs. Brandon was still restraining her voice. + +"He was, but he isn't," half whispered Nancy. "Wait, I'll run down and +help, then come up and dress later--" + +Curiosity was too much for Nancy's patience, so she merely tucked her +hair tidily into a cap, and in slippers and robe joined her mother who +was preparing breakfast. + +"Who was it?" she asked breathlessly. + +"Why, your famous Mr. Sanders," replied Mrs. Brandon, indifferently. "He +wanted a little model of some sort, a windmill, it looked like. I +happened to spy it--" + +"The funny little windmill!" Nancy exclaimed. "Why, we were wondering +what that was. Did he say it was a model?" + +"Not exactly, but I judged it was. At any rate, dear, you mustn't always +be looking for mystery in Mr. Sanders' doings. I would call him a very +pleasant gentleman. Here, dear, stir this cereal. I want you and Ted to +make sure you get enough proper food." + +Nancy stirred the meal, which was receiving a preliminary start before +being put over the hot water in the double-cooker. + +"But you see, Mum," she remarked very quietly, "he is queer. Whatever +could he want a thing like that for? And why did he come for it so +early?" Nancy asked. + +"He wanted it because it has something to do with his line, is the way +he expressed it, and he came early because he has been away and just +heard of your sale. If he waited later, he explained, the little +windmill might have been swept away in the tumult," Mrs. Brandon +replied. This seemed to satisfy Nancy's inquiries, but secretly Mrs. +Brandon herself was just a little puzzled about Mr. Sanders. For +instance, it had been very clear to her that he just laughed off, rather +than explained, the purpose of the possible model. Something "in his +line," which he had forgotten to take away when the Townsends moved, +seemed vague, to say the least. + +Nancy was now eating her breakfast with her mother. She confessed to +having waked more than once during the night, in anticipation of the big +day. + +"And I'm going to send you a little surprise treat for lunch," her +mother confided. "I want you and the girls to enjoy yourselves in spite +of your self-imposed business tasks, so I'm sending out some--ice +cream!" + +"Oh, Mumsey--love!" exclaimed Nancy, jumping up and in giving her mother +a bear hug almost spilling the last spoonful of grape fruit. "Aren't you +too ducky! We'll have a regular party, and I'll ask--How many have you +ordered for?" she demanded abruptly. + +"Two quart bricks. That's counted twelve servings," replied her mother. +"Of course, one brick is for Ted, and you must help him a little." + +"Of course, Mumsey-love," promised Nancy. "We'll get every body out and +close up shop from one until two, and have a regular party!" + +From that time until Nancy was almost, but not quite, ready "for the +fray," as she expressed it, she kept herself in a flutter of excitement. +Her mother went into town as usual on the seven forty-five trolley, and +even then there was a waiting list at the front door of the shop, +children peering in the two broad windows which looked out onto the +old-fashioned long porch. + +"Come on, Ted, hurry-up," begged Nancy as her brother tarried over his +breakfast. "The girls won't be here until eight, and you've got to go +outside and try to keep those boys quiet. They'll be coming through the +window if you don't." + +"Oh, that's Buster, making all that racket," declared Ted, getting +another look at the paper which he was not supposed to read at the +table. "I'll go out and talk to them, in a minute," he promised +laconically. + +"Please do, then," begged his sister. "You take it as easy as if we +didn't have a big responsibility." + +"What responsibility?" he asked, actually deciding to move his plump +little self from the table. "I can't see what you're all so excited +about." + +"Of course you can't. But I'll tell you. Everybody, for miles and miles, +knows about this sale, and we've got to get busy." Nancy was peering +anxiously out of the side window. "I do hope," she said again, "that the +girls will get here soon." + +"Is that Very-scary girl coming?" asked Ted. He was trying to set his +blouse straight around his sun-burned neck. + +"You mean Vera. She's gone away for a while--" + +"I hope she stays away," snapped Ted. "I can't seem to like her--" + +"I'm sure that's too bad," mocked Nancy. "She would feel dreadfully bad +to hear that." + +"Oh, don't be funny. Listen! They're hammering on the door. You had +better open it or they'll break the glass," cautioned the boy. + +"Dear me, Ted," exclaimed the excited Nancy, "I can't go; perhaps you +had better open it. Why didn't you fix up a little," she argued, looking +critically at the usual vacation boy. "You might at least have put on a +white blouse." + +"To sell fish hooks?" roared Ted. "That's a grand idea. Why, Nan, the +fellows would think I was giving a party--" + +The noise at the front of the store was now becoming so insistent that +both brother and sister found it imperative to respond. + +"Come on," said Nancy, sighing rather miserably. "We may as well face +it. But don't let them back of the rope. We can't wait on more than a +few at a time." + +At that Nancy and Ted entered the store. + +"Look--at--them!" gasped Ted. + +Faces were pressed against the windows, the door, against every inch of +outside space that could command a view of inside the store, and they +looked so funny, the flat noses, the white spots on cheeks, the opened +mouths, humping against the glass! + +"Hello! Hello!" shouted Ted as Nancy fumbled with the door lock. "What +do you think this is? A circus?" + +Then, as Nancy opened the door, there was the unavoidable falling in! + +"Please!" she begged. But the boys seemed actually massed as for some +game. + +"Hey there!" urged Ted. "Whoever doesn't behave can't get waited on +a-tall!" + +But his words had no effect upon the eager urchins. + +"I want that rod over there!" shouted Rory Jennings. He was tall, big +and noisy. + +"That's mine--that beaut in the window," insisted another. Ted called +him Shedder, or something that sounded like that. + +"Hey, please, missus please," begged a lad so freckled Nancy couldn't +see anything else but freckles. "Please missus," he entreated, "couldn't +you just hand me over that crab net? That's all I want." + +"Hey there! Stop crowdin'," ordered a boy who was using all his strength +to make matters worse. "She can't wait on us if you don't give her a +chanst." + +There were easily twenty-five or thirty youngsters in the crowd, and +Nancy felt quite helpless to supply all their wants at once. The fact +that goods were offered at the very lowest figure possible, that a +twenty-five cent ball of fish line was marked ten cents, of course, +accounted for the rush. Many boys could get hold of a dime, but a +quarter was not so easy to pick up, it seemed. + +Then, too, the advertising, one boy telling the other, had done much to +make the sale known; hence the early morning rush. + +"Now don't muss everything up!" ordered Ted, for a group of boys had +laid hold of the fish-hook box, and it was impossible for Nancy to get +it back. + +"You must not take things away from the counter," she protested, for at +that moment the box of sinkers was being carted off to the door, by Jud +Morgan and Than Beach. They said they only wanted to pick out a couple +where there was more room, but it was plainly a risky way to make their +selection. + +"Dear me!" sighed Nancy to Ted. "Please look out and see if the girls +are coming. These boys will have everything upset--" + +But the girls were coming, in fact they were just then elbowing their +way in from the front door. + +"Hello--hello--hello!" called out Ruth joyfully. "Isn't this grand! +Going to buy us out first thing--" + +"Oh, land sakes!" wailed Nancy. "I've been in here fifteen minutes and I +haven't sold a stick. We should have charged admission." + +Isabel looked on rather importantly. Evidently she knew or thought she +knew how to handle a crowd of boys. + +"You've got to get in line!" she announced. + +A laugh, a whole series of laughs was her answer. + +"Do you hear me?" she insisted, raising her voice to suit the occasion. + +"Sure, we hear you. Want us to clap?" answered impudent Sammy Larkins. + +"Now see here," Ruth attempted to order. "If you boys really want to buy +anything you have got to stand back and take turns--" + +No sooner had that order been given than everybody made a dash for the +first place in line, and the tumult that followed all but drove Nancy +under the counter. + +"Say, look here! Want us to put you all out?" demanded Ted, in unassumed +indignation. + +"Try it!" tempted Buster, pretending to roll up sleeves he didn't have. + +"But don't you want to see the things?" cried out Ruth in desperation, +for those boys were tumbling around the floor and actually fighting, at +least they made that kind of noise, it seemed to the girls. + +"Su-ure!" came a chorus. + +Then Nancy had an inspiration. She got up on the high stool that stood +by what used to be Miss Townsend's desk and she immediately commanded +attention. + +"I'll tell you," she began, "if you all sit down on the floor just where +you are, the window sills or any place, I'll tell you about some of the +most interesting things we've got here. They are not for sale, but they +belonged to a sea captain--" + +The magic word had the desired effect. At the word "sea captain" that +crowd of boys, dropped "in their traces," and it was then Nancy's duty +to unfold to them some wondrous tale. + +For boys like a story--when it's about a sea captain even if they are +out to buy bargain fishing tackle. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE BIG DAY + + +As Ted said afterwards: "It was some story!" + +Nancy stood there on the stool, dangling an old rusty knife which she +had just spied among the box of unclassified articles, and she told +those boys a yarn, a regular old salt-yarn, which she frankly admitted +was pure fiction. + +But how they listened! As Ruth expressed it: "How _hard_ they listened!" + +No more jostling, nor pushing nor underhand squabbling. Every boy among +them wanted to hear all that story, and consequently he was taking no +chances on missing any of it. + +"And when the old sea captain looked into the poor half-frozen face of +that baby he had picked up, lashed to an icy--an icy plank," Nancy +trilled, becoming so interested in her subject she almost forgot the +make up of it, "then he remembered," she went on, "the big Newfoundland +dog, Jack, who had fallen back into the sea exhausted from his long +swim." + +She stopped. The boys said "Gosh," and "Gee Whiz." Buster said "Jingo!" +and there were probably many other subdued and impulsive exclamations of +the crisp boyish variety. + +One little fellow who was sniffing audibly, piped up a question over +Than's shoulder. + +"Say miss," he said. "Say Miss--Nancy," he corrected himself, "could a +feller buy that there knife?" + +"Why," flushed Nancy, "the knife hasn't anything to do with the story--" + +"Naw!" came a chorus. "'Course not!" + +"It was a corkin' good story," applauded Nort Duncan, clapping grimy +hands. + +"But you said the ole captain cut the ropes with a rusty knife--" the +little fellow insisted. + +"Now look here, boys," called out Ruth suddenly. "You are all settled +down, nice, quiet and orderly. Suppose we begin to see what you want to +buy. There are three of us to serve you, and if we divide you up in +three groups, I'm sure we can give every single one of you the biggest +bargain you ever got in fishing tackle." + +After that, something like order prevailed, for most boys are not devoid +of a sense of honor, not by any means, and surely after Nancy's story +they owed her attention and politeness. + +Ted helped. He was able to hand out the poles and took pride in doing +so. They were, most of them, nice shiny, new bamboo canes, and it didn't +matter how long it took him to please a customer. In one hour, however, +he had sold ten at fifty cents, five at seventy-five cents and two at a +dollar each. Ted was delighted, and secretly agreed with Nancy that +"business was the thing." + +Meanwhile the girls were busy, and happy. Ruth had taken charge of the +sinkers and hooks. Isabel was having a fine time with the crab nets and +fancy reels, the nickel kind with the stem winders, while Nancy acted as +general supervisor and director of the entire stock. + +Things were going merrily and few disagreements marred the proceedings +(not to count the scooping up of fellows' caps in trying out crab nets, +or the occasional protest from someone who would resent being poked with +new fish poles), when there appeared at the door a very pleasant +looking, in fact a very "good-looking" young girl. + +"That's Sanders' girl," said a boy into Nancy's ear. "You know the +feller that--disappears," he hurried to explain. + +Nancy had neither time nor opportunity to ask questions so she turned to +meet the very blue eyes of the young girl in question. + +"Don't let me interrupt you," said the stranger. "I can wait," and she +stepped aside to let Tom Preston get change from a precious one dollar +bill. + +Nancy noticed that the young lady had all the known signs of college +life. She wore a worsted tam o' shanter (in summer), she also wore a +sweater to match, with a tan golf skirt and--heavy stockings, ending in +good, strong, walking Oxfords. If these signs were not collegian, +thought Nancy, then the girl must be an actress which she obviously was +not. + +But she had so much personality, that was it, Nancy promptly decided +while still counting out change for eager boys. Also, Nancy reasoned, +she had such pronounced individuality, that one did not observe +separately her brown hair, her blue eyes and her lustrous, fine healthy +skin. She just looked perfect, at least to Nancy, who always loved the +athletic type. + +"Sanders' girl!" Nancy was thinking. She didn't know he had a daughter, +but the girl looked like him, especially around her firm, determined +mouth. + +Ruth left her boys and was now offering to wait on Miss Sanders. + +"I'm Sibyl Sanders, you know," she told Ruth, "and I just dropped in to +see if I couldn't pick up something for dad." + +"We're having quite a sale," replied Ruth pleasantly. "When things thin +out a little I should like to introduce you to Nancy Brandon. This is +her idea of a vacation," Ruth added quizzically. + +"Isn't it splendid?" replied Sibyl, brightening with enthusiasm. "I just +ran up to Long Leigh to see dad. He insists upon spending a lot of time +up here," she continued, "and I feel I must look after him a little. I +wonder if you have any pieces of wire or light springs, around? He has +use for that sort of material." + +"Wire, springs!" Nancy heard the request and a joke, that the +disappearing man might slide away on wires and springs, flashed +humorously through her mind. But again she found no chance even to +whisper the joke to Isabel, for there were still boys demanding change. + +In the course of an hour, however, the youngsters were all "cleared +out." Their wants had been supplied, and the girls, with Sibyl, were +chatting away about the first results of the sale. + +"If they don't go trying things out and then want us to change them," +worried Nancy. "I told them positively we would exchange just absolutely +not--a--thing," she declared, most emphatically. + +"Let's see how much we took in," suggested Isabel. "I had no idea that a +lot of small money could be so fascinating." + +"Indeed it is," Sibyl rejoined. "I've had experience at college sales, +and it always seemed to me the peanut money was the most interesting to +handle." + +This brought on some talk of her college, for just as Nancy had guessed, +she was a college girl. Finally, when the receipts were all counted and +it was found that the boys, they who came in the first squad, had +actually bought seventeen dollars worth of goods. + +"It doesn't seem possible!" Ruth exclaimed, "and just look at the +bushels of pennies!" + +"And we had better prepare for the next arrivals," suggested Isabel. +"The lake folks will be along presently on their morning drives." + +"And the early golfers returning from the links," added Ruth. "Guess we +better tidy things up a little. Those boys certainly can upset a place." + +Isabel had found a roll of picture wire and three small screen door +springs. These Sibyl bought without giving the slightest hint of the +possible use her father was apt to put them to. Neither Isabel nor Ruth, +however, paid as much attention to the odd purchase as did Nancy. + +"I do wonder," Nancy remarked as Isabel tied up the goods for Sibyl, +"what has become of Miss Townsend?" + +"Oh, haven't you heard?" exclaimed Sibyl. "She's been quite ill." + +"No, I hadn't," said Nancy, considerately. "I'm so sorry. What has been +the trouble?" + +"Worry, chiefly, I guess," and a sort of sigh seemed to accompany +Sibyl's words. "It was too bad she had such a dispute with her brother," +she continued, "and yet, they really didn't seem to dispute, just to +disagree, but they have both such old-fashioned, gentle natures that +they consider it disgraceful to dissent from the views of loved ones. +Oh, well!" this time the sigh was unmistakable, "I suppose even the most +gentle can hardly expect to go through life without differences. I only +hope they do not hold my daddy in any way responsible," she said +seriously. + +"Why, how could they?" faltered Nancy, in honest bewilderment. + +"Oh, of course they couldn't," replied Sibyl hastily, as if regretting +her remark. "But you see, daddy and the old gentleman have been such +close friends that Miss Townsend might fancy daddy influenced her +brother. But I must be running along," she added a little hurriedly. +"I'm so glad to have met you, Nancy, and I hope your sale will be a +tremendous success." + +"It surely will be," chimed in Ruth, while Isabel and Nancy joined in +the good-byes. + +"Hasn't she wonderful eyes!" was Nancy's first remark following Sibyl's +departure. + +"I got the surprise of my life," declared Ruth, "when I saw Sibyl +Sanders saunter in. There, that sounds like a new song, doesn't it? But +you know, girls, she is almost as mysterious as her dad, the way she +comes and goes--" + +"But doesn't anyone up and ask them where they live?" asked Nancy in +evident astonishment. + +"Never get a chance," chimed in Isabel. "If we were to go out now and +follow her up the hill, I'll venture to say we would get a good sample +of the disappearing stunt--" + +"But we haven't time, dears," chirped Nancy. "Look! Here come three +autos. Now, ladies, step lively," and the way they stepped was lively +enough to be called trotting. + +"Yes, sure enough," Ruth agreed, "they _are_ coming here, and they're +here!" + + + + + CHAPTER X + + STILL THEY CAME + + +Before the girls could pull their faces straight a young man dashed up +the steps and was in the store. + +"Well, this is great!" he declared heartily. "I see by your window card +you carry Mackinaw's goods and I haven't been able to get them nearer +than the city." He was addressing all three who stood together back of +the counter like a trio in a comedy. The young man looked critically at +the show goods in the show counter--the supply left by the travelling +salesman. + +"Here they are, sure enough!" he exclaimed. "Just give me a half dozen +of those plugs, and of those dry flies, and a dozen of those bobbers--" + +Nancy set out the boxes and the customer helped himself. He knew exactly +what he wanted, and the girls marvelled at his quick selection of the +fancy colored artificial minnows, the little feather flies, used to +decoy the poor fish, and the bobbers, of which article Nancy had as +pretty a selection as might have been in a really large shop. + +"You don't know what an accommodation this is," went on the young man, +putting down a twenty dollar bill to pay for his purchases. "No, don't +bother to put paper on the boxes," he objected, as all three attempted +to wrap the goods. "I'll put them right in the car. You see, I'm at the +fishing club over on the lake, and when we want supplies there we _want_ +them instantly," he concluded. + +And he was gone before the surprised clerks had time to realize that the +sale had almost cleared out all the fancy tackle, and there were coming +in at the door two elderly gentlemen, who looked exactly as if they +would want fancy flies. + +One of the gentlemen poked his head in the door so comically, the girls +all giggled. + +"Well!" he exclaimed. "So it _is_ a shop. Thought it might be a Sunday +School fair and I'd get roped in," he chuckled, stepping inside +cautiously. "Sorry, but I didn't come to buy. Can you direct me to +Professor Sanders' office?" he asked, while politely removing his hat. + +"His office? Why, he hasn't any office that I know of," faltered Nancy, +surprised at the question. + +"He has messages sent to the ticket office at the station," volunteered +Ruth. + +"Oh, I see," replied the man, seeming to "see" more than the girls did. +"Then, we'll go over to the station--" + +So saying the man backed out of the door smiling pleasantly as he +departed. + +"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Nancy. "Our Disappearing Dick is going to +have callers. I wonder if he'll perform for them?" + +"Those are important looking men," Isabel commented. "Did you see their +car?" + +"Wasn't it fancy?" agreed Ruth. "Perhaps Sibyl will get a ride home." + +"I don't think you folks can be very good detectives around here," Nancy +criticized, "or you would have found out what so many people mean by +saying that Mr. Sanders disappears." + +"Now, listen," quoth Ruth, in a most confidential tone, "I don't call +myself sensational, and in fact, people at Long Leigh generally have the +name of minding their own business; but there is something mighty queer +about Mr. Sanders." She paused while Nancy waited for further +explanation. "He does _not_ live in the old gray house, for father's men +went through the entire place the other day, he's in real-estate you +know," she explained, "and there wasn't a thing to show that the old +house had been opened since they inspected it last." + +"Couldn't he camp in the barn or somewhere outside the house?" queried +Nancy. + +"No; the barn was locked up tight as tuppence," insisted Ruth. "But he +seems to hang out somewhere on that hill, just the same," she added. + +"I know!" exclaimed Nancy. "He goes up in a tree with the wires and +springs," and she sprang up and down without either. "Some day I'm going +up there and I bet _I'll_ solve the mystery," she promised gaily. + +"Let us know when you're going, Nan," suggested Ruth. "We wouldn't want +to have you swallowed up by--the fairies." + +"Say," whispered Isabel, her eyes set in what looked like alarm, "do you +know, I saw a little woman come up and down our side steps a half dozen +times this morning--" + +"Oh!" and Nancy laughed merrily. "That would be little Miss Manners, the +dressmaker who lives in the tiny bungalow under our window. You see, +Mother wouldn't really let us keep store without some supervision. She's +pretty particular, and declares there is no telling who might pop in--" + +"And hold us up for our cash box--!" Ruth added so mirthfully as to +suggest a good time in the danger. + +"Well, any how," continued Nancy, "Mother insists that Miss Manners look +in quite often to see that everything is all right. She's as quiet as a +mouse--" + +"I should say she is," Isabel confirmed. "In fact, I didn't want to +frighten you or I should have told you someone was sneaking in," she +added, folding up a tape line as she spoke. + +"Oh, Miss Manners is so quaint, as Vera would say," Ruth contributed, +"that I think she ought to be a partner, if a silent partner, in the +Whatnot Shop." + +"Yes," agreed Nancy, "it does seem as if this shop should belong to +little old people like Miss Townsend, and I guess that's why Miss +Manners is so interested. You see, girls, I'm still a very poor +housekeeper, and our maid, Anna, won't be back until fall. After I get +tired playing store, I suppose," and she sighed heavily, "I'll be +expected to start in playing house." + +"But if you run the shop as you have done this morning," Isabel +interposed, "don't you suppose your mother will think you're a real +genius at business?" she inquired. + +"You can't fool my mother on geniuses," replied Nancy, who like her +companions was putting away the odds and ends of things that had been +scattered in the morning's adventure. "Mother is an expert, and she sort +of knows--me." This last was said in a way implying a very doubtful +compliment for Nancy. "I've been almost a genius at art, for instance. +When I was five years old I could draw a goose with my eyes shut." + +"How about it when your eyes were open?" asked Ruth, quizzically. + +"It was usually a little fat pig, then," Nancy admitted, amid an +outburst of girlish laughter. + +"Nancy," interrupted Isabel, "here's the ice cream man." + +"Ours," declared Nancy. "Now we'll whistle for Ted and his boys and shut +up shop for lunch. Isabel, will you please open the side door? We'll +take a tray over to Miss Manners and then sit down and enjoy ourselves." + +"Here's Ted and his friends now," announced Ruth. "They seem to know it +is ice cream time." + +"That will save trouble," Nancy remarked. And presently the big sale was +all but forgotten in preparations for the feast of ice cream, with other +suitable summer lunch supplies. + +Isabel took an attractive tray over to solicitous and attentive Miss Ada +Manners, while Nancy and Ruth attempted to satisfy the demands of Ted +and his ice cream loving friends. The noon day was much warmer than the +morning had indicated, and this coupled with the sale excitement, went +far to make the little party a tremendous success, just as Mrs. Brandon +had planned it to be. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE FAILURE + + +The days were slipping by, and Nancy found herself entangled in a rather +confused vacation. True, she had already reaped real benefit from the +big sale and from the subsequent days' sales in her shop, but was it +really being a vacation? + +It must be admitted that Nancy had a tendency to stubbornness, but since +that peculiarity very often marks the first stages of a strong +character, her mother wisely allowed her to continue to try things out +for herself. The Whatnot Shop was not proving in any way a +disappointment, but it was most certainly giving Nancy work, so that she +was not free to come and go with the other girls, in spite of Miss +Manners frequent and generous offers to "'tend store" for her. + +A bright spot on her calendar not very far off, was the coming of Mrs. +Brandon's vacation. Soon she would be at home, free to do all the +precious things a devoted mother plans to do in the little interval of +freedom so long looked forward to and so quickly spent. + +"When you are home," Nancy would continually plan, "I'm going to do +that," referring to any one of a number of things being postponed. + +Today it was raining; a sudden summer shower was drenching everything as +if rain had never had such a good time before, and a charity sale, in +which all the girls were interested, was to be held that afternoon. +Everyone, including Nancy, expected to attend, and she with others had +promised to donate a cake. + +But how it rained! And Nancy had planned to go into town to the fancy +bakers to get her cake. Hour after hour she hoped the rain would cease, +until it became too late for a telephone delivery, and still Nancy could +not go out in the downpour. + +"If I could only bake it," she reflected, as she once more gazed +gloomily out of the windows at the dripping world. "It's easy enough to +bake a cake," she told herself, "and, of course, I could follow the +recipe in mother's cook book." + +Still Nancy had misgivings concerning such an experiment. A cake for a +sale should be good, of that she was certain, and for that very reason +she had previously decided to buy one at the French Pastry Shop. + +"Well," she sighed, "I may as well try it. It is sure to clear up just +when the girls are due to call for me, and I simply couldn't go without +a cake." + +First locking the store, and making up her mind that no call, however +insistent, would tempt her to leave her task, Nancy promptly set about +baking her cake. It was no trouble to find the cook book, Mrs. Brandon +had found a small shelf suitable for that in the open pantry. Also, the +required ingredients were all at hand, and the creaming of the butter +and sugar, according to the first rule, Nancy executed with something +like skill, for she had strong young hands and the spoon in her grasp +quickly beat the butter and sugar together in a perfectly smooth paste. + +[Illustration: Nancy promptly set about baking her cake.] + +Then she put the flour in the sieve. In doing this she made a slight +mistake, for no pan nor plate had been placed under the sieve and +consequently a pretty little layer of the sifted flour showered out upon +her table before she could get a receptacle under the utensil. + +"I had better measure over again," Nancy decided, feeling that the +uncertainty of guessing at the lost flour might spoil her cake. So this +time she put in her baking powder, salt and flour, and sifted all into a +little pudding pan. Separating the eggs, yolks from whites, was not +quite so easily accomplished, but even that was finally managed, and now +Nancy knew it was time to light the gas oven. + +Next, three-fourths of a cup of milk was added to the creamed butter and +sugar, the egg yolks added to that and all well beaten. Then the flour +was carefully turned in, while beating all together Nancy felt really +elated at the prospect in sight. + +"I'm sure this will be fine," she was congratulating herself, "perhaps +even better than a store cake. And I know how to make the maple +icing--I'm glad I have done that much before, at any rate," she admitted +ruefully. + +The soft yellow mixture did indeed look promising, but now came the time +to fold in the whites of the eggs. + +"Fold in," repeated Nancy, somewhat puzzled. "How shall I fold it in?" + +She looked at the batter and she looked at the frothy egg whites. To +fold that in would surely mean to spoil all the nice, white, snowy mound +of froth. Nancy hated to do it, but she finally spilled it into the bowl +full, and started to beat it all over again. The batter seemed rather +thin and Nancy decided to add a little more flour. Just here was where +her inexperience threatened disaster, but the trial so fascinated the +little cook that she did a few other things not proposed by the recipe, +but all of which seemed reasonable to her. + +The oven was now sizzling hot, and Nancy quickly turned her mixture into +two tins, which she neglected to grease, and slipped them into the oven. +With a sense of satisfaction she turned to and really cleared up all the +utensils--something very commendable indeed in Nancy Brandon. With +watching the clock and getting Ted's lunch set out on the little porch +table, while she also managed somehow to start her own personal +preparations for the afternoon, Nancy was, as she would say, kept on the +jump. + +But the cake didn't burn, and she took it from the oven on the dot of +thirty minutes. + +"It will have to cool, I suppose," Nancy guessed, "and while it's +cooling I'll make the icing. It looks pretty good but it has got a lot +of holes in it," was her rather skeptical criticism, as she inspected +the two layers of golden pastry. But the cake, even after a thorough +cooling which consumed more time than could be spared, would not leave +the tins! + +Nancy tried a knife--that broke a great rough corner off. Then she got +the pancake turner and slipped it under as well as she could, but alas! +The thing actually splashed up in a regular explosion of crumbs! + +"Ruined!" groaned Nancy. "I can never fix that!" + +Her disappointment was cruel. To see a perfectly good and such a +fragrant cake go to pieces when finished, after all the work of getting +it that far was nothing short of a tragedy. + +Tears blinded Nancy Brandon. + +"I might have known," she sighed, "I just couldn't have such good luck +with cooking." + +The rain was almost over. Ted would soon be in, but Nancy just couldn't +help crying. It was so hard not to succeed when she had been counting so +especially on that afternoon's fun. Perhaps she could get Ted to go to +town for her after all. But upon serious consideration she decided +against that plan. She simply wouldn't go now under any circumstances. +Her eyes were red and she wanted a good cry even more than the fun of +the sale. In fact, she couldn't help crying and she wasn't going to try. + +When an hour later the girls called, Ted told them what was strictly +true. Nancy was in bed with a sick headache and she couldn't go. +Carrying their messages of sympathy upstairs to Nancy, along with a +plate full of broken cake and a glass of ice cold lemonade, Ted tried to +cheer his disconsolate sister, but even then she had not discovered that +the whole trouble was merely her neglect of greasing those cake tins. +The cook book didn't direct so simple a thing as that and, of course, +poor Nancy just hadn't noticed that her mother did it. She was usually +too concerned about the remnants of cake dough being left in the bowl, +to observe how the batter was being put in the pans. + +"Does it ache hard?" asked Ted, sitting beside his sister and referring +to her head. + +"Yes, it does, Ted, but this lemonade is splendid." + +"I can make good lemonade," Ted admitted. "And your cake is swell, only +it sticks awful. I got it out with the pie server," he told Nancy +simply. + +"Yes. I couldn't get it to come off the pan at all. Well," and Nancy +moved to get up, "I suppose I won't feel any worse down stairs. What +color dress did Ruth have on?" + +To the best of his limited ability Ted described the girls' costumes and +then, determined to drive away Nancy's blues, he started in to recite in +detail his great experience of that morning. + +"Now Nan," he began, "you can say all you like, but Mr. Sanders does +disappear. _I saw him!_" + +"_You_ saw him disappear!" + +"Yes, sure as shootin'. We were all running down the hill, trying to get +to the station before that big shower, when I said to Tom, 'there's Mr. +Sanders, comin' up.' He said he saw him too, and we kept on runnin', +when I was just goin' to shout hello, and true as I tell you, Nan, there +wasn't any Mr. Sanders anywhere in sight!" + +"Ted Brandon!" + +"Yep, that's just what I'm telling you. We all saw him go, but no one +saw where to." + +And presently even the lost pleasure and the spoiled cake were soon +forgotten in their discussion of Ted's remarkable story. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE + + +But something had happened to Nancy. The cake failure represented to her +much more than a simple episode, for it had suddenly summed up all the +awful possibilities of untrained hands. It was well enough to make +excuses, to claim business and even artistic talent, for Nancy could +draw and color, and was among the best in her class as an art student, +but the fact now bore down upon her with undisguised horror! She could +not do what other girls could do. She could not even bake a cake. + +"And just as mother so often told me," she reflected bitterly, "it is +not at all a question of preference but of simple, civilized living. +What _I_ don't do and should do someone else _must_ do, and that's +anything but fair play on my part," Nancy sadly admitted. + +"Aren't you going to open the store, Nan?" Ted asked her. "There's been +someone knocking a long time and now they're going away--" + +"Oh, never mind," she answered indifferently, "I'm going to get tea +ready so mother won't have to bother. She does it like an angel when I +plead store business, but I guess, Ted, the old store--" + +"Isn't all it's cracked up to be," Ted helped her out rather willingly, +for he had not, at any time, shared her enthusiasm in the little +business venture. + +Nancy sighed dramatically. She was feeling rather sorry for herself and +that is always a symptom of wounded pride. It was the same day, in early +evening, of the picnic and cake experience, and her crying spell still +stirred its little moisture of hurt emotions. Ted couldn't bear to see +his sister cry, ever, and he was now all attention and sympathetic +interest. + +"I wish, Nan, you'd just sell out. The store would make a swell gym, and +we scouts need a place just like that--" + +"Ted Brandon! Do you think _I_ would quit just because a thing is hard! +Why, I should think you would remember how hard mother works," she +declared, in a sudden outburst of virtue. "And the harder it is the more +reason to--to do it," she floundered. + +"Oh, yeah, sure," agreed Ted amicably. "Of course that's so. Want me to +set table?" + +"Thanks, Ted, I wish you would. I'm going to try a cooked custard, I +mean a top of the stove custard. If I can cool it by putting the dishes +flat on the ice," Nancy reasoned aloud. + +"But they'll melt right through, if they're hot," Ted reminded her. "I +know my taffy pan did--" + +"Well, perhaps I'd better not try it then, as it's so late," Nancy +decided, relieved to find a genuine excuse. "Suppose we have toasted +crackers with cheese on top? Mother always likes that and _that_ can't +go wrong." + +Fortified with a new determination, Nancy went at her task, and in less +time, much less time than she usually required, succeeded in preparing +not only an appetizing but a really tempting meal. Ted arranged the +crisp lettuce leaves while Nancy cut the tomatoes, which she "nested" in +the lettuce, prettily. The toasted cheese-crackers were in the oven and +as this was not only a favorite dish with the Brandons, but is also a +favorite with many others, it might be well to know how Nancy prepared +it. + +She buttered saltines, enough to cover the bottom of a flat pan, the pan +usually used for "Johnnie Cake," then, on top of the cracker layer, she +showered, plentifully thick, grated cheese; another layer of crackers +and another shower of cheese. Next, she wet the layers with just enough +milk to moisten the crackers. The pan was then allowed to stand long +enough for the crackers to absorb the milk, after which the preparation +was baked in a quick oven. A delicious brown cheese-cake was the result, +and it "didn't go wrong." + +"I'm glad I can do that much, at any rate," Nancy half-complained, +half-praised. "And Ted, you have made the table look lovely. I shall be +so sorry when the roses are gone--" + +"Say Sis," broke in Ted abruptly, "you know I was telling you about how +Mr. Sanders disappeared." + +"Were you?" Nancy was polishing her water glasses. + +"Sure, I was. When you had the headache and was crying. Don't you know?" + +"Oh, yes, I do remember," admitted Nancy. "But it's too foolish, Ted--" + +"Foolish nothing! I tell you I saw him go," Ted declared in a voice that +admitted of no argument. + +"How funny!" cried Nancy. "Do _you_ really believe in that stuff, Ted?" +she asked quizzically. + +"Oh, say!" Ted was too disgusted to attempt explanation. That any one +should doubt _his_ eyes was beyond his understanding. + +"Well, I'll tell you," Nancy condescended. "I'm going to call on Miss +Townsend soon, that is, mother and I are, because Miss Townsend has been +sick, you know," she elucidated. "Then, I'm just going to ask her +straight all about that weird story." + +"As if she'd tell," scoffed the boy. "Why, her own dog never left her +house since she's been sick, if you want to know. What do you make out +of that?" + +"Cute doggie," replied Nancy, now shutting off the gas stove to await +her mother's coming. "And another thing, Ted, I wish you could see how +that dog acts around this place." + +"I'm just thinking that maybe Miss Townsend is acting sick just to get +back here," hazarded Ted. "I hope mother won't give in, if she is, for I +like it here, don't you, Nan?" + +"Love it! Here's mother! Quick Ted, the ice water. There, let's hide!" + +The joy of a thing well done was Nancy's reward for her extra efforts. +The little meal was indeed a credit to her, and that it gave her mother +unmistakable pleasure was Nancy's greatest satisfaction. + +"I am always sure that you can do it, little girl," her mother told her, +as they all three turned in to clear away the table things, "but I also +know you have to find things out for yourself. How did you manage it all +so nicely?" + +"Well, I didn't mean to tell you," Nancy sighed, "but I might just as +well." + +"Better," chimed in Ted mischievously, as he scurried around to do his +part in the clearing up ceremony. + +"All right," Nancy agreed affably. "I had better tell you, Mother. You +see, it was the day of the sale--the church sale the girls were all +going to. And I expected to get my cake at the French Bakery." + +"And you couldn't on account of the rain," Mrs. Brandon helped the +recital along. + +"It never stopped for one half hour," Nancy added. "So I tried, that is +I just _tried to make_ a cake." + +She drew in her lips and puckered her pretty face into a wry misgiving +expression. Nancy was looking very pretty in her rose colored linen +dress (the one her mother had finished off with peasant embroidery), and +her dark eyes were agleam now with enthusiasm and interest. + +Frankly she told her mother the story of her spoiled cake, and how they +all three laughed when the mother explained why it had failed--just +because Nancy didn't know enough to grease the tins! + +Ted, all this time, was casting suspicious glances first at Nancy then +at his mother. He seemed to be enjoying a secret that even his glances +were not imparting to the others. + +"You may run along, Ted," his mother told him, as she always excused him +just a little earlier than she and Nancy were prepared to finish. "I +guess you can call your part complete. Here dear. I'll put the sweeper +away. You run, I hear some code whistling at the side window." + +"All right, Mother, but I can chase the sweeper in the pantry as I go," +Ted offered. "But I wanted to tell you." He sidled up to his mother very +confidentially, "I think Nancy's good and sick of the store." + +"Why Ted!" His mother showed complete surprise at the frank declaration. +Nancy was not within hearing so Ted ventured further. + +"Yep," he continued. "I'll bet she chucks it up pretty soon, and if she +does, Mother, could we fellers have it?" he pleaded. + +"You boys have it?" + +"Yeah; for a gym. Fine and dandy. We've got a lot of things to exercise +with--" Nancy was back from the ice box now so Ted could say no more. +The next moment he darted off to the boys who were calling, his own +vociferous answer shrilling the path he made as he rushed out. + +Nancy remained silent for some minutes and neither did her mother seem +inclined to talk. Mrs. Brandon put the center piece on the table and +Nancy straightened the window shades, replaced the fruit dish on the +little table near the cool window, and suddenly remembered to wind the +clock. + +"That's Ted's business, dear," her mother reminded her. "You see, even a +boy must get some training in these little household matters. He too +lives in a house." + +"Oh, yes," agreed Nancy. "And isn't it strange that I always remember +his part while I so often forget my own?" + +"No, not strange," her mother said gently. "Ted's little schedule is new +and novel to you, therefore interesting; yours is old and monotonous to +you, therefore irksome." Mrs. Brandon managed to get her arm +affectionately over her daughter's shoulder. "But don't be discouraged, +dear. You may make a star housekeeper in the end," she prophesied. + +"Oh dear. I'm afraid not, Mother," and Nancy sighed heavily. "It seems +to me I get tired of everything. I thought it would be wonderful to earn +money," she faltered, "and I suppose because I always liked to play +store I thought it would be just as much fun to have a real store. But +Mother," and she snuggled against the sympathetic breast, "Mother, I do +want to help you--" + +"And you have," brightened Mrs. Brandon. "You have no idea what miracles +I have worked with your extra dollars, earned in that little store." + +"Really, Mother?" + +"Yes, indeed. In fact I am thinking of taking a real vacation when my +little two weeks come around. I had expected to do some extra work--" + +"In your vacation?" exclaimed Nancy. She had squatted her mother down in +the arm chair and was herself resting on the side cushion. "Indeed, I +should say not," she scoffed, pouting prettily. + +"But if we buy this little summer place, dear, we must do a lot of +certain things," explained her mother vaguely. + +"Then I'm not going to get tired of the store," determined Nancy, +suddenly. + +"Yet Nannie, we might do very well to rent it," suggested Mrs. Brandon. +"A business place is worth something, you know." + +"Rent it? To whom?" + +"I think it would cure Miss Townsend of her imaginary ills, to have a +chance to come back--" + +"Oh, Mother, somehow I shouldn't like to have her around," faltered +Nancy. "She's sweet and quaint and all that," conceded Nancy, "but she +gives one the creeps. She sort of brings ghosts along with her when she +comes here. And her dog! Why, he'd bark us all to death if we ever let +him in to fight with the chimney place." + +Mrs. Brandon laughed good-naturedly. "I've felt rather against +considering the plan myself," she admitted, "for as you say, dear, we +would feel like intruders with Miss Townsend established in the store. +Well, we don't have to think about it now, at any rate," she decided. +"Come along for a walk. I'm afraid you haven't been out much today and +that's one thing that would really worry me, dear. I don't want you to +stay indoors to take care of the store," her mother admonished. "We +don't pretend to carry real necessities that people might expect to buy +from us, and such stock as we do keep can be had at our convenience, as +well as at theirs," she finished definitely. + +"You are perfectly right, Mother," Nancy answered emphatically. "And +that's one thing I don't like about business. Everybody just thinks _we_ +are their servants, and they even become rude when I tell them I haven't +got something they happen to want." + +"Oh, yes, I know. But I wouldn't worry about that. It all adds to the +value of the lesson, you know. Just be sure you are right, keep a cool +head and a steady hand," her mother laughed, "then, let the other folks +lose their patience if they are foolish enough to do so. But listen," +she paused attentively. "Here comes Miss Manners. And she seems to be in +trouble. I'll let her in." + +The little lady was indeed in trouble for her face, small and somewhat +pinched with threatening years, showed, as she entered the room, the +unmistakable signs of weeping. + +"Oh dear," she sighed brokenly, as Nancy pulled out the rocker for her, +"I don't know why I should come to you folks, for I'm sure," she gulped +back her interrupting sobs, "you must have troubles enough of your own. +But I just had to talk to somebody--" + +"Talk away," replied Nancy's mother cheerily. "You know that is the best +way to conquer one's own troubles--to attack them with the troubles of +someone else." + +"Maybe that's so," replied Miss Manners, brushing back a stray strand of +her graying hair, "but I don't just see how that is going to help me," +she faltered. + +"Tell us yours," urged Nancy, "and then we will be better able to +judge." Nancy sat back in her own chair, quite prepared now for a new +chapter in the current events of Long Leigh. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + BEHIND THE CLOUD + + +Poor little Miss Manners! Hers had been a brave struggle, and as Nancy +and her mother listened to the brokenly told story, they were easily +ready to pardon the little lady's show of emotion. + +"So you were worried about your rent, principally?" Mrs. Brandon +prompted her, kindly. + +"Yes. You see when I had to give up teaching on account of my health, I +naturally turned to sewing," she explained. "If I had only been a +teacher in a public school, instead of a private school, I shouldn't +have been left without some means," she complained, sorrowfully. + +Nancy was watching her in silent contemplation. What a "sweet" little +woman she was. The type always called little and sometimes referred to +as "sweet" because of that indefinable quality usually associated with +flowers. + +"You should not have worried so," Mrs. Brandon assured her. "You have +done a great deal for us--I never could have left the children here +alone without feeling sure of your watchful kindness, you know." + +"Now Mrs. Brandon," said Miss Manners, in a rather dictatorial tone, "I +have done nothing at all for you, and I want to assure you that Nancy +and Ted require very--little--watching." + +"And I want to say," spoke up Nancy, "that Miss Manners is the very +nicest kind of a watch--a watch-woman," she laughed. "We never hear or +see her when, perhaps, we are noisy and--and rackety." + +"I was afraid," continued Miss Manners, without apparently heeding +Nancy's intended compliment, "that you might have been alarmed about the +silly stories current around here. I mean, that especially about Mr. +Sanders." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Brandon encouragingly. "We have heard queer tales of +his remarkable powers, but I can't say they have alarmed us, Miss +Manners." + +"You have too much sense, I'm sure, for that," she conceded. "But when +one comes into a strange place and hears such stories, especially, when +they have something to do with this little place--" + +"What could they have to do with _this_ place?" Nancy questioned +sharply. "Surely, he doesn't do any disappearing around here." + +Both the older folks laughed at that. + +"No, not exactly," replied Miss Manners, "but you see, they say he +influenced old Mr. Townsend until he spent his own and his sister's +money. But for my part," she hurried to add, "I could never believe that +Mr. Sanders is anything but a perfectly upright gentleman, and in no way +responsible for the sad state of the Townsends' business affairs." + +"Then _you_ don't believe any of the stories about him, do you?" pressed +Nancy. "Even Ted insists he saw him--fade away." + +The little woman, who seemed for the moment to have forgotten her +troubles, looked from mother to daughter. It was so easy to interpret +her thoughts. She was measuring Nancy's courage. + +"Oh, you don't need to be afraid of frightening me, Miss Manners," Nancy +assured her, "I'm only waiting for a chance to investigate the +disappearing story. I've been so sure _I_ could solve the mystery, that +the girls will soon be calling me a boaster if I don't start out to do +something. What do you think, really, Miss Manners?" she pressed +further. + +"Well, I hate to say so, but I can't deny there is something curious +about Mr. Sanders. I have often watched him around this house, when he +and Mr. Townsend were such friends, and really," she paused as if the +admission were most distasteful to her, "I must say, the way those two +men ran around the house--" + +"Ran around! Those two old men!" cried Nancy, sitting up very straight +in sudden interest. + +"Yes, actually. I mean out of doors, of course," Miss Manners explained. +"But they would first fuss around the outside chimney--you know the +mason work runs to the ground on my side of this house, I mean the side +next to my bungalow," she emphasized, "and there is an old-fashioned +opening there. I suppose they used to take ashes out that way when they +used the old grate fires." + +"Oh, I know!" cried Nancy excitedly. "That's why Miss Townsend's dog +made such a fuss over the fireplace in the store!" + +"Yes. They always had Tiny with them and the dog seemed as--crazy as the +men," Miss Manners remarked. + +"Don't you suppose they were working at something?" Mrs. Brandon +suggested, sensibly. + +"I did think so, of course; but Miss Townsend seemed to fear all sorts +of things; yet she never would put her fears into sensible words," Miss +Manners told them curiously. + +"But how could that be connected with the foolish story of Mr. Sander's +disappearing trick?" Mrs. Brandon wanted to know. + +"You see, it was all so unusual--I mean Mr. Sanders coming in here a +stranger, and not living any place that folks could find out. Then, when +he came down to Mr. Townsend here, got him all excited over some secret, +got him to draw his money from the bank, and finally worked poor Miss +Townsend into a state of nervous breakdown, why, naturally the people +around suspected almost everything--even to calling him a magician," +Miss Manners said, with a timid little smile. + +"I couldn't give credence to any of it," replied Mrs. Brandon decidedly. +"I have met Mr. Sanders and share your opinion; that he is a perfect +gentleman." + +"Well, I've talked a long way from my own story haven't I?" Miss Manners +sighed again, as she blinked against impelling thoughts. "You see, I +have no friends at hand, and when I did so large an order of hand-made +handkerchiefs--it took me months to do them--I depended upon that money +for the summer. But the lady I made them for was called hurriedly +abroad, on account of the sudden illness of her husband, and she never +gave a thought to my precious twenty-five dollars," the little lady +sighed ruefully. + +"She went away and owed you all that money!" Nancy exclaimed. "However +could she have forgotten?" + +"My dear child, we are all selfish when in trouble I suppose," said Miss +Manners charitably. "But I did fully expect to hear from her before +this, and my next rent will be due in three days. I just came in to +consult with you, not to borrow. I wondered if you knew of anything I +could do--" + +"Certainly I do," Nancy almost shouted. "You can start a little private +school, a class in domestic science right in my--in our store," she +exclaimed. "I know at least a half dozen girls who will be glad to take +a month's course, and we'll all pay you in advance. They always do in +private schools!" + +The women both appeared speechless as Nancy rattled on. The idea was +plainly fascinating. A domestic science class for the girls who hated +housework, as Nancy did! How much better than idling an entire vacation! + +"Why, I just wonder--" + +"You needn't wonder, Mother," Nancy interrupted, "I tell you, it's just +perfectly wonderful, the idea, I mean. I'll learn, I'll learn, I'll +learn," she chanted, "and then maybe I'll find out a pleasant way--" + +"You are right, daughter," spoke up Mrs. Brandon. "When you learn to do +things as they should be done, you will find the work interesting. I +have been sorry, Miss Manners, that my home has had to get along without +a great deal of my time," she turned to her visitor, "as you know I have +had to attend business and leave things to my maid. For, after all," she +said evenly, "only a mother can teach a daughter, and I have not been +with Nancy long enough--" + +"You have too, Mumsey, and it's all my very own fault," Nancy confessed. +"You often showed me how to do things, and you always told me I would +have to pick things up when I threw them down, but I just didn't care. I +didn't think it made any difference." Nancy was actually joyous in her +confession, showing the positive relief one is apt to experience when +the mind is suddenly freed from a heavy weight. + +"I really think Nancy's idea is a good one," said Mrs. Brandon. "There +is no real reason why you should be tucked away next door to us when we +need you in here, and we've got more room than we know what to do with." + +"Oh, joy!" Nancy was positively dancing now. "We can have Manny in here +with us all the time? May I call you Manny?" she asked. "It's the cutest +name." + +"That's queer," replied the little lady, a soft color showing through +her pale skin. "My girls at Raleigh always called me--Manny--" + +Then the plans were unfolded, and such plans as they were! + +"I feel like a fairy with a magic wand" declared Nancy. "My little store +is just like--a magic carpet or something." + +"But I don't want to impose--" Miss Manners began. + +"You're a positive blessing," Nancy insisted. "The only trouble is--we +can't learn sleuthing in your class and I've just got to find out Mr. +Sanders' secret before I'm many days older. I honestly think, Mother, +the idea of that foolish story going around without anyone--running it +down, as Ted would say, is getting on my nerves." + +And every one enjoyed a good laugh at the idea of Nancy Brandon having +nerves. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + A PLEASANT SURPRISE + + +It was all very exciting, but Nancy didn't want to think that she was +really glad to get rid of her precious Whatnot Shop. Ted openly declared +"he told her so," as boys will, but she politely drew his attention to +the fact that she had fulfilled her contract, that she had earned money, +quite a lot of money, in fact, and in now turning the shop over to Miss +Manners she was following her mother's advice. + +It was a few days later than that evening when she and her mother +offered the use of the shop to the little seamstress, and now they were +preparing to call on Miss Townsend. + +"Suppose she says _she_ wants it back," faltered Nancy, just patting her +dark hair back into the desired soft little bumps. "What would we say, +Mother, if she just begged us to let her have it?" + +"Why dear, we could let her have a part of it, perhaps. She could come +in and sell out what little stock you have, while Miss Manners is +getting ready for her class." + +"Oh, but," pouted Nancy, "I would just hate to have her do that. If you +ever saw the way she snooped around, Mother. And the way that dog +acted!" Nancy's manner was very decidedly one of opposition to Miss +Townsend and her dog. + +"Well, come along, dear," her mother urged, "we must not stay late. I +have some notes to write up and I don't want to lose sleep over them." + +Whatever else bothered Nancy Brandon, an evening's walk through the +country roads of Long Leigh, in a beautiful summer twilight with her arm +locked tightly in her mother's, was balm enough to soothe and heal every +slightest hurt and anxiety. + +"Mother-love," she actually cooed, in the softest little voice she could +command, "I just love it tonight, don't you?" + +"Perfect," replied the happy mother, pressing lovingly upon the +imprisoned arm. "And I am so glad, daughter-love, that you want to give +up your business." There was a humorous little twist given to that last +word, for Nancy's business was and had been something of a practical +joke among the Brandons. + +"Let's walk around the old house," suggested Nancy, for they were at a +fork in the road and needed to choose a way to Miss Townsend's. "Then, +maybe we will discover something about Mr. Sanders' quarters." + +But just as they were about to turn into the lane that led past the old +stone house, Ted hailed them from the hilltop. + +He wanted to know where they were going. He wanted to know if he could +go along, and as they managed to make signs that gave at least a +negative answer to this last request, they found themselves on the open +road, walking directly away from the old stone house. + +"We won't be long, Ted," his mother assured him, as he reached them, +"and you can, if you want to, go over to Norton Duncan's. We will give +you a call as we come back, and then we will all go home together. The +side door key is in the regular place though, if you would rather go +home--" + +"Oh, no I wouldn't. I'll stay out 'til nine, and Nort and I'll practice +drill," proclaimed Ted. "We're going to have a regular test drill soon, +and he's my partner." + +This being a satisfactory arrangement, Ted went to Nort's while Nancy +and her mother continued on to the little country hotel, where the +Townsends had taken up their abode. + +"I do hope," murmured Nancy, "that she won't upset our plans. I just +can't see, Mother, why you bother about her at all," she complained. + +"The place is ours for this summer to do as we please with it, Nancy," +her mother replied, "but just the same, it is a little business courtesy +to show to Miss Townsend. We have the option on the place, and I fully +intend to buy it, but the shop was so dear to Miss Townsend's heart, +that I feel we ought to, at least, tell her what we plan to do for the +month." + +"You're so, generous, Mother," sighed Nancy. "I wish _I_ were more like +you." + +Her mother smiled and squeezed the young hand that rested so confidently +upon her own arm. + +"Don't worry, dear," she answered. "You know what dear grandma always +said when you got into little troubles?" + +"Yes," replied Nancy, "that my heart was in the right place if my head +was a little shaky." + +"Yes, that's it. And don't we miss grandma? She might just as well come +out here with us, but I was afraid of bringing her to the old-fashioned +little house. Well, here we are at our hotel," Mrs. Brandon broke off, +as they came in sight of the long white building, with its unmistakable +hotel piazza. + +In the row of rockers on the porch sat a row of men on one side and +almost a row of women, or "ladies" on the other. Country folks, with a +few city interlopers, composed the patronage of the Waterfall House, it +was quite evident. + +Nancy and her mother smiled at the faces and half-greeted them, as they +passed into the office, and after asking for Miss Townsend's rooms, +followed the boy along the red carpeted hall, and up a stairs carpeted +with what once had been red. They journeyed on until they reached a +little turn in the second hall. Before this their guide halted and +pointed out a door that bore the number twenty-seven. + +Nancy's heart would have jumped a little apprehensively had it been a +less healthy young heart, but as it was, she merely kept very close to +her mother until the boy turned on his heel and whistled a returning +tune. + +"Maybe she's sick in bed," Nancy was thinking, just as the door was +opened in response to her mother's knock. + +"Why! Mrs. Brandon!" she heard a voice exclaim. "And Nancy!" as Miss +Townsend bowed them in. "How glad I am to see you! Do come right in. +Here, take this chair, it's so comfortable. Nancy, sit by the window," +she was pushing a chair over to the girl, "and you can see the people +passing. Well, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you both." + +Nancy was so surprised she almost exclaimed aloud. There was the "sick" +Miss Townsend fairly beaming, in, what surely looked like, very good +health. The little dog was frisking around and Nancy had scarcely seated +herself in the chair by the window when he pounced up on her lap, and +after "kissing her" several times, finally subsided into a small, brown, +woolly ball, cuddled into a little nest formed from the soft folds of +Nancy's blue voile skirt. + +"I'm so glad to see you are better, Miss Townsend," Mrs. Brandon +presently said. "You have been ill, we heard." + +"Yes indeed, but I'm better now, really a new woman, you might say," and +Miss Townsend now seated herself comfortably on the small green sofa +near them. "But it was just worry. Worry is a pretty bad ailment, isn't +it?" she asked, smiling a contradiction to anything like worry affecting +her just then. + +"You are real cozy here," Mrs. Brandon ventured. + +"Yes, it's quite pleasant, but I've just come back from a trip to the +sea shore. I guess that is what helped me most," conceded Miss Townsend. + +Like Nancy, Mrs. Brandon also, was much surprised at Miss Townsend's +exuberant spirits. It was perfectly plain that some good fortune had +befallen the lady since she had paid that mournful visit to Nancy. + +"You see," she began, as if in answer to their unmasked questions, "our +business affairs are being all straightened out and Brother Elmer is +getting back the money he loaned. Of course I didn't understand, and it +is one of those affairs a woman isn't supposed to understand." This was +said in that sort of tone that conveys deep and mysterious meaning. + +"I'm awfully glad of that," Mrs. Brandon assured the woman in her brand +new heliotrope one piece dress. It was quite modish, indeed, and without +question, very becoming to Miss Townsend. + +"Oh, yes," went on the hostess, "I was so worried for a long time. You +see, I really couldn't have faith in a business deal that I was not +privileged to know the details of. I have been a business woman all my +life," she insisted, "and I'm not afraid to tackle any business deal," +at this she dangled her amethyst beads self-consciously. "But Elmer and +Mr. Sanders!" Her hands went up protestingly. "They just used every +dollar. Well--" she broke off suddenly, "it's all right now, so why +should I fuss about it. You didn't come to hear of my troubles, I'm +sure." + +At this point Mrs. Brandon divulged the real purpose of her visit. Nancy +was having a great time with Tiny. He was awake now and evidently eager +to show off. He stood up and begged, jumped down and "prayed" and +otherwise disported himself most wonderfully. The distraction afforded +Nancy a welcome chance to sit aside and take little or no part in the +elder's conversation, but she was, as Ted would have said, "all ears to +it." + +"Why, I think that's a perfectly splendid idea," she heard Miss Townsend +say, in reference to the plan of giving the store over to Miss Manners. +"And I must say you are very generous, Mrs. Brandon," she complimented. +"As a matter of fact, fancy-store business is not what it used to be. +More folks now take to the mail order plan, especially in winter. Why, +there were months when I didn't see the color of a 'green back' in that +place," she admitted. "Yet, I couldn't help loving the old place. I had +been in it so long," she concluded earnestly. + +"I met Mr. Sanders' daughter, Miss Townsend," Nancy spoke up, determined +to bring up that subject, "and I think she's a perfectly splendid girl." + +"Isn't she though! But she couldn't help but be smart with such a +father." This last little speech was indeed a compliment to the absent +Mr. Sanders. + +"But where does he live?" demanded Nancy, without any attempt to cloak +her question with indifference. + +"Live? Why, my dear child, he lives here! Just moved in, and I do +declare, the man needs some comfort after all he's been through. If +Elmer comes in before you go I'll have him bring Mr. Sanders in. We are +all the best of friends now," declared the incomprehensible little woman +on the green velour sofa. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + TALKING IT OVER + + +"You haven't really sold out?" Ruth demanded incredulously. + +"Going, going, going, gone!" sang back Nancy. "Manny is a wonder. She +just sells and goes on with her preparations, and girls, when my store +is all cleaned out I wouldn't wonder but we'll have a model class room, +instead of the Whatnot Shop." Nancy was flitting around like some full +grown elf. The three girls, Isabel was with them, were out on the broad +sloping grounds surrounding Ruth's home, and it was perfectly plain that +Nancy was already enjoying her freedom from business. + +"I think it's splendid," Isabel joined in. "We took millinery last +August, you know, so we don't want any more hat making. Mother is simply +thrilled, as Vera would say, and you know, Nan, Vera is due back +Tuesday. I guess the stores ran out of post cards and she couldn't live +at Beverly without cards. I've got enough of mine to paper our attic +room." + +"And you'd never guess," enthused Nancy, "that salesman who came in with +the fishing tackle for our big sale, you know, is going to send Manny a +gas range! Just think of it, a gas range for us to use, to practice +cooking on." + +"For nothing?" Ruth inquired. + +"For the advertising. It seems, a demonstrator for a special line of gas +ranges used to go to Raleigh, that's Manny's old school, and, of course, +when the salesman came in to sell and _we_ weren't buying," she was +drawling her words to assume an imposing air, "of course," she +continued, "he became deeply interested in our plans, and at once +offered to send his friend, the lady demonstrator, out to make plans +with Manny." + +"And we're to be demonstrated," chimed in Isabel, imitating Nancy's +twang. "I choose pie. I want my picture 'took' curling the edge of a +lemon meringue," and she executed a few very 'curly' steps to +illustrate. + +There was no denying it. Nancy was happy on these the first days of her +real vacation. It had been splendid, of course, to have twenty-five +dollars of her very own to offer to advance Miss Manners, to clear up +the rent worry, but the store had not been all fun, she was willing to +admit that. + +"And do you know, girls," Nancy confided, "we, mother and I, had some +doubts about the way Miss Townsend would take the news? Do sit down, +Belle," she broke off. "How can I tell a story while you're doing +hand-springs?" + +"These are flip-flaps," insisted Isabel. "Just watch this one." + +She was leaning with both hands on a long low bench, and the "flip" +consisted of a violent spring of both feet from the ground. After +bringing the feet down again with the unavoidable jerk, she performed +the "flop" by pivoting around until she sat on the bench and stuck both +her feet out straight in front of her. + +"It's very pretty," commented Nancy. "But if you want to hear my story +you have got to flop. I insist upon a sitting audience." + +This demand restored comparative quiet and Nancy continued with her +narrative. + +"I was telling you about Miss Townsend," she went on. "You just should +see that lady. She's all 'set up.' We understood she was a nervous +wreck--" + +"She was," interrupted Ruth, "but I heard mother say her brother's +business affairs are being mysteriously adjusted. Maybe that's why she +has become rejuvenated." + +"Yes, that's exactly it," snapped Nancy. "And how the great, grand trick +worked is one of the stories we have missed. I never saw such a place as +Long Leigh for floating stories that no one can explain. Miss Townsend +talked all around her good luck, but never touched it. Of course, I +couldn't be so rude--" + +"Of course _you_ couldn't," mocked Isabel. + +"Just the same," retorted Nancy, "I did ask right out straight, without +hint or apology, where--Mr. Sanders lived." + +"And you got snubbed for your pains," flung in Ruth. + +"Nothing of the kind, I became informed for my pains," asserted Nancy. + +"Land sakes tell us!" pleaded Isabel. "First thing you know I'll hear +our car, and miss the--mystery." + +"Well," began Nancy, deliberately and provokingly, "I asked her: 'Where +does Mr. Sanders live?' And just as I was gulping hard to control my +emoting emotions, Miss Townsend shook her necklace like a dinner bell, +and said softly--" + +Nancy paused. The girls were threatening to throw her over the bench +into the flower bed but she seemed about ready to divulge the secret, so +presently they desisted. + +"Well," she said, "Miss Townsend answered, 'Mr. Sanders lives right here +in this hotel. He moved in yesterday and the poor man needed the change +after all he's been through.' Now girls," pouted Nancy, "did you ever +see anything as mean as that? Just when I'm free to dig up the wild and +woolly mystery, our hero goes and rents a room in the Waterfall House," +and she affected a pose intended to excite pity, but in reality causing +mirth. + +"I see it all!" cried Isabel, jumping up on the bench and laying a +sprawled hand over the heart location. "All, girls, all." Her voice was +droning like a school boy reciting the Charge of the Light Brigade. +"What happened was this!" + +"This!" interrupted Ruth, pinching Isabel's ankles until she literally +fell from her perch. + +"Whow!" yelled Isabel. "Can't one elocute without being plucked by cruel +hands? I tell you, girls, we have lost a lot of fun in not keeping up +with our little brothers." This was said in a very different and quite +serious tone. "If you were to ask Ted, Nancy, very confidentially, what +is or was the secret of the hidden treasure place, I'm almost sure he +would tell you. He _knows_!" she declared loudly, "and so does my +brother Gerard know, but _he_ won't tell me." + +"Then it is or was a question of hiding a treasure," reflected Nancy. +"I'm so sorry it is only that. I perfectly hate treasure mysteries, +they're so horribly common. I had in mind some sort of great, grand, +spooky, now-you-see-me and now-you-don't trick. That would have been +heaps more fun than just the old hidden treasure business. Well, at any +rate, _we_ seem to have missed it, for Mr. Sanders is really living at +the hotel," she wound up finally. + +"Is that any reason why we shouldn't find out the secret?" demanded +Ruth. "It seems to me we would be better able to do so, now that every +one else has suddenly grown rich, and there's no more danger of getting +folks into trouble by prying into their business. I just wish Sibyl +Sanders would come up again. I fancy she would be just tickled to tell +us the whole thing," declared Ruth. + +"I must trot along," Nancy suddenly announced. "And girls, please don't +forget about the first lesson in domestic science, to be held at the +residence of--" + +A loud and insistent honking of a motor horn interrupted Nancy's +flattering announcement, and presently all three girls were scampering +down to the roadside to pile into Gerard's Duryea car, for Isabel's +brother was taking them for a ride into town, ostensibly to do some +important family errands, but really to have one of those unplanned +jolly times that go to make up the happy summer time. + +"I must be back by five," warned Nancy. But her companions only pushed +her back further in the over crowded car-seat as they sailed along. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + JUST FISHING + + +Some days later the Whatnot Shop was being dismantled, that is the +shelves were being treated to a great clearing off, and the +old-fashioned glass cases were being lined with white oilcloth, +preparatory to Miss Manners' Domestic Science Class storing their +samples of food therein. + +Gradually Nancy's sense of honor was coming back into its own, for not +only her mother but also her girl friends were constantly reassuring +her. + +"There's nothing small nor frivolous about changing one's mind for the +better," they told her. "In fact," said the mother, "that one is willing +to do so, is very often a mark of progress. If we didn't change our +minds how could we grow wiser?" + +"But I thought I'd just love business," Nancy complained. "I was crazy +to keep store and now I'm crazy to start something else." + +"Which is perfectly normal and entirely reasonable for any healthy young +girl," her mother insisted. "Can you imagine girls being as staid and as +old fashioned as their mothers?" + +"Moth-thur!" Nancy sort of moaned, "If ever I could be as _new_ +fashioned as my mother I shouldn't mind how old nor how young I might +be. And you are a love not to scold me. I know you are glad to see Manny +so happy setting-up her school, and I know you will be better satisfied +to have her there, facing the fierce public, than allowing me to do so. +Not that I had any trouble with the dear public," Nancy mocked. "And not +that Brother Ted wasn't always within a few miles call if I needed him. +But, at any rate, Mums, I did make some real money, didn't I?" she +cooed, quite birdlike for Nancy. + +A clean little, yellow bankbook was offered for evidence by Mrs. Brandon +at this question, for being a business woman, she knew the value of +personal interest in every part of a business undertaking, and so, early +in the experiment, she had brought Nancy into the City Bank and there +attended to the formalities of opening her bank account. + +"Mother, you keep the book, please," Nancy begged just now, as Mrs. +Brandon offered it to her. "I know I ought to be very careful and not +forget where I put things, but somehow I do. And I would hate to lose +that precious book," she murmured, touching her mother's cheek with her +lips as she made the appeal. + +"Very well, daughter," Mrs. Brandon conceded, "but you simply must learn +to remember, and the way to do that is think of a thing as you do it," +she advised. + +Nancy was, however, already improving in such matters. Being obliged to +find things for herself, instead of calling out to Anna, the maid, as +she had been in the habit of doing, was teaching a lesson that words had +never been able to convey to her. + +It now lacked but three days of the opening of the class, and in these +days Nancy and Ted were planning to have a great time fishing, +exploring, and hunting. By "hunting" they meant looking for Indian +relics along the river bank, for Ted insisted there really were such +articles to be found there, if one were only patient enough in the +search. + +This was the day set for fishing, and Ted was just now coming up to the +back door with a tin can slung on a string, and that, in turn, was slung +over his shoulder on a pole. + +"Got lots of them!" he called out. "Nice fat ones, too. We can catch big +fish with such worms as these," and he set down the outfit to display +his freshly dug bait. + +"Well, I'm not going to put them on the hook," protested Nancy. "I don't +mind handling the slippery little things, but I can't murder them. +You'll have to bait my hook, Ted, if you want me to go," she insisted. + +"Oh, all right," growled Ted, merely pretending to protest, but really +just showing his boyish contempt for such girlish whims. "I'll put them +on for you. But do hurry, Nan," he urged. "This is a dandy morning to +fish. Hardly any sun at all." + +Calling good-bye to Miss Manners, who, even, this early, was at work in +the store, Nancy was soon ready to start off with her brother on the +fishing trip. She was clad in her oldest gingham, and wore her most +battered big straw hat, nevertheless she looked quite picturesque, if +not really pretty even in this rough attire; for Nancy was ever a +striking looking girl. + +"Think we ought to take your old express wagon, Ted?" she asked, +jokingly. + +"What for?" demanded the boy in surprise. + +"To carry them home in," laughed Nancy. But even then Ted didn't see the +joke. + +Presently they were trudging along the heavily shaded road that wound in +and out around Bird's Woods until it would stretch along side Oak's +Pond, where the fishing was to be done. + +"It's fine to have you come, Nan," remarked the boy, wagging his bare +head and slapping his fish bag against his bare legs. Ted was wearing +old clothes himself, and his trousers had not been trimmed any too +evenly, for one leg ended above the knee and the other leg ended below +the other knee. But he looked about right as a fisher-boy, his cheeks +well tanned, his brown eyes sparkling and his browner hair doing pretty +much as it pleased all over his head. + +"I'm mighty glad to come, Ted," Nancy was saying in reply to his gentle +little compliment. "It is great to be off all by ourselves, although, of +course, I have good enough times with the girls," she amended, loyally. + +"Me too," added Ted, "I have lots of sport with the fellows but this is +better," he concluded, as Ted would. + +Arrived at a spot where the pond dug into a soft green bank, rounding +into a beautiful semi-circular basin, brother and sister there camped. +Ted insisted that Nancy take the choicest seat, a smooth spot on the big +tree that must have been felled years before, and which had found +comfortable quarters on the edge of the jolly little stream. Sympathetic +ferns stretched their soft green fronds along the sides of the naked +wood, as if they wanted to supply the fallen tree with some of the +verdure of which it had been cruelly bereft, and even a gay, flowering +swamp lily, that wonderful flaming flower that holds its chalice above +all other wood blooms, bent just a little toward the one branch of that +tree that still clung to the parent trunk. + +Nancy squatted down expectantly. Ted had baited her hook and she was now +casting out her line in the smooth, mysterious stream, clear enough on +the surface, but darker than night beneath. She had removed her "sneaks" +and stockings, so that she might enjoy the freedom of dipping her toes +into the little ripples that played around the log. + +"I don't care whether I catch anything or not," she remarked, "it's +lovely just to sit here and fish." + +"We'll catch, all right," Ted assured her. "This is a great place for +fish--regular nest of them in under these rocks." He shifted a little on +his perch, which was on a live tree that leaned out of the stream. + +Presently Nancy developed a song from the tune she had been humming: + +"Singing eyly-eely-ho! Eyly-eely-ho!" + +"Got to keep quiet when you fish," Ted interrupted her. + +"All right," agreed Nancy affably. "But that tune has been simmering all +day and I just had to let it light up. Say Ted," she began all over +again, "did you hear about your friend, Mr. Sanders, getting rich?" + +"Rich? I'm glad of it. He's all right," the boy declared, flipping his +line to a new spot. + +"Yep-py, rich," Nancy repeated. "He's living at the hotel." + +"Oh, I knew that," scoffed the boy, airily. + +"Did you? Then why didn't you tell me?" + +"Secret," snapped Ted, shutting his lips with a snap that even a +venturesome fish might have heard. + +"And the Townsends--they are quite prosperous too," Nancy pressed +further. + +"Ye-ah." Ted was not encouraging the confidence. + +For a few moments neither of them spoke again. Then Nancy's line began +to draw, to pull out into a straight line. + +"Easy!" whispered Ted. "You've got a bite! Don't yank it. Wait until +he's on, good and tight!" + +They waited, breathless. Then Ted, the experienced, gave the signal, and +Nancy, the amateur, drew very gently on her pole. Up, up, but still +under water, until suddenly the water surface freed the capture, and +something black, shiny, snaky, dangled violently from the upheld line! + +"Oh, Ted, quick! It's a snake! Look a snake!" cried Nancy, getting to +her feet finally, after slipping several times on the smooth log. + +"Look out," yelled Ted, for the black slimy thing dangling on Nancy's +line seemed to be making directly for her face, as it swung back and +forth and darted violently toward the shore. + +"Oh-h-h-h-h!" Nancy screamed. "He's going for--" But she was taking no +further chances, instead, she flung her pole, line and hook and catch, +as far from her as a single fling could send it. The pole floated +contentedly but the slimy thing was again hidden in its beloved waters, +although it must have still been impaled upon the tortuous hook. + +Ted looked a moment at the lost outfit. + +"Nancy," he said gloomily. "You're crazy. That was a fine, fat eel, and +they're hard to catch that way. And look at--your--pole." + +"I'll get it," decided the surprised girl, instantly slipping down from +the log and leaning out over the stream. + +"Don't!" yelled Ted. But the warning was given too late, for as Nancy +stepped on what seemed to be grass, she found herself thrust into the +water, deep enough to frighten her of something worse than a snake. + +"Oh!" she yelled again. "I've got to swim out, I'll smother in the bog +if--I--don't." And so saying she flung her body free from the deep +marsh-grass, and struck out in an emergency stroke toward the open +stream. + +"Go up to the cove!" Ted yelled. "Just around that pine tree! I'll meet +you there!" + +The light clothing she wore was not much more cumbersome than some +bathing suits are often found to be, so that Nancy, a capable swimmer, +was now pulling surely toward the cove, while Ted was racing, as best he +could in the heavy undergrowth to meet her as she would land. + +But just as Nancy turned in to a clear little corner to make her +landing, she heard a muffled call. + +"Help! Help!" came the indistinct cry. + +Ted was abreast of her and he too heard the call. + +"It's over in the sand dunes," he yelled, as Nancy stepped ashore and +shook some of the heavy water from her clothing. "Quick, Nancy, the +fellows went to play Indian there!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE CAVE-IN + + +There was no time to think of wet garments as Nancy raced after Ted +toward the sand dunes. + +"Quick," he urged. "They're the little fellows, Billy and Jack, and they +must be under the sand." + +Just beyond the trees and undergrowth that surrounds Oak's Pond, a +stretch of sand hills offered the youngsters an ideal playground. A few +scrubby pines managed to draw from the dry soil enough vitality for a +very much impoverished growth, and it was from the direction of the +trees that the feeble call was now heard, at protracted intervals. + +"There!" pointed out Ted. "There's the shack. They must be in a cave-in +near it." + +His surmise proved correct, for quickly as brother and sister could +reach the spot, they found every evidence of a cave-in and a sand +deluge. + +"We're here," Ted called. "That you Billy?" + +"Oh, yeah," came a pitiful little squeak. "We're smoth-rin' to death. +Quick--please--quick." + +"There's a board," Ted ordered, at once taking charge of the rescue. +"You can dig with that, Nan. I'll dig with my hands." + +Exactly like a very eager dog that digs with all fours when he wants to +get in or out of a pit, Ted went to work. The light sand flew in clouds +as he pawed and kicked, so that compared with his efforts Nancy's +board-shovelling seemed provokingly slow. + +"Oh, this is no good!" she finally burst out. "I can do that, too," and +without a thought but for the rescue, Nancy dropped to the position Ted +was working in, and was soon digging and kicking until her clouds of +sand rivalled his. + +"Oh! Oh!" came repeated calls and groans. "We--can't--breathe. Move the +board! It's pressing--" + +"We're coming. We're coming," Nancy called back. "Don't get frightened; +you can't smother now." + +But it was not easy to reach the imprisoned youngsters, for a collapsed +sand hill is as slippery to control as a rushing water fall. Every time +the rescuers thought themselves within reach of a board, an avalanche of +sand would tumble upon it and bury the end they tried to grasp. + +At last Nancy grabbed hold of a big stick that protruded from the hill. + +"Here Ted," she called. "Get this! It's under a board--" + +Raising the stick carefully they did, at last, lay hold of one of the +collapsed boards, the "roof" under which the youngsters had been caught. + +"Care-ful," warned Ted. "Raise it! Don't pull it out!" + +It was heavy, for sand pressed itself into great weight, in spite of its +infinitesimal atoms. At last the rescuers were able, with care and +skill, to raise the board, then another, until finally the bare feet of +two small badly frightened boys, led directly to the entire persons of +the same little victims. + +"Oh my! Mercy me!" gasped Nancy. "They do look awful, Ted! Quick let's +get them water!" + +"Jack is the worst," replied her brother. "Nan, see if your skirt is wet +yet. You could squeeze a little water on his face--" + +The garment that had been dripping a few minutes before was still damp +enough to permit of being "squeezed," and standing over the pale face of +little Jack Baker, Nancy managed to extract some drops at least, to coax +back life into the almost unconscious boy. + +Billy dragged himself out, although he was barely able to do so, and as +quickly as little Jack showed signs of life, Ted and Nancy between them +carried him down to the water's edge. + +They were just about to bathe his face and hands when a canoe drifted +into sight around the cove. + +"Mr. Sanders!" called Ted. "There's Mr. Sanders," he repeated, and his +voice was reaching the occupant of the canoe, for the bark was now +headed directly for land. + +First aid and other common sense treatment was soon being administered +to both Billy and Jack by Mr. Sanders, Ted and Nancy, and when the +cave-in victims were finally entirely resuscitated, it was decided that +Mr. Sanders should carry them up stream in his boat, and so enable them +to easily reach their homes, at the head of the pond. + +"You've been having some experience this morning," the man remarked to +Nancy as he waited for the boys to climb in the big long boat. "Can't I +give you and Ted a lift too? There's room enough if everybody obeys +canoe rules," he said pleasantly. + +"Oh, that would be fine," Ted replied, while Nancy was thinking of what +to say. "Sis fell in the pond after her fishing tackle," Ted added. +"That was our first adventure." + +"That must be what I picked up," interrupted Mr. Sanders pointing out +Nancy's pole with the cord wound around it, lying in the bottom of the +boat. + +"Yes, that's mine," admitted Nancy, "and I'm glad to get it back for it +was a special pole--one I got for a premium from a Boston store," she +explained. + +"Well, pile in," ordered Mr. Sanders, "and you little 'uns' had best not +frighten your folks with the cave-in story," he warned. "Better to be +careful next time," he finished laughingly. + +When all were securely ensconced in the long, graceful bark, Nancy was +given the extra paddle and allowed to ply it alongside Mr. Sanders. In +the joy of that unusual privilege, (for she was seldom allowed in a +canoe,) the accidents were quickly lost thought of, even Jack and Billy +venturing to trail their fingers in the stream, while Ted sitting in the +stern took chances on throwing out his line now and then just for the +fun of feeling it pull through the quiet waters. + +As they sailed along, conversation was rather scattered, consisting +mainly of snatches of questions and answers between Nancy and Mr. +Sanders. The two little boys had scarcely spoken since their rescue, and +now within sight of home, they were just beginning to assume normal +courage. + +Suddenly Nancy started to titter. There was no apparent cause for her +change of mood, but the more she bit her lip, looked out toward shore, +bent her head toward her paddle and otherwise strove to divert herself, +the more the titter gathered and broke into a laugh, over her helpless +features. + +"Funny, isn't it?" remarked Mr. Sanders drolly. + +"Silly, but I just can't help laughing," she admitted. "It's at the +idea--" + +"I wonder if I couldn't guess," interrupted the man with the strong +brown arms. "It's about me, isn't it?" + +"Yes," admitted Nancy, slowly. + +"And about--about my supposed magic powers." He stopped and enjoyed a +light laugh himself. "Wouldn't it be tragic if I should disappear just +now?" he said so suddenly, that Nancy jerked her paddle out of the water +and stared at him with a sort of guilty flush. + +"The idea--" she faltered. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" roared the big man swinging toward the shore where Jack +and Billy were to land. "That's a great story, isn't it? But I'll tell +you," he lowered his voice in a tone of confidence, "I am altogether to +blame for that fantastic yarn, but sometimes we have to let folks guess +even if they do make--spooks out of us." He laughed again and even the +little boys were now being tempted to join in. "But I want to promise +you and your brother this, Nancy," he said seriously. "You shall be +among the first to know the answer to the riddle of my magic +disappearance around the gray stone house." + +"Thank you," Nancy managed to say, as Ted caught a strong little branch +on shore, and helped land the canoe. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + INTRODUCING NERO + + +It did not seem possible that Manny's school had been successfully +opened two weeks ago! That the girls in her class, at first numbering +eight now counted fourteen, each paying five dollars for the month's +training in domestic science, with lessons three mornings a week. +Fourteen pupils at five dollars each and every single one paid in +advance, while Nancy was acting as class president and Ruth as class +secretary; these were, indeed, auspicious arrangements. + +And besides the seventy dollars paid Miss Manners for tuition, the class +members brought their own supplies and were privileged to take them home +with them, in the form of various tempting dishes, "the like of which" +as Nancy expressed it, "never had been seen in Long Leigh before nor +since." + +"Maybe you don't know you're a wonder," Ruth remarked very casually to +Nancy, while she, as secretary, was consulting with Nancy as president. +"I can cook better _now_ than I ever expected to in my whole life. And +as for Isabel! She's so enthusiastic, her mother says she has to +restrain her from going into the boarding house business. You should +just taste Belle's 'Cherry Moss.' Um-m-m! It was de-lic-ious!" and Ruth +smacked her lips to the echo. "Her brother Tom wanted to know why we +didn't make up a class for boys. He was in the army, you know, and so +thinks himself very efficiently trained." + +"Isn't it great?" Nancy remarked, referring, of course, to the success +of the class. "And for a laggard, an idler and one who positively hated +the very letters that spelled cooking, I think I'm doing pretty well +myself. I made a fudge cake yesterday and mother carried it out to set +before the library ladies, can you imagine that? A cake that _I_ made! +After my heartbreaking experience with the ungreased pans!" + +It was very early in the afternoon and Ruth, with Nancy, was putting the +class room in order. She had remained over to lunch as she often did, +and the two chums found pleasure in arranging the white covered tables, +the shining pans, the numbered spoons and other utensils. It was all so +much pleasanter than doing anything in an ordinary kitchen. + +The gas range, that was sent in to Miss Manners as a demonstrator's +sample, was majestically white and really quite attractive, if such an +article can be called attractive, and just how Nancy hovered rather +lovingly over it, polishing with the very softest, whitest cloth the +impeccable, enameled surface. + +Ruth had been finishing a little memorandum in her oilcloth covered +book. She laid the book down now and strolled over to Nancy. In their +white aprons and white caps, Nancy and Ruth looked too picturesque to be +passed by without compliment. + +Ruth wound her arm around Nancy's shoulder. "I wonder," she said, "why +we sometimes think that all play is more fun?" + +"I never did," replied Nancy, innocently. "My trouble always has been in +finding enough different things to do." She looked rather pathetically +into the soft gray eyes that were caressing her own darker orbs. There +was no impulsive hugging, nor other ordinary demonstrations of +affections dear to the average emotional girls, for Nancy was not given +to extremes, nor was Ruth addicted to such flagrant sentiment. + +The two girls were especially happy just now. Nancy was accomplishing +more, much more, than she had ever hoped to do, with her little shop +that first brought real financial help to her mother, and was now doing +as much for Miss Manners. Besides all this, it was giving the girls +themselves a very useful, as well as enjoyable, summer diversion. Ruth, +although a new friend of Nancy's, had become a very fond friend indeed, +for the frank, original and genuine qualities of Nancy were unmistakable +in their sincerity, and it was easy enough for any girl to love her--if +she could but get near enough to her to know her. + +"And you don't think it shows a weakness to be so changeable?" Nancy +asked Ruth. "I just can't seem to be happy unless I'm planning something +new." + +"Why, that's--that's a sign of originality," replied Ruth, smoothing +Nancy's cap on her dark hair. "Some day you'll do something wonderful--" + +"About the girls," Nancy interrupted. "Don't you think we were fortunate +to get the Riker girls to join the class? They seem to represent the +smart set at Upper Crust Hill, and they brought at least five others +along." + +"Nancy, our school is the talk of Long Leigh. Lots of mothers think +their girls should do something useful during the month of August, and +I'd just like to see any mother find a study more useful than +cooking--according to her ideas," said Ruth. + +"And Vera is going to take an extra hour for desserts," Nancy went on. +"I can see Vera the pride of her family some day. Such home talent may +be inherited. We haven't any of it in our family, I'm afraid," said +Nancy, regretfully. + +"But you've got something more precious," Ruth assured her. "I never saw +three folks so like one person as you three are, and yet you are all +individually different; if you know what I mean." + +"I do," said Nancy. "And you're a dear, Ruth. What would I have done out +here without you?" + +"Taken the stylish Vivian Riker to your heart," teased Ruth. "She's a +beauty." + +There was a stir outside. + +"Look who's here!" interrupted Nancy, jumping up and hurrying toward the +door. "Ted! And he's got the threatened new dog with him. Come and see!" + +The threatened new dog was indeed being coaxed along by Ted, but he +didn't look exactly new. In fact, his coat was matted and shaggy, his +tail hung down without a bit of "pep" in it, and even his long, +long-haired ears seemed too discouraged to pick up the kindest words Ted +was trying to pour into them. + +"Nero!" announced Ted simply, as Nancy opened the door and Ted tried to +push the melancholy Nero in. + +"What ails him?" Nancy asked, looking the strange animal over, +critically. + +"Just nothin' but lonesome," replied the small boy cryptically. + +"He looks pretty--blue," Ruth commented, giving the dog a friendly but +unappreciated pat on his shaggy head. + +"Guess you'd be blue too, if you lived where he did," Ted told Ruth. +"That poor dog hadn't a friend in the world until I found him. Here, +Nero, come along and eat," ordered Ted, while Nero followed him toward +the back door through the erstwhile Whatnot Shop and present-time +classroom. "He's a fine dog," the little fellow continued to praise, +"and when I get him all fixed up he'll be a beauty too," he insisted +stoutly. + +"Maybe," Nancy almost giggled as she looked after Ted and his dog. "But +when you take him to the beauty shop, Ted, you better get him a real +Russian bob, his hair is long enough to braid," she commented gaily. + +"You can laugh," Ted retorted, "but he's a thoroughbred--a one-man dog. +He won't notice you girls. Come on Nero, attaboy," chanted Ted, +importantly. + +But being cooks, Nancy and Ruth could do no less than offer to provide +Nero's meal. Each thought he would like something else best, and each +tried the other dish, pushing it under his indifferent nose and coaxing +him with: + +"Here Nero! Good! Eat! Eat-er-up!" etc. + +But Nero merely sniffed disdainfully, snuggled his nose deeper into his +flattened paws, and turned two big, brown adoring eyes up at his young +master. + +"Pity about him!" quoth Nancy. "Maybe he wants some of Isabel's Cherry +Moss. Just stew or beefsteak or even fried potatoes are not, it seems, +on his diet bill." + +They were all out on the back porch, Ted squatted squarely beside the +new dog, while the girls floated around Nero, like little tugs +surrounding a big steamer. + +"He doesn't _have_ to eat," Ted remarked indifferently, "he had a free +lunch on the way over." + +"He did!" screeched Nancy. "And you let us go to all this trouble!" She +kicked the tin pan of water over in sheer disgust. + +"Well, I thought he might like something else," murmured the small boy, +provokingly. "He only had a big soup bone and loaf of bread." + +Taking off their cooking-school caps and unbuttoning their aprons as +they went, the girls wended their way back to the deserted class room. + +"Can anyone beat that?" remarked Nancy, inelegantly. "Ted and his dog +and the big--soup--bone! I could put a tune to that; a sad mournful +dirgy tune." + +"Wherever do you suppose he picked up the brute?" Ruth asked. "I don't +remember having seen him around town." + +"Oh, trust Ted," replied Nancy. "When we first came here, mother +answered him once, in a most casual, unthinking way: 'Yes.' It seemed +his question was could he have a dog, and mother hadn't been paying +strict attention. Since then he's been on a hunt for a dog. He brought +home a poor half-dead little tatters one day, but some boy followed him +up and claimed the beauty. I wonder if this one will be left to him? He +seems pretty particular about his food, doesn't he?" + +"Yes," replied Ruth, who was just glancing out the door. Suddenly she +exclaimed: + +"Here's a taxi coming, and it's the one mother always uses. I guess +she's sending for me, I'll go out and see." + +Nancy looked out and saw Ruth talking earnestly to the driver. She +seemed to be disagreeing with the message he was giving her, and she +turned abruptly to come back to Nancy. + +"Imagine that!" she panted, "Mother wants me to meet a train and take an +old lady to see the Hilton house. As if I could show a house to one of +father's customers!" Ruth's voice betrayed actual antipathy to the very +idea. + +"But why not?" queried Nancy. "If she is just an old lady--" + +"A rich old lady who has come a distance without notifying father's +office, and there isn't a man within call to take her out," Ruth sighed +miserably. The thought of showing a house seemed absolutely beyond her. + +"I'll go with you," Nancy offered. "Why couldn't we show a house? We +know how to call out rooms, don't we?" + +Ruth jerked back her pretty head and stared at Nancy. + +"All right," she exclaimed, brightening perceptibly. "I'll go if you +promise to do the talking. I'm sure you can call off rooms and do more +than that in the business line, Nancy. Let's hurry. The train is almost +due." + +So the two young "real estate ladies" were presently seated most +circumspectly in the taxi, on the way to "meet a wealthy lady who wanted +to look at the Hilton house." + +And Nancy was fairly aglow with the prospect of a new and interesting +business adventure. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + A DISCOVERY + + +"Isn't she lovely? Looks like a cameo." That was Nancy's remark to Ruth +when Mrs. Mortimer Cullen tarried in the sun parlor of the Hilton house, +through which the girls were conducting her. + +But Ruth only sighed. Her task was too obnoxious to permit of +compliments even to the handsome, elderly woman, who indeed did look +like an animated cameo, set in a frame of gray veils, thrown over a +small summer hat. + +"Isn't the garden beautiful from this porch?" Nancy enthused, joining +Mrs. Cullen there. "Just look at that hedge! It's literally screened in +with fine white clematis! And look! Mrs. Cullen! Just see that bower of +Golden Blows! Oh, I don't believe I have ever seen such a beautiful +place," and Nancy flitted around like a big butterfly herself, her +yellow and white tissue dress escaping in little clouds about her, as +she raced from room to room. + +"My grand-daughter Naomi, is quite like you," smiled the amused lady. +"If you see so much beauty here I am sure it would please her. And it is +for her, principally, that I am considering coming to Long Leigh." + +"Oh, I'm sure she'd love it," chirped Nancy. "But do come upstairs and +see all the wonderful bay-windows. Why, this house is made just like a +lot of flower bowls. Every single room opens out in--Just see these +windows." + +So Ruth and Mrs. Cullen followed Nancy upstairs to see the windows. From +that point of vantage she dragged them to the alcove over the stairs and +pointed out the "glorious garden," from that view. And she was being +perfectly sincere in her enthusiasm. None of it was assumed, in fact, +one would have imagined Nancy was considering buying the fine old +homestead for her own use. + +They spent more than an hour looking over the place and even then Nancy +hated to leave. + +"Imagine having a home like that," she tried to whisper to Ruth. "I +think I'd be satisfied even to do housework if I could look out that +kitchen window as I did it," she added, while Mrs. Cullen smiled her +satisfaction into Nancy's eager face. + +They drove back to the train with the prospective customer, who, when +taking her leave, glanced significantly at Nancy. + +"My dear," she said, "you gave me a very pleasant little visit to your +pretty Long Leigh, and I hope if my grand-daughter, Naomi, comes +here--ever, she will meet you." She then touched Ruth's hand gently, +saying something about having her father's office get in touch with her. + +When the train had cleared the station the two girls broke into a much +relieved giggle. Ruth declared that Nancy had won the heart of "Lady +Cullen who is as rich as they come," she explained, inelegantly. + +"And I had such a good time--" + +"Whoa there! No, you don't, Antoinette Brandon," Ruth warned Nancy. "You +are _not_ going in the real-estate business, so you needn't get all set +for it. My father has a family to feed--" + +But the very gentleman spoken of was at that moment hurrying across the +platform, to meet the two uproarious girls. + +He was most anxious to know about their mission. Mrs. Cullen, it +appeared, was a very important personage, and he regretted genuinely the +absence from his office of a suitable escort for the lady. + +"Oh, you needn't worry, Daddy," Ruth assured him, taking the city +newspaper from one of his pockets and feeling for candy in the other. +"Nancy took such good care of her that she almost stayed over to buy +more houses. You'll have to look out for Nancy, Dad." Ruth continued to +joke. "She's an expert business man, you know, and might take a notion +to try real-estate." + +"The more the merrier," replied the genial gentleman, who, like Ruth, +had great gray eyes and a clear florid complexion, "I've been wanting to +see your mother, Nancy," he said next. "Maybe, I could suit her better +in a house than you are being suited in the Townsend place," he +ventured. + +"Oh, we love it over there," Nancy hurried to state. "And besides, Mr. +Ashley, we're just poor folks," she added laughingly. + +"So are we all of us," joined in Mr. Ashley. "But I supposed, now that +Sanders has struck his gold mine, he might want to buy the little place +himself, sort of souvenir, you know." As they talked, they were walking +back to the waiting taxi, in which the girls had fetched Mrs. Cullen to +the station. + +"Now Daddy," objected Ruth, "we've had enough business for one +afternoon. Nancy must get back home and I've got a music lesson, if Miss +Dudley has waited for me, and I hope she hasn't." + +Nancy felt rather important stepping out of the taxi at her door, it +seemed, somehow, much more business-like than just riding in someone's +private car, and she dashed up the store steps, still thrilled with +enthusiasm from her experience. + +Inside the door she found Ted, crouched before the fireplace urging Nero +to "sic" something. + +"Get him, boy!" he was coaxing. "Go-get-him!" + +"Get whom?" Nancy asked, in surprise at the spectacle. + +"What ever is in that chimney," the boy replied. "Do you think Nero +couldn't get it as good as that puny little dog of Miss Townsend's?" + +"But how do you know anything is in there?" + +"Heard it--it whistles. Besides you said so." Ted was not a waster of +words. + +"I never said there was anything there," Nancy argued. "But what +whistled? What did you hear?" + +"Just whistlin'. Sic him Nero!" and Ted tried to push the big shaggy +head against the old-fashioned fireplace board, that was papered with a +very brilliant and hideous set paper piece, the center representing a +terrible time among birds that looked like freak chickens. + +But Nero was absolutely deaf to Ted's entreaties. No more would he "go +for" the chimney than he went for the food offered him by the solicitous +young domestic science students, Nancy and Ruth. + +"I don't think you should keep that big--untidy dog in here, Ted," +remonstrated Nancy, who hesitated over calling Nero "dirty" and felt +foolish at calling him "untidy." She crossed to the corner of the store +and raised a window. "You know," she continued, "this is a cooking +school and everything has to be strictly sanitary." + +"He's strictly sanitary," Ted declared, pressing his own curly head down +to Nero's. "I'm glad I've got him, I needed a chum around home," he +finished, affectionately. + +"How about me?" teased Nancy. + +"Oh you!" Ted was caressing Nero, and Nero was thudding his tail in +response. + +"Yes, what about me, Ted? Don't you like me any more?" + +"Like you! But you ought to hear folks talk. They say you'll be starting +a--butcher shop next." + +Nancy drew her breath in sharply. Were they criticising her like that? + +"Who's talking about me?" she demanded of her brother. + +"Don't have to get mad," drawled Ted. "What do we care? We know, I +guess," he placated, tactfully. + +"But who's talking?" she insisted. + +"It's all jealousy," the boy evaded. "They're disappointed because the +Townsends and Mr. Sanders are getting along so well. First, they tried +to make Mr. Sanders out foolish, and now they say this place is spooky. +Guess I've been here long enough to know," he retorted, as if answering +the unknown foes. + +But Nancy was stricken with that painful self-consciousness that so +often lately had taken possession of her. The changeable girl, even her +friends were calling her; why did she so love--to change? + +"Look!" whispered Ted, directing her attention to the dog. +"He--hears--it!" + +Nero was now alert, head cocked to one side, ears pricked up, and every +dog-feature of him ready to pounce. + +Ted and Nancy watched him, breathless. + +A little snapping bark, a growl, long and threatening; then a wild, +fierce howl, and the big creature dashed against the fireboard! + +"There!" exclaimed Ted. "I told you so!" + +"What is it?" gasped Nancy. + +But the barking of Nero shut out even the sound of their voices, and as +brother and sister looked on, the big dog pawed the fireboard, +scratching away the paper, birds, flowers, impossible sky and all. + +Presently he turned from that attack and dashed to the back door. Ted +and Nancy were quick to follow him. + +"Let him out," Nancy directed. "He may know there's someone around." + +Unhooking the screen door Ted let his dog out. With a bounding leap Nero +cleared the steps and dashed around the house to the chimney corner. + +"Look!" screamed Nancy, "there--goes--a--man!" + +As she pointed to the farthest corner of the lot, where the fence was +broken down to admit a short cut to the avenue, they saw a man, just +stepping through the brush. + +"Mr. Sanders!" exclaimed Ted. "I see his bald head!" + +"Mr. Sanders," Nancy repeated. "What can he have been doing here?" + +"That's what Nero is trying to find out," replied Ted, dryly. "Let's see +how he's making out. He's stopped barking. Maybe--he's--got--it." + +It took but a few moments to reach the side of the house, where the +old-fashioned stone foundation was broken by a place, through which the +ashes from the fireplace had once been cleaned out. Here sat Nero. He +wagged his tail happily as Ted came up, and he now seemed perfectly +satisfied and contented. + +"What is it Nero?" Nancy coaxed patting the dog in a most friendly way. +He was evidently winning her affection as well as Ted's. + +But Ted knew best how to follow the animal's lead. He was down on his +knees in front of the mossy stones and had his ear cocked to the small +iron door. + +[Illustration: Ted had his ear cocked to the small iron door.] + +"Yep," he sort of gasped. "It's there! It's kinda-tickin'." + +"Let me listen," Nancy asked, dropping down beside him. + +For some time brother, sister and the big dog were all crouched there, +attentive, eager and somewhat excited. + +"Just a little sound--like an egg-beater," Nancy suggested. "And look, +Ted, those broken weeds! Mr. Sanders must have been in here just now." + +"Sure, it's his," said Ted, in a manner as matter of fact as if an +egg-beater "whistling" in the old fireplace was the most ordinary thing +in the world to expect being put there by Mr. Sanders. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE MIDNIGHT ALARM + + +It was a very exciting story, indeed, that Ted and Nancy poured into +their mother's ears that evening. Had she any possible objections to +adopting Nero as the fourth member of the family, they must have been +quickly dispelled with the graphic account of that animal's uncanny +intelligence. + +"He seemed to know just where to find the outlet to the chimney," Nancy +said, "for he ran directly to the little furnace place, and we didn't +really know it was there ourselves." + +"Of course, he knew," said Ted importantly. "Dogs know lots of things +that we don't. And he's going to sleep in the store, isn't he, Mother?" + +"Oh, not in the store, Ted," objected Nancy. "Do you think that would be +just right, Manny?" + +"Well, a big dog like that," demurred Miss Manners, who, now being a +real resident of the Brandon home, shared their table with them. + +"But he's had a swim and he's as clean as--as anything," floundered the +boy, quite unable to summon an appropriate comparison for his great +friend. "And Mother, he can watch the whole house for us. How do we know +someone wouldn't try to steal--the secret of the chimney place?" + +"It isn't our secret," retorted Nancy, "and for my part I can't see what +right Mr. Sanders has around our place at all." + +"You can depend, dear," said Mrs. Brandon gently, "that whatever he has +put in the chimney, if anything, it is something that could in no way +bother us. Mr. Sanders is a professor, and the old-fashioned stone oven +may have some special interest for him." + +"But couldn't he ask us about it, if he wanted to--to plant a bomb +there?" Nancy remarked, superciliously. + +"He's no gabber," said Ted, with more wisdom than elegance. "And anyway, +maybe he didn't. But Mother, may I have the old steamer rug to make a +bed for Nero? He's so big he needs a big bed." + +It was finally agreed that Nero should be allowed to sleep in the store +before the fireboard, and after much work making the rug into a bed for +him, Ted eventually got him to try it. + +Very slowly the big shaggy creature sprawled himself out on the soft +wool, but he only stayed sprawled for a few moments. The next, he got +up, took a corner of the rug between his teeth, dragged it over to the +show gas-range and, in a dog's way, proceeded to make his own bed. + +Every one was watching him and every one laughed. + +"He can do tricks," Ted declared proudly. "I'm goin' to train him for a +lot of things. He could almost do anything," the boy added, whereat even +Miss Manners laughed softly. + +But Nero was settled at last, and so far as he was concerned, gave no +further trouble to the Brandon family for that evening. The subject of +the buzzing, egg-beater noise in the chimney, coupled with Mr. Sanders +leaving the grounds so suspiciously that afternoon was, however, +discussed most thoroughly. + +Even to the children Mrs. Brandon's confidence in Mr. Sanders, agreeing +as it did with the confidence of so many other grown folks, gave cause +for much curious speculation. Nancy pretended that she disagreed with +this general sentiment, but that was only because she felt there was a +certain injustice in the manner of Mr. Sanders assuming rights over +their personal property. + +Ted, on the contrary, was ready to vote for Mr. Sanders at every +opportunity, and while he didn't exactly say that Nero had at one time +belonged to the people who had lived in the big stone house, he _did_ +say that Lou Peters, who gave him Nero, said that the Giffords, who +belonged on the hill, used to feed Nero regularly at their back door. +That was as near to proprietorship as Ted could bring Nero. Lou Peters +had been keeping him among the old boxes, so he gave him to Ted. All of +which followed a natural sequence, for Ted himself had been feeding Nero +dog biscuits and soup bones for a long time previously. + +"Isn't it queer how jolly it seems to have a dog in the house," remarked +the boy, who was curled up on the couch and hugging a big story book +from which, tonight at least, he read very little. + +"It does seem as if we have pleasant company," Miss Manners conceded +agreeably. She was, as usual, at her fancy work--some exquisitely fine +linen drawn work, being done for a city customer. + +"But I thought we all agreed never again to become attached to a dog," +recalled the mother. She was making notes and reading a book--a +librarian's method of reviewing. + +"We all felt so dreadfully when Grumpy died," Nancy recalled. She sighed +effectively at the recollection. "Grumpy was the loveliest dog--" + +"So is Nero," affirmed the fickle Ted. "In some ways he's a lot smarter. +You should have seen him do tricks for Lou Peters. He'll do them for me, +too," professed the youngster, "as soon as we get better acquainted." + +"Oh, Ted," digressed Nancy. "I've been wanting to ask you. Did Billy and +Jack make out all right at home after their cave-in scare? Their folks +weren't angry, were they?" + +"Angry!" scoffed Ted. "They each got a quarter for ice cream cones; +that's how angry their mothers were. Jack and Bill are two--pets," he +finished, rather contemptuously. "If they hadn't been so soft they'd +have known how to dig themselves out. Guess I'll go to bed," Ted then +announced suddenly and surprisingly, for he usually wanted to remain up +even longer than the others. + +"Now, that Nero is asleep," teased Nancy. "But never mind, Ted," she +amended. "I'll give you credit for picking a fine dog. He's handsomer +than a collie, and not so awkward as a St. Bernard," Nancy commented, +rather critically. + +"Sure," agreed Ted. "He's a thoroughbred," and with that all-meaning +compliment, Ted put his book upon the shelf, looked very carefully in +the store so as not to disturb the distinguished occupant, and almost +whispered good-night, kissing his mother fondly as he took his actual +leave. + +"Ted does love that dog," Nancy remarked indulgently. "And I'm glad you +let him keep him, Mother, for Ted likes to wander off alone and a dog is +good company for him." + +"The dear little fellow!" murmured his mother. "I can hardly believe he +is growing up and becoming able to look after himself. So often during +the day, I stop and wonder--" + +"Oh, you needn't, Mums," interrupted Nancy, "for Manny barely lets him +out of her sight without all kinds of cautions. It's lovely since Manny +came," Nancy concluded, a little shyly. + +Following all this each of the three applied herself to her task, (Nancy +was reading,) until the clock struck ten, then it appeared time to +follow Ted's example and retire, which they did. + +It had to happen, it always does. The dog barked wildly in the very +blackest part of the night, and before they realized what had disturbed +them, the Brandon household was awake and on its feet! + +"What can--it--be?" breathed little Miss Manners, wrapping her neat robe +closely around her. + +"Why, it's Nero," answered Ted foolishly, although he was not trying to +be funny. "He's after someone. We're safe." + +But Ted's unlimited confidence in his dog's power to protect, did not +lessen the uncanny feeling produced by the midnight howling, growling +bark. + +Mrs. Brandon did what she could to assure Nancy and Miss Manners that +dogs often bark at almost nothing, but when she heard Nero's paws +scratching against the door that led from the hall into the little group +of sleeping rooms, her own courage sagged somewhat. + +"Let him in!" ordered Ted. "Here, let me!" he corrected, going to the +door and meeting bravely the wild greeting of Nero. "What is it, boy?" +he asked. "What's the matter?" + +To which question Nero threw his two great paws against Ted's chest, +barked not fiercely, but in that talking way dogs have, and then turned +to race back down the stairs. + +"It's no one he's after," explained Ted, "or he wouldn't leave them to +come up and tell me. He wants to show me something--" + +"Ted Brandon!" cried Nancy. "Don't you dare go down--" + +"I'll go along," volunteered Mrs. Brandon. "As Ted says, the dog would +have stood guard if any one were trying to get in." + +There was no use in further arguing, for Ted was already close on Nero's +heels, following him to the store whence he was leading. Mrs. Brandon +may have been timid, but small Ted's confidence in his dog was very +fortifying, and she, too, fell in with the small midnight procession. + +Nancy did not remain upstairs, neither did Miss Manners, for somehow it +always does seem safer to "stick together" in that sort of trouble. + +No one spoke as they followed the dog. With great dignity he led them +on, until, upon reaching the store, he made a pounce over to the corner +near the chimney. + +"Oh," screamed Nancy. "It's that old chimney--" + +"It's something else," exclaimed Ted. "Just look here! A 'busted' water +pipe. That's what it is! Look--at--the--flood!" + +They all looked, and saw, issuing from a pipe that was connected near +the fireplace, a very positive and very menacing stream of water. + +"Oh, my! Our things!" groaned Nancy. "I've got to turn the water off." + +"But where? How?" asked Mrs. Brandon in confusion, fully realizing the +damage water could do. + +"I know," replied Nancy, in her best business-like manner. "I was +'monkeying' with it the other day. It won't take me a jiffy," and while +the others patted the intelligent Nero for his alarm, Nancy flew to the +kitchen, got a wrench from Ted's tool chest in the little corner closet, +and then with one sure, swift turn, reversed the handle on the water +pipe that led from the boiler to the pipes from the cellar. + +"It's off," yelled Ted. "That's all right, Nan, it's stopped." + +"Why, daughter," exclaimed Mrs. Brandon, still breathless, "how did you +know how to do--that?" + +"Because--she's a good plumber," declared Ted. "Hurrah! Nan! Let's start +a plumbing shop! That's something you--haven't tried yet." + +"Ted!" said Nancy sharply. "I don't like being made fun of. Anybody +ought to know how to turn off a water pipe. We all know how to turn off +the gas, don't we?" + +"Ted didn't mean to be rude, dear," Mrs. Brandon assured the injured +one, "but we were so surprised." + +"And Nancy does seem to have such a talent for business," ventured Miss +Manners. "I tell you, dear," and she gathered her robe around her as she +followed the others out of the store, "it is something to be proud of. +Any of us can be just housekeepers, but it takes a different sort of +ability to be--the man of the house," she said, which was an unusual +figure of speech for prim Miss Manners to make use of. + +"She can't be that," objected Ted. + +"Very well, then," said Nancy. "Let's see you mop up that floor, Ted," +she challenged. "That's a plumber's job, too," she pointed out. But it +was Mrs. Brandon who found the mop and Ted who used it. Nancy felt +perhaps, that the executive part, in turning off the water, was enough +for her to have done. + +She was hurt, unwillingly, at Ted's joking remark. + +"A plumber shop," she reflected mentally. "Well, one could do worse, for +plumbers are necessary and needle-work fiends aren't. Maybe I will take +up something practical before I find what would be best for me," she +continued to reason. + +But none of them knew, nor was it possible for them to guess, what Nero +had saved in his timely midnight alarm. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + FOR VALUE RECEIVED + + +It seemed but a very short time later that Nancy was again awakened. But +now the sunshine was streaming into her room, and she heard Miss Manners +talking down in the hall, in a suppressed voice. + +"The children are not up yet," she was saying. "But come in, Ruth. You +see we were somewhat disturbed--" + +"Come on up, Ruth!" called out Nancy. "Come up and hear about our +par-tee!" + +Ruth came up promptly, and the story of the broken water pipe was +presently being told her, brokenly. + +"How perfectly--thrill-ing!" she commented in her well known +characterization of the affected Vera. "But you should have had Nero +turn off the water--" + +"I'll bet he could too," shouted Ted from his room. Ted never lost a +chance to praise Nero. + +"But just listen to _my_ story," Ruth begged. "I've got a thrilling +yarn, too." + +"Then, wait until I get propped up for it," ordered Nancy. "I can't hear +comfortably when I'm down." She put her two pillows under her shoulders +and assumed a most affected air of the tired society girl after her +dance. Even a cap was improvised from a twisted stocking, a lacy robe +was concocted from her thin, soft slip, and the luxurious effect was +completed by Ruth piling upon the bed a bunch of mussed up store +paper--the morning mail! + +"There now," said Ruth, "I hope you can hear. Although I must say you +are not well cast. The character for you, Nan, is that of a short haired +lady at a big desk, her eyes bulging out of goggles and her waist line +strapped into a belt. You know--" + +"Yes, I know," admitted Nancy, "but I like this better--it's more +becoming, isn't it?" Another pose and a shift of the lacy robe. Then +Nancy appeared ready to hear Ruth's story. + +"You sold the place!" Ruth blurted out without a hint of its coming. + +"The place?" + +"Yes. To Lady Cullen. And she said positively over the long distance +last night to Dad, that she never would have bought it but for you." + +"Of course, she would," scoffed Nancy. + +"Nope. Dad said that place just wouldn't sell. He and his men have shown +it to so many. But dear Mrs. Cullen!" Ruth sighed foolishly. "She told +Dad that the young lady was so enthusiastic over the place that she was +positive her granddaughter, Naomi, would react in the same way. Notice +that Nan, re-act." + +"Yeah," drawled Nancy. "That's what this is--I'm--re-acting," and she +fell further back among her pillows. + +"But really, Nan, it is true," insisted Ruth, laying hold of one of +Nancy's long, slender hands. "And you needn't blush about it, either. I +think the way you blush under that olive skin of yours--" But a pillow, +vigorously applied to Ruth's face, checked further compliments. + +"If you don't want to hear," Ruth presently continued. + +"Of course I do. I'm just as glad as glad, Ruth, that your dad has sold +the place, but I know very well Mrs. Cullen would have bought it +anyhow." + +"She wouldn't. Dad says so, she says so--I say--says--so," declared +Ruth. "And if you don't believe it just listen to this." She changed her +position sitting up very straight and facing Nancy very positively to +make the statement most emphatic. "Mrs. Cullen very tactfully suggested +that your interest and your success be--remunerated." + +"Ruth!" + +"Now, don't let me hurt your feelings, Nan, but Dad would honestly love +to have you accept." + +"I won't," declared Nancy, blushing furiously now. "The idea--" + +"Then, he will talk to your mother about it. Do you know, little girl, +what a lot of money a big sale like that brings to Dad's firm? And how +much he would have to pay out in commission to the man who succeeded in +making the sale?" + +"I know one thing," said Nancy, shifting herself out of the bed and +planting two bare feet firmly upon the floor, "I'm being made a business +woman, a store-keeper, a cooking school director, a plumber and now a +real-estate agent. I don't mind being a few things but that's quite +a--lot!" + +"You haven't said Enthusiast," Ruth reminded her, "that is what counts +most. But Nancy, you really ought to consider," pressed Ruth. "The money +would mean so much to your mother, and you have a perfect right to it. I +knew the way you were tearing around that big place, that you would +flim-flam Cullen," joked Ruth. "And Dad says, a hundred dollars isn't +anything on a fifteen thousand dollar deal--" + +"Fifteen thousand!" + +"Yes, all of that. And here's the little one hundred check," Ruth was +pressing a slip of paper into Nancy's unwilling hand. "Dad will be +dreadfully disappointed if you refuse--you're not too proud, are you?" + +"Too proud!" and the black eyes snapped little pin points of sparks. +"No, indeed, I mean to be a business woman, like mother, and I don't +care how soon I start," proclaimed Nancy, firmly. + +"Spoken like--Nancy Brandon!" hailed Ruth, gleefully, for she had known +all along what a task it would be to get Nancy to take the check. And +just as she had honestly stated, the amount given Nancy was but a small +fraction of that which a man from Mr. Ashley's office would have had to +receive for the same service. + +Unbelieving, Nancy stared at the check. + +"One hundred dollars!" she murmured, her eyes now beaming with +anticipation. "And mother's vacation only three days off!" + +"But please, Nan," Ruth hurried to change the subject, "don't go away to +parts unknown and leave me pining here. Of course, there are lots of +girls--hanging around," she smiled very prettily and looked very dimply +as she said this, "but since you came to Long Leigh, Nan, the other +girls don't count as much as they did." + +"I suppose," said Nancy in her "twinkling" way, "that may be because I'm +such a freak. I'm a lot of fun--" + +"Nan--cee!" + +"Ruth--ee!" + +And they finished the argument with a very pardonable show of affection, +if it was only a sound slap on Nancy's not fully clothed shoulders and a +pretty good whack on Ruth's plump little thigh. + +When Nancy was alone again, (for Ruth was to meet the girls at Isabel's +and they were all going for a swim before their ten o'clock cooking +lesson,) she smoothed out the little blue check lovingly. It was so +strange to think that money was acquired through mere enthusiasm. That +Mrs. Cullen would have decided to buy that enormous place merely upon +Nancy's--enthusiasm. That the cooking school had been started and was +successfully running because of her--enthusiasm! + +"Perhaps," she told the reflection in her glass, "it's a good thing to +despise some kinds of work if it makes one enthusiastic for other kinds. +But even now," she was insisting to that same mocking smile, "_I can_ +make a very good cake." + +To meet the girls at the lake, Nancy took a short cut up, over the hill +that would lead her past the old stone house. She had hurried her +breakfast and made sure that Miss Manners did not need her help to get +ready for the class, then, gowned in the easiest thing to put on--and +off, her lavender gingham, she raced off up the hill. + +But she never could hurry past the stone house; everything around it +held fascination for Nancy, even the half-formed dread that someone or +something would drop down from the sky, or spring up out of the earth, +as Mr. Sanders had formerly been accused of doing. So, instead of +crossing the fence where the old cedar tree had broken through and had +thus made an opening, Nancy continued on up through the stone path that +would bring her out at the apple orchard. + +"As if there could be anything weird in this open place," she was +saying. "Why, the old cistern over there looks as spic-span as when +folks used to draw water from it, and I'm sure," she was thinking, "a +turned upside-down rain-barrel shows care and attention--no mosquitoes +can breed in that." + +She stood a few moments to enjoy the soft summer scene, for it was not +yet quite time to meet the girls, when from the direction of the +rain-barrel she head a whine, a cat's cry, surely. + +"Some poor cat maybe caught in briars," Nancy decided promptly, as again +came a piteous meaow of a kitten or a cat. + +Following the call Nancy hurried in its direction. + +"Here puss?" she called. "Kitty-kitty-kitty!" + +The cry stopped as her voice called to it. It was not near the rain +barrel, Nancy now decided, but over by the cistern. Quickly she turned +in that direction, but when within a few feet of the square little box +that covered the artificial well, she was suddenly startled by a +noise--a queer noise. + +"What's that?" was her unspoken question. + +She listened. It was a man's voice, singing! + +"Where, where--can that be!" she murmured half aloud, meanwhile +unconsciously walking toward the cistern. + +Then a hammering! A buzzing! + +"Oh!" screamed Nancy in alarm, now realizing that she had been hearing +something very strange indeed. "Oh, I must--get--away!" was her wild +determination, as she turned and dashed down the hill, making her way +this time through the opening in the fence where the cedar tree had +fallen. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + TARTS AND LADY FINGERS + + +No one would believe her. They all came out of the water as Nancy +arrived at the beach, and declined positively, to go in. + +"I'm too--flustered," she insisted. "My head is swimming now and it +doesn't matter about my heels." + +"But Nancy," protested Marion Mason, one of the Upper Crust Hill girls, +"how could you have heard anybody or anything in that open field? No +bushes nor trees big enough to hide behind, just there." + +"It was the cat," insisted Christine Berg, a friend of Marion's. "There +are queer cats--always have been--around the old stone house. First, the +cat meaowed, just to entice you," said Christine, wringing out the scant +skirt of her black satin bathing suit. "And then, when she got you over +there, she did the rest," finished the very blonde girl with the lovely +hazel eyes. + +"Sort of ventriloquist," added Isabel. "Well, at any rate, Nan, you have +had a thrill. Vera, wouldn't that constitute a thrill, don't you think?" + +"I'll tell you what _I_ think," chimed in Ruth. "I think we had better +hurry to dress or we shall be late for our lesson, and mine is +cream-puffs today. Our family can eat cream-puffs until the puff--" But +the girls, running up to the little bath houses, deprived Ruth of her +audience, and also of the necessity of finishing her simile. + +Nancy sat on the little board-walk edge of the row of houses, while the +girls dressed. Ruth finished first and joined her there. + +"Really, Nan?" she quizzed, in an under tone. + +"Most certainly--really," replied Nancy, seriously. "Do you suppose I +would make that up for fun?" + +"No, I don't. It isn't your brand of fun. But it's mighty curious. Do +you suppose we should all go up there right now, and go over every inch +of the place--" + +"Oh, no. We must go back to Manny and be good cooks," Nancy answered. +"Besides Ruth, she has my check and I'm anxious to see if it is still +there, not just a dream check you know," she smiled understandingly at +Ruth. + +Rather towsled from their bath, and the lack of time and tools for hair +arrangements, the party of girls presently started off to take their +domestic science lesson. Along the way they met and hailed a number of +friends, for at bathing hour the lake drew folks from all parts of the +village and its suburbs, but there was no time for tarrying as Miss +Manners insisted upon promptness, and no one willingly ever disregarded +her rule. + +It was a merry little group that, all aproned and capped, listened first +to Miss Manners explanation of rules and reasons, and then they +themselves undertook the practical art of applying this knowledge. + +But Nancy could not forget her experience. It had been so weird, so +wild, in fact, to hear those noises coming from nowhere. + +Ruth was beating the eggs light as air for her cherished cream puffs; +Isabel was carefully creaming an equally dainty concoction in her +middle-sized yellow bowl, and the other girls were being similarly and +as practically engaged, when a shadow, a large manly shadow, darkened +the glass that formed the upper part of the store door. + +"A visitor!" exclaimed Marion, smoothing her cap at the risk of spoiling +her batter. + +Miss Manners stepped to the door to answer the knock. + +"Mr. Sanders!" the girls whispered one to another, as they saw Miss +Manners greet the caller. + +"Maybe he's going to inspect--" Christine began, but was stopped by Miss +Manners speaking. + +"Girls," she said, in her best teacher voice, "Mr. Sanders has called to +see if we can fill an order for him." + +"An order!" chorused the surprised pupils. + +"Yes," spoke up the one man among them. "The fact is, young ladies, I'm +giving a little party up at Waterfall House, and I felt convinced that +my attractions would be greatly increased if I could procure some--some +confections from this famous little class," he said. + +Miss Manners was all but protesting. That her class could be called +"famous" seemed to her rather too extravagant a statement. + +"Yes, indeed," went on the caller, while it must be admitted some of the +girls were stifling giggles. "My daughter is coming up, and she thinks +her college excels in this sort of thing." His sweeping gesture seemed +to include everything, even the girls. "And I would be mighty glad to +show her what we can do in our little Long Leigh." + +Followed suggestions and questions, so heaped up that the mere wording +of all the excitement amounted to little compared with its general +effect. Finally, Mr. Sanders and Miss Manners went into a secret +session, to outline the order, and the girls, who were supposed to go on +with the lesson, in reality went on with the fun. + +"Imagine!" chuckled Eleanor Dixon, "getting an order for fancy cakes! +I'm going to make kisses--" + +"Lady fingers would be more appropriate," Isabel remarked sagely, +"although, El, I have heard Miss Manners say, your biscuits +are--splendid." + +"Tarts!" whispered Christine, shaking her long handled spoon, and making +a comical face. + +"Mac-a-roons!" came from Dorothy's corner. + +But Mr. Sanders was now preparing to leave, and Miss Manners was +conducting him to the door, her face alight with the pleasant +excitement. As the caller walked past Nancy he said to her in an +undertone: + +"Can I speak to you, just a minute, Nancy?" + +Without answering Nancy followed him outside to the porch. + +"I'm coming up to see your mother this evening," he said, when their +voices were beyond reach of the others. "I've been expecting to for some +time, but now I _must_. Will you tell her, please? And be sure to be on +hand yourself, you and Ted, for I'm about ready to disclose the long +promised secret," he finished, his eyes twinkling merrily as he spoke. + +"Oh, all right, certainly," faltered Nancy, not quite sure just what she +was saying. + +"Yes," continued Mr. Sanders, "the summer, is going fast and I'm glad +things have shaped themselves before we were, any of us, forced to +separate." He was patting his brown hands together gleefully. + +"Would you mind if Isabel and Ruth came over? They're my best friends +and you can trust them," ventured Nancy, surprised at herself for doing +so. + +"Certainly, by all means, have them come," replied Mr. Sanders. "I see +you anticipate a surprise, and you are generous enough to want to share +it with your friends. That's the spirit I like to see. Tonight it will +be a sort of private performance," he smiled as he said this, "but +to-morrow night at the hotel I'm going to tell all who come. That's what +I want your cakes for," he finished, moving down the low steps. "We're +going to have a celebration and--well, I'll see you this evening," he +promised, hurrying off like a happy school boy. + +There was little work done in the cooking lesson after that. Everybody +was so excited at the prospect of filling a real order, that the entire +class immediately set to planning just how it was to be filled. + +It was Christine, however, who had what Ruth called "the inspiration." +After the class was dismissed she got the girls together, out of Miss +Manner's hearing, and made her suggestion. + +"Let's all come early," she began, "_very_ early. We'll do our very +best, of course, we can make wonderful cakes." + +"_You_ can," corrected Nancy. + +"So can you, Nan," Christine took time to say, "I'd like to see any one +make a better sponge cake--" + +"Oh, sponge cake," scoffed Nancy. + +"The very thing most needed to go with ice cream," Christine hurried to +say. "But listen--" + +"We are," said Ruth. + +"We will take whatever money we get for the entire order, (we donate the +materials, of course,) and with the money we'll buy a gift for--Manny!" +said Christine. + +"Hurrah!" came a hushed hail, for there was danger of the plans being +overheard. + +However, Christine's idea was enthusiastically received, and there was +no possible doubt of the entire plan being successfully carried out. + +Ruth remained with Nancy and so did Isabel, so that she readily found an +opportunity to tell them of Mr. Sander's message. They were as usual, +putting things away, Miss Manners being obliged to leave early to give a +private lesson to an invalid girl. + +"And we are actually going to hear the secret," gasped Nancy. "Girls, +you don't know how excited I am--" + +"You don't know how _crazy_ I am," added Ruth. + +"And how _wild_ I am," put in Isabel. "Think we should have a doctor +within call? Will it be overwhelming?" she joked. + +"Better have a policeman," suggested Ruth. "He may disclose some gems, +or other valuables." + +"Here comes Ted," Nancy interrupted, "and I know by his walk that he's +worried." + +Ted strode in, Nero close beside him, and as Nancy had intimated he did +act worried. + +"What's the matter, Ted?" Ruth asked first. + +"Matter? I've got to hide this dog. Folks want to take him away from me. +Say he's theirs," Ted's words fairly hissed his indignation. + +"Who says so?" demanded Nancy belligerently. + +"A man who came up to the old stone house," answered Ted. "But Nero was +Lou Peter's dog and Lou gave him to me, and not all the money there is, +is going to get my dog away from me." + +Ted's voice was not very positive, and the girls, all three, assisted +him in coaxing Nero out to the small door under the back porch, where he +was finally made a prisoner, with several plates of food set before him +to lighten the misery. + +It surely would be disastrous for Ted to lose his dog. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE STORY TOLD + + +The Whatnot Shop was quite powerless to prevent the invasion. + +"We'll push all the tables back and set the chairs around in a +half-circle," suggested the fluttered Nancy. "Then, it will be just +like--" + +"A play," finished Isabel. "Too bad we can't turn on a spot light." + +"I think it would be nice to let Mr. Townsend sit behind the counter on +his old high stool," Nancy further suggested. "It might make him feel at +home. I wonder where we put that stool." + +"Away back in the corner under the three-cornered shelf," Ruth informed +her. "I rammed it in there myself." + +It was dragged out--the stool, and set just where it had been found when +Nancy first took possession of the shop. + +"A regular par-tee!" chanted Isabel. "Glad I happened to wear a white +dress; being a deb and all that." + +"You may carry the white paper fan, little deb," mocked Nancy. "We +couldn't sell it so I'd be delighted to donate it to your coming out +party." + +"Oh, it isn't mine, it's yours," chirped Isabel, "and I hope you are not +going to wear that howling yellow gingham--" + +"I am. Yellow's my color," and Nancy flipped the skirt of her dress +around gaily. + +They were preparing, as might easily be guessed, for the "private +performance" promised by Mr. Sanders. Nancy had talked with him over the +phone, after his visit to the class that morning, and arrangements were +then made to invite the Townsends over, besides permission having been +granted Ted to bring in his chum, Buster Clayton. Just now Ted was +upstairs dressing; also singing and telling stories to Nero, most of +which racket could be heard down in the store. + +Mrs. Brandon's cheeks became soft as damask when Nancy showed her the +big check for one hundred dollars, which Nancy explained was in no sense +a gift, but purely part of a business transaction between her and Mr. +Ashley's real-estate office. The mother did not try to hide her delight, +that Nancy should have become such "a splendid little business woman," +and she predicted her own retirement from the office at an early date, +if such wonderful achievements were to be kept up. + +"And your bank account, my dear," she told Nancy when they were in +confidence over the developments, "aren't you proud of it?" + +"A little, Mother-mine," faltered the happy girl, "but there's something +better than that," she said shyly, for Nancy was not given to boasting. + +"I know," and the mother arms went around her. "Besides, you know now +that even despised housework is not so bad when it has an interesting +motive. That's why we mothers tolerate it; because we are working for +our darling children." + +"I know, Mums, but I really only thought 'dishes' before, now I think--" + +"The joy of helping _us_," Mrs. Brandon supplied. "And I'm so proud of +your cooking, and how much it has benefited Miss Manners, as well as +your friends. Why, my dear, I would make you vain were I to tell you +one-half of what I hear--" + +"Not vain, Mums. I'm not silly enough for that, for I've got to admit +I've been rather selfish all the way through--it has been such a lot of +fun." + +And Nancy meant it. She was not posing, nor was she playing at being +humble, for her mind was of that quality that reasons and analyzes one's +own motives as well as looking for motives in others. In that way she +had acquired what is called "common sense," perhaps because every one +should try, at least, to possess a measure of it. + +Now Mrs. Brandon, as well as Ted, was dressing. To please Nancy she had +promised to wear her geranium georgette, a soft dress that toned so well +with her dark hair and dark eyes, for Mrs. Brandon was still young, and +a handsome woman. + +And the girls were fairly dancing around the store, arranging chairs +brought in from the porch, dining room and even from the kitchen. + +"Let's make a little platform for Mr. Sanders," Ruth proposed. "This top +step of the back stairs will do. We don't have to open that door." + +"And have a stand and a glass of water--" Isabel added. + +"And flowers," insisted Nancy. "I must have flowers, they're so silly +for a man's speech, they'll make every body laugh." + +"Maybe hollyhocks would," Ruth said, "but I doubt if your audience would +see the joke if you put a bunch of roses there." + +So they progressed, until very soon, too soon for the girls, the company +began to arrive. + +Mr. and Miss Townsend, and little, brown, woolly Tiny came first. + +"I'm afraid we're early," said the lady in her best silver silk dress +and her very pretty new black-satin-trimmed-with-silver grapes, hat. She +carried a little flat cushion for Tiny, out of respect for the silver +silk dress. + +"Mother will be down directly," Nancy greeted Miss Townsend, in her very +best manner. "Sit over here. We've fixed this corner for you." + +"Oh my!" exclaimed the lady in genuine admiration. "How lovely +everything looks! However did you paint this old wood work white?" + +"For our cooking class, you know," replied Nancy, gaily. "Doesn't it +look--hygienic?" + +"I--should--say--so!" Miss Townsend was aghast. "And I suppose, those +spotless tables--" + +"Are the old ones from around the porches and every place," Nancy +informed her. "We just daubed the legs white and covered the tops with +oil cloth." + +"And I want to see that gas range. I've heard so much about it. Oh! +there's Miss Manners," exclaimed Miss Townsend, "she'll explain it to +me, and you may run along, dear." This was a release, not a dismissal +for Nancy. + +"She'll buy one and that will be a good big discount for Manny," Nancy +told the girls who had heard most of the conversation. + +"Yes. They've bought a new house--a brand spic-span new one," Ruth +whispered. "Father said Miss Townsend wanted the shiniest one he had for +sale," and there was a pardonable titter in response to that. + +But guests were now arriving in pairs. There were Mr. and Mrs. Ashley, +Ruth's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Duryee, Isabel's parents, besides Ted, +Buster and Nero, the latter three being promptly assigned by Ruth to the +corner nearest the side door. + +"So you can watch for prowlers," she joked. "Some other folks might +sneak up on the porch and listen in." + +"I'm all but stage struck," panted Nancy, trying to force the little +kicked-up curls around her ears back into place. "And girls, take your +places!" she admonished. "Here comes--the--talent! Mr. Sanders and +Sibyl!" + +It really was taking on the look of some sort of entertainment,--for as +Mr. Sanders and his daughter arrived there was a general presentation +all around by Mrs. Brandon, while the girls, feeling very much like +ushers at a school entertainment, stood with backs to the windows, just +as they always did at school affairs. + +The preliminary formalities over, Mr. Sanders was rather humorously +conducted to the "platform." This pleased Mr. Townsend "most to death" +and he was heard to chuckle that "the old fire-house as town-hall had +never held a better meeting." + +"I'll not keep you in suspense, my friends," began Mr. Sanders, without +so much as clearing his throat, "but I'll just introduce myself to those +who don't happen to know me. I'm Edwin Sanders of Eastern College, +professor of science there." There was a murmur through the room at that +announcement. + +"Professor!" was the surprised word it conveyed. + +"And I came here to experiment," the gentleman continued in a pleasantly +matter of fact voice. "I found this little house had a direct air shaft, +it runs from this room at that old fireplace down to the cellar, and out +through an old-fashioned flue-door, you know the kind." + +"That's a relic on this place," spoke up Mr. Elmer Townsend. "It was +built in here by a Dutch man from Holland--" + +"Yes, and it's a good one," agreed Mr. Sanders. "Well, you see, my +friends," he continued, "I had to experiment on an extremely delicate +little instrument," he was all professor now, "so, when I found the +exact conditions that I required here, I made an offer to the owner, Mr. +Townsend." + +There was much shifting around and significant scraping of chairs at +this point, but the speaker was in no way disturbed. + +"I thought it only fair to tell him how important my experiment was, and +what it would mean if it worked out as I expected. Well, it did," he +stated emphatically, "but not without the usual trouble that must be +endured if we want to succeed in big things." + +Miss Townsend was whispering, or she thought she was, and her brother +was trying to restrain her. + +"I could not tell the nature of this work because there was a new secret +principle involved in it," Mr. Sanders said, having overheard, likely, +what Miss Townsend was trying to tell her neighbor. "That was why Mr. +Townsend and I had to keep our secret so close." + +Ted and Buster were visibly squirming in their chairs, they were so +interested, but old Nero snoozed contentedly, not even suspecting +apparently, the presence of another dog, Tiny, that was safely hidden in +Miss Townsend's cushion. And as if Mr. Sanders remembered Tiny, he next +said: + +"Even the little dog was so interested as we worked he would insist upon +barking a tune for us. Sometimes we were afraid he might tell," he +finished, quizzically. + +"That was it," Ted privately told Buster. "Nancy said that puny, little +dog barked all the time he was in here." + +"After I got my point worked out in this air shaft," went on Mr. +Sanders, who had actually taken a sip of water from the glass at his +hand, "I was obliged to try it out in a very much more condensed +atmosphere. And just there is where I was forced to excite such wild +suspicions." He was almost laughing at the recollection. + +"It was funny; I'm willing to admit that myself, for like the King of +France in the story, I marched up the hill, but unlike him, I did not +march down again. And I'm surprised that no one seems to have guessed +where I was hidden." + +There was a pause. Nancy's face was betraying her suspicions but she +uttered no word. + + * * * * * + +"Just once I was almost discovered," continued Mr. Sanders. "And that +was the other day when my cat--cried. Just then some one was passing--" + +"I was," blurted out Nancy. "And I heard you singing!" + +Every one laughed. + +"Was I singing, really?" asked the professor. "Well, I might have been +for I was surely very happy. The anemometer was working beautifully down +there, in my--cistern!" + +"Cistern!" Every one seemed to cry out the word. + +"He was in the cistern!" Nancy gasped. "That was where I heard +the--noises coming from!" + +"In the cistern!" + +It took some time for the older folks to realize the significance of the +revelation, but the girls and boys seemed instantly to understand. + +"Yes, and you would be surprised what fine quarters I've had there. I +have that nice, perfectly dry cistern actually furnished, even a rug on +the floor! Chairs and a table, a looking glass--oh, you are all invited +to inspect now," announced the professor cheerily, "for my precious +instrument has been safely shipped to the manufacturers, and I've been +able--" + +"He's paid me more than a thousand dollars," declared Mr. Townsend, +rising from his chair and addressing the house, "and I think it's only +fair that folks around here should know how well I've made out on my +investment." + +"Yes indeed," Miss Townsend chimed in, "if any body in Long Leigh has +heard me say I was worried about Brother Elmer's money affairs," she +sort of hesitated before framing that term, "I just want them to know +now that we've made more money by Mr. Sanders investment in six months, +than we would make in six years in this little store." + +A burst of applause followed this. And presently every one seemed to be +talking at once. The formality of the occasion was lost in a round of +enthusiastic interest; the men demanding to know more about the +invention, while the women and girls were keen to hear all about the +cistern. + +Sibyl was glad to tell them about the curious little work shop under the +ground, and she soon had a group of the young folks listening to her +story. + +"I thought it was awful, at first," she explained, "but, of course, I'm +used to father's peculiar experiments. He has invented some wonderful +instruments," she said this in a properly restrained voice. "They are +being used in the college observatories, where they make weather +predictions, you know," she pointed out. + +"And I did notice some little pipes sticking out of the sides of that +cistern box," Nancy now remembered. "I might have known, but I was too +surprised to investigate," she admitted frankly. + +"Really girls," Sibyl went on, "Dad has that cistern furnished like a +room. You walk down a little ladder, and sit on a regular chair--" + +"But isn't it dark?" Ruth wanted to know. + +"Oh, no. One whole side of the cover is glass, a side that is back away +from the opening," Sibyl told them. "No one would ever notice the glass +there. And besides that, father had cut the concrete away, over on one +side of the bowl, and there he made a little skylight. You would never +notice that either, as there are bushes all around it," she said. + +By this time Ted and Buster were demanding to be heard. They had tried +to get a hearing with the older folks, but according to Ted "the buzzing +there was worse than a bee fight." + +"And say, Nan," he called out now, "I just want to know about--about +what Nero was after down the cellar, you know." + +Mr. Sanders was trying to make his way toward the girls just then, so +Nancy delayed answering Ted. + +"And say, Ted," Mr. Sanders began. "About your dog. You needn't worry +that anyone will take him from you. That man who spoke to you used to be +care-taker at the old stone house. And he was supposed to look after +Nero, whose real name is Jason. That's the fellow who went after the +Golden Fleece you remember." + +"Jason?" repeated Ted. "Sounds like an auto fixer. I like Nero best." + +"All right, son," and Mr. Sanders gave Ted a friendly slap on the +shoulders. "Nero he shall be. But as I was saying, the man who was +expected to care for your dog hadn't done so, and he's got sort of +worried lately and wanted to get him back." + +"He can't have him," Ted defended stoutly. + +"No, that's right; he can't. And I told him so. He knows now that the +dog is in good hands, and that I'll answer any questions the Ellors +family care to ask about him." + +Ted's face was now beaming with joy. He had been so worried about Nero +that he simply wouldn't let the animal out of his protective sight for +days past. + +"And Mr. Sanders," he insisted, "night before last Nero saved us from a +flood. A water pipe broke right over there and Nero--made us all get +up--" + +"Night before last!" exclaimed the professor. + +"Yes; and Nancy turned off the water--" + +"That was the night I had my precious little air-meter right under this +chimney," said Mr. Sanders very slowly, "and if water had trickled +through the floor, down onto that, it would have been ruined." + +"Then, just as Ted says," Nancy spoke, "Nero really did save it, for +there was a regular flood around this hearth." + +"You must have seen me leaving the grounds that afternoon," Mr. Sanders +admitted. "I was sure you did, but I wasn't ready to tell my story--just +then. But Ted, I'll have to get you a fine collar for Nero--" + +The girls were begging Nancy to make an announcement. + +"Go on," urged Ruth. "They're all talking together and no one will +listen unless you get up on the step." + +With this and considerable more urging, Nancy finally mounted the step. +She smiled shyly at her mother as she passed along, for Mrs. Brandon, +like the other "principals," was having a busy time of it. + +"I just want to say," Nancy began with a little quaver in her voice, +"that we've prepared some little cakes and punch as samples of our +cooking class work, and we'll be glad to have you all stay and try +them." + +There was real applause at this, and mentioning the cooking class--was a +signal for another outburst of comment from the ladies. They all +believed in girls doing something during summer, and they did not +believe in girls "wasting" an entire vacation. + +"I think we ought to give a cheer for the girls," Mr. Sanders proposed. +"They have kept things going pretty lively around here this summer, just +lively enough to save me from having been discovered." + +"And I'd like to say a word," ventured timid Miss Manners. But the girls +would not permit her to do so, Nancy, especially being fearful that the +little lady's gratitude, for the domestic science class and for Mrs. +Brandon's hospitality might become embarrassing. + +"Any how," said Buster to Ted, "we can have our dog." + +"And a dandy new collar," appended Ted. + +Nancy was waiting a chance to finish her announcements, and in a little +lull she again called out: + +"Mr. Sanders and Miss Sanders are entertaining tomorrow evening at the +Waterfall House. Every body is invited! And you will be treated there to +some real samples of our cakes!" + +"Now I call that lov-el-lee," declared Miss Townsend, shaking her new +hat at every syllable. "And these cakes," (the girls were passing them) +"are de-lic-ious." + +Nancy was very happy. She tugged at her mother's arm and cuddled her +head against the loving shoulder, just as she had always done in her +great moments. + +"Isn't it lov-ell-lee, Mums," she whispered. + +"A complete--success!" murmured the mother. + +And the next morning half, if not all, of Long Leigh trooped up the hill +to inspect the wonderfully outfitted and "infitted" cistern, that had so +long escaped notice, on the grounds of the old, stone house. + +"I was going to look down that cistern first chance I got," Nancy +confessed. "But being successful is such a busy--business," she joked, +"that I think it will be a delightful change to begin a real vacation +with mother tomorrow." + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nancy Brandon, by Lilian Garis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45497 *** diff --git a/45497-h/45497-h.htm b/45497-h/45497-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..392100e --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-h/45497-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7988 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title>Nancy Brandon, by Lilian Garis</title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <meta content="images/cover.jpg" name="cover" /> + <meta name='DC.Title' content='Nancy Brandon' /> + <meta name='DC.Creator' content='Lilian Garis' /> + <meta name='DC.Language' 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text-indent:1em;margin-top:0.0em;margin-bottom:0.0em; } + .c010 { text-align:center;font-weight:normal;font-size:1.2em; + page-break-before:always;margin-top:4em; } + .c011 { border:none;border-bottom:1px solid silver;margin-top:0.8em; + margin-bottom:0.8em;margin-left:35%; width:30% } + .c012 { margin-top:1em;text-align:center; } + .nf-center { text-align:center; } + .nf-center-c0 { text-align:left;margin:0 0; } + .nf-center-c1 { text-align:left;margin:1em 0; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45497 ***</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic002'> +<a href='images/illus-fpc.jpg'><img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='frontispiece' class='ig002' /></a> +<p>They had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>NANCY BRANDON</span></div> + <div class='c000'>By</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='larger'>LILIAN GARIS</span></div> + <div class='c000'><i>Author of</i></div> + <div>“JOAN’S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE,†“GLORIA AT BOARDING</div> + <div>SCHOOL,†“CONNIE LORING’S AMBITION,â€</div> + <div>“BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER,â€</div> + <div>“CLEO’S MISTY RAINBOW,†ETC.</div> + <div class='c000'>ILLUSTRATED BY</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='larger'>THELMA GOOCH</span></div> + <div class='c001'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> + <div>PUBLISHERS NEW YORK</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><i>Copyright, 1924</i></div> + <div>By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY</div> + <div>Springfield, Massachusetts</div> + <div><i>All Rights Reserved</i></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='smaller'>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='c002'><span class='larger'>CONTENTS</span></div> + +<table class='c003' summary='Table of Contents'> +<tr><td class='c004'>I.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chI'><span class='sc'>The Girl and the Boy</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>II.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chII'><span class='sc'>Dinner Difficulties</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>III.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chIII'><span class='sc'>Belated Haste</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>IV.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chIV'><span class='sc'>New Friends</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>V.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chV'><span class='sc'>Original Plans</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>VI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chVI'><span class='sc'>Fair Play</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>VII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chVII'><span class='sc'>The Special Sale</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>VIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chVIII'><span class='sc'>Fish Hooks and Floaters</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>IX.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chIX'><span class='sc'>The Big Day</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>X.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chX'><span class='sc'>Still They Came</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXI'><span class='sc'>The Failure</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXII'><span class='sc'>The Virtue of Resolve</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXIII'><span class='sc'>Behind the Cloud</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XIV.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXIV'><span class='sc'>A Pleasant Surprise</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XV.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXV'><span class='sc'>Talking it Over</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XVI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXVI'><span class='sc'>Just Fishing</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XVII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXVII'><span class='sc'>The Cave-in</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XVIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXVIII'><span class='sc'>Introducing Nero</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XIX.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXIX'><span class='sc'>A Discovery</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XX.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXX'><span class='sc'>The Midnight Alarm</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XXI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXXI'><span class='sc'>For Value Deceived</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XXII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXXII'><span class='sc'>Tarts and Lady Fingers</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XXIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXXIII'><span class='sc'>The Story Told</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div> +<h1 class='c006'>NANCY BRANDON: ENTHUSIAST</h1> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chI' class='c007'>CHAPTER I<br /> <br />THE GIRL AND THE BOY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>The small kitchen was untidy. There +were boxes empty and some crammed with +loose papers, while a big clothes basket was +filled—with a small boy, who took turns rolling +it like a boat and bumping it up and +down like a flivver. Ted Brandon was +about eleven years old, full of boyhood’s importance +and bristling with boyhood’s +pranks.</p> + +<p class='c009'>His sister Nancy, who stood placidly reviewing +the confusion, was, she claimed, in +her teens. She was also just now in her +glory, for after many vicissitudes and uncertainties +they were actually moved into +the old Townsend place at Long Leigh.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re perfectly silly, Ted. You know +it’s simply a wonderful idea,†she proclaimed +loftily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do I.†There was no question in the +boy’s tone.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, you ought to. But, of course, +boys—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, there you go. Boys!!†No mistaking +this tone.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon, you ought to be ashamed +of yourself. To be so—so mean to mother.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mean to mother! Who said anything +about mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This is mother’s pet scheme.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Pretty queer scheme to keep us cooped +up all vacation.†He rocked the basket +vigorously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We won’t have to stay in much at all. +Why, just odd times, and besides—†Nancy +paused to pat her hair. She might have +patted it without pausing but her small +brother Ted would then have been less impressed +by her assumed dignity, “you see, +Teddy, I’m working for a principle. I +don’t believe that girls should do a bit more +housework than boys.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I know you believe that all-righty.†+Ted allowed himself to sigh but did not +pause to do so. He kept right on rocking +and snapping the blade of his pen-knife +open and shut, as if the snap meant something +either useful or amusing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I guess I know what I’m talking +about,†declared Nancy, “and now, even +mother has come around to agree with me. +She’s going right on with her office work +and you and I are to run this lovely little +shop.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You mean <em>you</em> are to run the shop and +<em>I’ll</em> wash the dishes.†Deepest scorn and +seething irony hissed through Teddy’s +words. He even flipped the pen-knife into +the sink board and nicked, but did not break, +the apple-sauce dish.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course you must do your part.†+Nancy lifted up two dishes and set them +down again.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And yours, if you have your say. Oh, +what’s the use of talkin’ to girls?†Ted +tumbled out of the basket, pushed it over +until it banged into a soap box, then +straightening up his firm young shoulders, +he prepared to leave the scene.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s no use talking to girls, Ted,†+replied his sister, “if you don’t talk sense.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sense!†He jammed his cap upon his +head although he didn’t have any idea of +wearing it on this beautiful day. The fact +was, Teddy and Nancy were disagreeing. +But there really wasn’t anything unusual +about that, for their natures were different, +they saw things differently, and if they had +been polite enough to agree they would +simply have been fooling each other.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy smiled lovingly, however, at the +boy, as he banged the door. What a darling +Ted was! So honest and so scrappy! Of +all things hateful to Nancy Brandon a +“sissy†boy, as she described a certain type, +was the worst.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I suppose,†she ruminated serenely, +“the old breakfast dishes have got to be +done.†Another lifting up and setting +down of a couple of china pieces, but further +than that Nancy made not the slightest +headway. A small mirror hung in a small +hall between the long kitchen and the store. +Here Nancy betook herself and proceeded +again to pat her dark hair.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She was the type of girl described as willowy, +because that word is prettier than +some others that might mean tall, lanky, +boneless and agile. Nancy had black hair +that shone with crow-black luster in spite of +its pronounced curl. Her eyes were dark, +snappy and meaningful. They could mean +love, as when Ted slammed the door, or they +could mean danger, as when a boy kicked the +black and white kitten. Then again they +could mean devotion, as when Nancy beheld +her idolized little mother who was a business +woman as well, and in that capacity, +Nancy’s model.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A tingle at the bell that was set for the +store alarm, sent the girl dancing away from +the looking-glass.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Funniest thing about a store,†she told +herself, “there’s always someone to buy +things you haven’t got.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The catch was on the screen door and, as +Nancy approached it, she discerned outside, +the figure of an elderly woman. It was +Miss Sarah Townsend from whom her +mother had bought the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, good morning, Miss Townsend. I +keep the door fastened when I’m alone, as +I might be busy in the kitchen,†apologized +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s right, dear, that’s right. And I +wouldn’t be too much alone if I were you,†+cautioned the woman who was stepping in +with the air of proprietorship, and with her +little brown dog sniffing at her heels. +“Don’t you keep your brother with you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted? Oh yes, sometimes. But he’s a +little boy, you know, Miss Townsend, and +he must enjoy his vacation.†Nancy was +making friends with Tiny, the dog, but after +a polite sniff or two Tiny was off frisking +about happily, as any dog might be expected +to do when returning to his old-time home.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend surveyed Nancy critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course your brother is a little boy,†+she said, “but what about you? You’re +only a little girl.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Little! Why I’m much stronger than +Ted, and years older,†declared Nancy, +pulling herself up to her fullest height.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The woman smiled tolerantly. She wore +glasses so securely fixed before her deep-set +eyes that they seemed like a very feature of +her face. She was a capable looking, elderly +woman, and rather comely, but she +was, as Nancy had quickly observed, “hopelessly +old-fashioned.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t anything fixed up yet,†said +Nancy apologetically. “You see, mother +goes to business and that leaves the store +and the house to me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. She explained in taking our place +that she was doing it to give you a chance to +try business. But for a girl so young—Come +back here, Tiny,†she ordered the +sniffing, snuffing, frisky little dog.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If I’m going to be a business woman +I’ve got to start in,†interrupted Nancy. +“They say it’s never too early to start at +<em>housework</em>.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But that’s different. Every girl has to +know how to keep house,†insisted Miss +Townsend. She was busy straightening a +box of spools that lay upon the little +counter, but from her automatic actions it +was perfectly evident that Miss Townsend +didn’t know she was doing anything.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can’t see why,†retorted Nancy. +“Just look at mother. What would she +have done with us if she hadn’t understood +business?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend sighed. “Being a widow, +my dear—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I may be a widow too,†breezed +Nancy. “In fact I’m sure to, for everyone +says I’m so much like mother. Do let me +fix that box of spools, Miss Townsend. +Someone came in for linen thread last night +and Teddy looked for it. I’m sure he gave +them a ball of cord, for all the cord was +scattered around too.†She put the cover +on the thread box. “Boys are rather poor +at business, I think, especially boys of +Teddy’s age,†orated the important Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend agreed without saying so. +She was looking over the little place in a +fidgety, nervous way. Nancy quickly decided +this was due to regret that she had +given the place up, and therefore sought to +make her feel at ease.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The little brown dog had curled himself +up in front of the fireplace on a piece of rug, +evidently his own personal property. The +fireplace was closed up and the stove set +back against it, out of the way for summer, +and handy-by for winter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy smiled at the woman who was moving +about in a sort of aimless restlessness.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It must seem natural to you to be around +here,†Nancy ventured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, after thirty years—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thirty years!†repeated Nancy, incredulously. +“Did you and your brother live +here all that time?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes.†A prolonged sigh brought Miss +Townsend down on the old hickory chair +that stood by the door, just out of the way +of possible customers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Brother Elmer and I kept on here after +mother died. In fact, so far as I was concerned, +we might have gone on until we died, +but there was a little trouble—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just like me and my brother, I suppose,†+intervened Nancy, kindly. “We +love each other to death, and yet we are +always scrapping.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“In children’s way, but that’s different, +very different,†insisted Miss Townsend. +“With me and Elmer,†she sighed again, +“it became a very, very serious matter.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh,†faltered Nancy. Things were becoming +uncomfortable. That kitchen work +would be growing more formidable, and +Nancy had really wanted to settle the store. +She would love to do that, to put all the +little things in their places, or in new places, +as she would surely find a new method for +their arrangement. She hurried over to +the corner shelves.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hope no one comes in until I get the +place fixed up,†she remarked. “Mother +doesn’t intend to buy much new stock until +she sees how we get along.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s wise,†remarked Miss Townsend. +“I suppose I know every stick in the place,†+she looked about critically, “and yet I could +be just as interested. I wonder if you +wouldn’t like me to help you fix things up? +I’d just love to do it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Now this was exactly what Nancy did +not want. In fact, she was wishing +earnestly that the prim Miss Townsend +would take herself off and leave her to do as +she pleased.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s kind of you, I’m sure,†she said, +“but the idea was that I should be manager +from the start,†Nancy laughed lightly to +justify this claim, “and I’m sure mother +would be better pleased if I put the shop in +order. You can come in and see me again +when I’m all fixed up,†(this gentle hint was +tactful, thought Nancy) “and then you can +tell me what you think of me as the manager +of the Whatnot Shop.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend was actually poking in the +corner near the hearth shelf where matches, +in a tin container, were kept. She heard +Nancy but did not heed her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Looking for something?†the girl asked +a little sharply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Looking?†Yes, that is—“Tiny keep +down there,†she ordered. “I can’t see +what has got into that dog of late. It was +one of the things that Elmer and I were +constantly fussing over. Tiny won’t let +any one touch things near this chimney +without barking his head off. Now just +watch.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>As she went to the shelf back of the stove +the dog sprang alongside of her. He barked +in the happy fashion that goes with rapid +tail wagging, and Nancy quickly decided +that the dog knew a secret of the old +chimney.</p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic003'> +<a href='images/illus-012.jpg'><img src='images/illus-012.jpg' alt='' class='ig003' /></a> +<p>Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Again Miss Townsend pretended to take +things out of the stove, and Tiny all but +jumped into the low, broad door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, isn’t that—uncanny?†asked the +woman, plainly bewildered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no, I don’t think so,†said Nancy. +“All dogs have queer little tricks like +that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do they? I’m glad to hear you say so,†+sighed Miss Townsend, once more picking +up a small box of notions. “You must excuse +me, my dear. You see the habit of a +life time—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that’s all right, Miss Townsend, I +didn’t mean to hurry you,†spoke up Nancy. +“But the morning goes so quickly, and +mother may come home to lunch.†This +possibility brought real anxiety to Nancy. +If she had only slicked up the kitchen instead +of arguing with Teddy. After all the +plagued old housework did take some time, +she secretly admitted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Miss Townsend laid down the unfinished +roll of lace edging, although she had +most carefully rolled all but a very small +end, walked over to Nancy, who was just +attempting to dust out a tray, and in the +most tragic voice said:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy, I think you really have a lot of +sense.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy chuckled. “I hope so, Miss +Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I mean to say, that I think you can be +trusted.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†stammered Nancy, forcing back +another chuckle, “I hope so, to that too, Miss +Townsend.†She was surprised at the +woman’s manner and puzzled to understand +its meaning. The dog was again snoozing +on the rug.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s sit down,†suggested Miss +Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right,†faltered Nancy, in despair +now of ever catching up on the delayed +work.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You see, it’s this way,†began the +woman, making room for herself in the big +chair that was serving as storage quarters +for Teddy’s miscellany. “Some people are +very proud—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was simply choking with +impatience.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I mean to say, they are so proud they +won’t or can’t ever give in to each other.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Stubborn,†suggested Nancy. “I’m +that way sometimes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And brother and sister,†sighed Miss +Townsend. “I never could believe that +Elmer, my own brother, could, be so—unreasonable.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, what’s the matter?†Nancy spoke +up. “You seem so unhappy.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Unhappy is no name for it, I’m +wretched.†The distress shown on Miss +Townsend’s face was now unmistakable. +Nancy forgot even the unwashed breakfast +dishes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can I help you?†she asked kindly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, you can. What I want is to come +in here sometimes—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, if you’re lonely for your old +place,†interrupted Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It isn’t that. In fact I just can’t explain,†+said Miss Townsend, picking up her +hand bag, nervously. “But I’m no silly +woman. We’ve agreed to sell this place to +your mother and I’m the last person in the +world to make a nuisance of myself.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You needn’t worry about that,†again +Nancy intervened, sympathetically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are a kind girl, Nancy Brandon, +and I guess your mother has made no mistake +in buying the Whatnot Shop for you. +You’ll be sure to make friends, and that’s +what counts next to bargains, in business,†+declared the woman, who had risen from the +big chair and was staring at Nancy in the +oddest way.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If I had a chance—†again the woman +paused and bit her thin lip. She seemed to +dread what she evidently must say.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll be busy here tomorrow,†suggested +Nancy briskly, “and then perhaps you +would like to help me. But I really would +like to get the rough dirt out first. Then +we can put things to rights.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The fact is,†continued Miss Townsend, +without appearing to hear Nancy’s suggestion, +“I have a suspicion.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A suspicion? About this—store?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, and about my brother. He’s an old +man and we’ve never had any real trouble +before, but I’m sorry to say, I can’t believe +he’s telling me the truth about an important +matter. That is, it’s a very important matter +to me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh,†said Nancy lamely. She was +beginning to have doubts of Miss Townsend’s +mental balance.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, Elmer is a good man. He’s been +a good brother, but there are some things—†+(a long, low, breathful sigh,) “some things +we have individual opinions about. And, +well, so you won’t think me queer if I ask +you to let me tidy the shop?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why—no, of course not, Miss Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thank you, thank you, Nancy Brandon,†+emotion was choking her words. She +was really going now and Tiny with her. +“And perhaps it would be just as well not to +say anything about it if my brother should +drop in,†concluded the strange woman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, do you suppose he will?†asked bewildered +Nancy. “I mean, will he drop +in?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s apt to. Elmer is a creature of +habit and he’s been around here a long time, +you know.†The dark eyes were glistening +behind the gold framed glasses. Miss Townsend +was still preparing to depart.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy opened the screen door and out +darted Tiny.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good-bye, my dear, for the present,†+murmured Miss Townsend, “and I hope you +and your mother and your brother will—be +happy—here,†she choked on the words +and Nancy had an impression of impending +tears. “We wouldn’t have sold out, we +<em>shouldn’t</em> have sold out, but for Elmer +Townsend’s foolishness.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Back went the proud head until the lace +collar on Sarah Townsend’s neck was jerked +out of place, a rare thing indeed to happen +to that prim lady.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good-bye,†said Nancy gently, “and +come again, Miss Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, yes, dear, I shall.â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chII' class='c010'>CHAPTER II<br /> <br />DINNER DIFFICULTIES</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Nancy jerked her cretonne apron first one +way and then the other. Then she kicked +out a few steps, still pondering. When +Nancy was thinking seriously she had to be +acting. This brought her to the conclusion +that she should hurry out to the porch and +look after Miss Townsend, but she had decided +upon that move too late, for the lady +in the voile dress was just turning the corner +into Bender Street.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy’s face was a bed of smiles. They +were tucked away in the corners of her +mouth, they blinked out through her eyes +and were having lots of fun teasing her two +deep cheek dimples. She was literally all +smiles.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What a lark! Won’t Ted howl? The +dog and the—the chimney secret,†she +chuckled. “And dogs know. You can’t +fool them.†She came back into the store +and gazed ruefully at the squatty stove that +mutely stood guard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t suppose mother will want that +left there all summer,†Nancy further +considered. “It might just as well be put +out in the shed, and the store would look lots +better.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She could not help thinking of Miss Townsend’s +strange visit. The lady was unmistakably +worried, and her worry surely had +to do with the Whatnot Shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I do hope we don’t run into any old +spooky stories about this place,†Nancy +pondered, “for mother hates that sort of +thing and so do I—if they’re the foolish, +silly kind,†she admitted, still staring at the +questionable fireplace.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What-ever can Miss Townsend want to +be around here for? No hidden treasures +surely, or she would say so and start in to +dig them up,†decided the practical Nancy. +The clock struck one!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“One o’clock!†she said this aloud. “Of +course it isn’t,†laughed the girl. “That +clock has been going since the moving and it +hasn’t unpacked its strike carefully. But, +just the same, it must be eleven o’clock, and +as for the morning’s work! However shall +I catch up?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>One hour later Ted was in looking for +lunch. He had been out “exploring†and +had, he explained, met some fine fellows who +were “brigand scouts.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m goin’ to join,†he declared. +“They’re goin’ to let me in and I’m goin’ to +bring a lot of my things over to the den.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Den?†questioned Nancy. “Where’s +that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Secret,†answered Ted. “An’ anyhow, +it isn’t for girls.†This was said in a pay-you-back +manner that Nancy quickly challenged.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right. Very well. Just as you +say, keep it secret if you like,†she taunted, +“but I’ve got a real one.†The potatoes +were burning but neither of the children +seemed to care.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted looked closely at his sister and was +convinced. She really was serious. Then +too, everything was on end, no dinner ready, +nothing done, the place all boxes, just as +they were when he left. Something must +have been going on all morning, reasoned +Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good thing mother didn’t come home, +Sis,†he remarked amicably. “Say, how +about—chow?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Chow?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. Don’t you know that means food +in the military, and I’m as starved as a +bear.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, why don’t you get something to +eat? I understood we were to camp, share +and share alike,†Nancy reminded him, giving +the simmering potatoes a shake that sent +the little pot-cover flying to the floor.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That was your idea. But mother said +you had to be sure we ate our meals,†+contended Ted. “I’ll get the meat. It’s meat +balls, isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It will be, I suppose, when <em>I</em> make them,†+said Nancy, deliberately shoving everything +from one end of the table with a sweep that +rattled together dishes, glasses and various +other breakable articles.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was no doubt about it, Nancy +Brandon did hate housework. Every thing +she did was done with that degree of scorn +absolutely fatal to the result. Perhaps this +was just why her mother was allowing her +to try out the pet summer scheme.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’d go mad if I had to stick in a +kitchen,†Nancy declared theatrically. +“I’m so glad we’ve got the store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we can’t eat the store,†replied Ted. +“Here’s the meat. Do get it going, Sis. +I’ve got to get back to the fellows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! You’ve got to help <em>me</em> +this afternoon. Do you think, for one instant, +I’m going to do everything?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“'Course not, I’ll do my share,†promised +the unsuspecting boy. “But just today +we’ve got something big on. Here’s the +meat.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Big or little you have just got to help +me, Ted. Look at this place! It seems to +me things walk out of the boxes and heap +themselves up all over. Now, we didn’t +take those pans out, did we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t know, don’t think so. But here’s +a good one. It’s the meat kind, isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. Give it here.†Nancy took from +his hand a perfectly flat iron griddle. “I’ll +fix up the cakes if you make place on the +table. We’ll eat out here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right.†Ted flew to the task. “But +you know, Sis, mother said we might eat in +that sun porch. It’s a dandy place to read. +Look at the windows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy had flattened the chopped meat into +four balls and was pressing them on the +griddle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There. What did you do with the +potatoes?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nothing. I didn’t take them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we had potatoes—†She lighted +the gas under the meat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure. I smelled them burning.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, hunt around and see if you can +smell them now,†ordered Ted’s sister. “I +can’t eat meat without potatoes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted dropped his two plates and actually +went sniffing about in search of the lost food. +Meanwhile Nancy was standing at the stove, +a magazine in one hand and the griddle +handle in the other. Her eyes, however, +were not upon the griddle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently the meat was sizzling and its +odor cheered Ted considerably.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t let’s mind the potatoes,†he suggested. +“I can’t find them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can’t find them? And I peeled three! +We’ve <em>got</em> to find them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then you look and I’ll stir the meat.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It doesn’t have to be stirred.†But +Nancy stood over the stove just the same.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then what are you watching it for?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So it won’t burn, like the potatoes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe they all burned up.†Ted didn’t +care much for potatoes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, don’t be silly. Where’s the pan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Which pan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ted Brandon! The potato pan, of +course!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Nancy Brandon! What potato pan, +of course! Has it got a name on it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy dropped her magazine on a littered +chair, in sheer disgust. She realized the +meat was cooking; (it splattered and spluttered +merrily on the shallow griddle,) and +she too was hungry. Ted might be satisfied +to eat just bread and meat, but she simply +had to have freshly cooked potatoes. +Wasn’t housework awful? Especially +cooking?</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a jangle of the store bell, actually +some one coming at that critical moment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, dear!†groaned Nancy. “What a +nuisance! I suppose I’ll have to go—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But the meat?†Ted was getting desperate.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s almost ready.†Nancy wiped her +hands on the dish towel and hurried to the +store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A man!†she announced, as she went to +open the screen door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted left his post and cautiously stole after +her. A customer was a real novelty and +Ted didn’t want to miss the excitement. A +pleasant voice filled in the moment. A +gentleman was talking to Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m glad to find some one in,†he was +saying. “Since my friend, Elmer Townsend, +left here I’ve been rather—that is, I’ve +missed the little place,†explained the man. +Ted could see that he was very tall and +looked, he thought, like a school teacher, +having no hat on and not much hair +either.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ve just been unpacking,†Nancy replied. +She was conscious of the confusion +in the store as well as she had been of things +upset in the kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†drawled the man, stepping behind +the counter. “It will take you some +time to go over everything. But you see, +Mr. Townsend and I are great friends, and +I know where most of the things are kept. +You don’t mind if I take a look for a ball of +twine?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, certainly not,†agreed Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can get you that,†spoke up Ted. “I +had it out last night,†and he jumped behind +the counter to the littered cord and twine +box.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy pulled herself up to that famous +height of hers. She smelled—something +burning!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted!†she screamed. “It’s a-fire! The +kitchen! I see the blaze!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The meat!†yelled Ted, springing over +the low counter and following his sister toward +the smoke filling place.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh-h-h-!†Nancy continued to yell. +“What shall we do!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t get excited,†ordered the stranger. +“And don’t go near that blazing pan. Let +me go in there,†and he brushed Nancy aside +making his way into the untidy place, which +now seemed, to the frightened girl, all in +flames.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The meat—gosh!†moaned poor Ted, for +the stranger had opened the back door, and +having grabbed the flaming pan with that +same towel Nancy had tossed on the chair, +he was now tossing the blazing pan as far out +from the house as his best fling permitted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There!†he exclaimed, brushing one +hand with the other. “I guess we’re safe +now.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, thank you, Mister, Mister—†Nancy +waited for him to supply the name, but he +only smiled broadly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just call me Sam,†he said pleasantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sam?†echoed Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, sonny. Isn’t that all right?†asked +the stranger.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were within the cluttered kitchen +now and, as is usually the case with girls of +Nancy’s temperament, she was much distressed +at the looks of the place. In fact, +she was making frantic but futile efforts to +right things.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What’s the matter with Sam?†again +asked the man, curiously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, nothing,†replied Ted. “Only it +isn’t your name.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No? How do you know?†persisted the +stranger, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You don’t look like a Sam,†said Ted, +kicking one heel against the other to hide +his embarrassment. He hadn’t intended +saying all that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The man laughed heartily, and for the +moment Nancy forgot the upset kitchen. +But the dinner!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hope your dinner isn’t gone,†remarked +the stranger who wanted to be called +Sam.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no,†replied Nancy laconically, +avoiding Ted’s discouraged look. “That +was only some—some meat we were cooking.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can’t keep house and 'tend store without +spoiling something. But I feel it was +somewhat my fault. Suppose we lock up +and trot down to the corner for a dish of ice +cream?†he suggested. “It’s just warm +enough today for cream; don’t you think +so?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, let’s!†chirped Ted. A hungry boy +is ever an object of pity.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You go,†suggested Nancy, “but I think +I had better stay here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no. You’ve got to come along. Let +me see. If you call me Uncle Sam what +shall I call you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m Nancy Brandon and this is my +brother Ted,†replied Nancy. “But I’d +like much better to call you by your real +name.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Real name,†and he laughed again. “I +see we are going to be critical friends. Now +then, since you insist Sam won’t do suppose +we make it Sanders. Mr. Sanders. How +does that name suit?†and he clapped Ted’s +shoulders jovially.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then Mr. Sanders, you and Ted go along +and get your cream. I really must attend to +things here,†insisted Nancy. “We are all +so upset and mother will expect us to have +things in some sort of order.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Sis, come along†begged Ted. +“I’ll help you when we get back. It won’t +take a minute.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Hunger is a poor argument against food, +and presently the back door was locked, the +front door was locked, and the two Brandons +with the man who called himself Mr. +Sanders, because they refused to call him +Uncle Sam, were making tracks for the ice +cream store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Burnt potatoes, burnt meat with ice cream +for dessert, thought Nancy. But she was +still convinced that business was more important +than housekeeping.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Glad we didn’t burn up,†remarked Ted, +as he trotted along beside Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Never want to throw water on burning +grease,†they were advised. “And always +keep a thing at full arm’s length, if you must +pick it up. Of course, if you turned out the +gas and pushed the pan well in on the stove +it would eventually burn out, but think of +the smoke!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You bet!†declared Ted, as they reached +the little country ice cream parlor. Two +girls, whom Nancy had seen several times +since she came to Long Leigh, were just +leaving the place and she thought they +looked at her very curiously as they passed +out. Then, she distinctly heard one of them +say:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Fancy! With him!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy knew she had made some +sort of mistake in accepting the well-intentioned +invitation.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER III<br /> <br />BELATED HASTE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Instinctively Nancy sought a sheltered +corner of the ice cream room. She was +greatly embarrassed to have come along the +road with a stranger whom she knew nothing +about, and now she was determined to +leave him alone with Teddy. There must +be something odd about him, to have drawn +that remark from the girls. Nancy looked +at him critically from her place below the +decorated looking glass, and decided he did +appear queer to her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I’m just starved,†she told herself, +“and I’ve got to have something to eat.†+The girl in the gingham dress, with a great +wide muslin apron, took an order for cake +and cream and a glass of milk. Fortunately, +Nancy had her purse along with her. +That much, at least, she had already learned +about being a business woman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Teddy was chatting gaily with the man +down near the door. They seemed to be +having a great time over their stories, and +Nancy rightly suspected the stories concerned +Ted’s favorite sport, camping.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She ate her lunch rather solemnly. +Everything seemed to be going wrong, but +the escape from fire, with the frying meat +on a shallow griddle, was surely something +to be thankful for.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Oh, well! Only half a day had been lost, +and she really couldn’t have done more when +Miss Townsend took all that precious time +with her lamentations.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend! Nancy sipped the last +of her milk as she reflected on the little dog’s +interest in the old fireplace. Of course, +Miss Townsend would come again, and Tiny +would always be along with her. And +Nancy hadn’t yet told Ted about that experience.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just buying a country store didn’t seem +to mean buying a lot of freaks along with +the bargain,†Nancy speculated. “And +now here’s Mr. Baldy who wants to be called +after Uncle Sam, going right in back of my +counter and helping himself—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ready, Sis!†called out Teddy, as he +waited for Mr. Sanders to pay his bill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You go along, Ted,†called back Nancy. +“I’ve got to stop some place, but I’ll be there +in time to open the door for you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted never questioned one of those queer +decisions of Nancy’s. He knew how useless +such a thing would be; so off he went with +the man in the short sleeved shirt, while +Nancy tarried long enough to give them a +fair start.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, easily finding a way through the +fields, she raced off herself, although getting +through thick hedges and climbing an occasional +rail fence, proved rather tantalizing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In front of the store she found Mr. Sanders +just leaving Ted. They were both talking +and laughing as if the acquaintance had +proved highly satisfactory, but it irritated +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, I suppose, <em>he’ll</em> come snooping +around,†she grumbled. “Well, there’s one +thing certain, I’m not going to keep an old-fashioned +country store. No hanging +around my cracker barrels,†she told herself, +although there was not, and likely never +would be a cracker barrel in the Whatnot +Shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Once more left to themselves, the burnt +dinner was not referred to, as Ted helped at +last to clear up the disordered kitchen. Not +even the lost potatoes came in for mention as +brother and sister “made things fly,†as +most belated workers find themselves +obliged to do.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here, Ted, get the broom.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted grabbed the broom.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, let me sweep. You empty those +baskets of excelsior.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. Can we burn it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, never. No more fire for us,†+groaned Nancy. “Just dump the stuff some +where.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we can’t, Sis,†objected Ted. +“Mother 'specially said nothing could be +dumped around.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, do anything you like with it, but +just get it out of the way,†and Nancy’s excited +broom made jabs and stabs at corners +without quite reaching them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted was much more methodical. He +really would do things right, if only Nancy +would give him a chance. Just now he was +carefully packing the excelsior in a big +clothes basket.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You know, Nan,†he remarked, “Mr. +Sanders is awfully funny.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How funny?†asked Nancy crisply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, he knows an awful lot.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He ought to, he’s bald headed,†answered +Nancy, implying there-by that Mr. +Sanders was an old man and ought to be +wise.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is he?†asked Ted innocently.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For lands sake! Ted Brandon!†exclaimed +Nancy. “Can’t you think what +you’re saying? Is he what?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The thread of the argument thus entirely +lost, Ted just crammed away at the excelsior.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m just dying to get at the store,†said +Nancy next. “I want to fix that all up so +that mother will buy more things to put in +stock.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She’s going to bring home fishing rods. +I’m goin’ to have a corner for sport stuff, +you know,†Ted reminded the whirl-wind +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes, of course, that’s all right. But +we’ll have to see which corner we can spare +best. The store isn’t any too big, is it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Big enough,†agreed the affable boy. +“And I’ll bet, Nan, we’ll have heaps of sport +around here this summer. There’s fine fellows +over by the big hill. That’s more of +a summer place than this is, I guess.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where does your friend Uncle Sam +live?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You mean Mr. Sanders. Why, he didn’t +say, but he went up the hill toward that +old stone place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. I wouldn’t wonder but he would +live in an old stone place,†echoed Nancy +sarcastically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, don’t you like him?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Like him?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I mean—do you hate him?†laughed +Ted. His basket was filled and he was gathering +up the loose ends of the splintered +fibers upon a tin cover.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t like him and I don’t hate him, +but I do hope he won’t come snooping +around <em>my</em> store,†returned Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Teddy stopped short with a frying pan +raised in mid air. He swung it at an imaginary +ball, then put it down in the still +packed peach basket.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, Nan,†he protested, “don’t you go +kickin’ up any fuss about Mr. Sanders. +He always came around here; he’s a great +friend of the Townsends.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon!†Nancy flirted the dust +brush at the gas stove, “do you think I am +going to take all that with this store? Did +we buy all the Townsends’ old—old cronies +along with the Whatnot Shop?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s someone,†Ted interrupted, as +the store bell jangled timidly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you go please, Ted,†begged Nancy, +who had glimpsed girls’ skirts without. +“I’m too untidy to tend store this afternoon.â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chIV' class='c010'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <br />NEW FRIENDS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Nancy never looked as untidy as she +really felt. In fact, she always looked “interesting +and human,†as her friends might +say, but she was sensitive about the disorder +she pretended to despise. Now, here were +those two girls! She simply could not go in +the store as she looked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re all right,†Ted insisted, as they +both listened to the jangling bell. “You +look good in that yellow dress.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good?†she took time to correct. “You +mean—something else. And it isn’t yellow,†+she countered. “But please, Ted, you +go. There’s a dear. I’ll do something for +you—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted started off dutifully. “But I won’t +know,†he argued.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Run along, like a dear,†whispered +Nancy, for persons were now within the +store, she could easily hear them talking +and could even see their reflections in the +little hall mirror.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted went. He was such a good-natured +boy, and Nancy was glad to notice once more +“so good-looking.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>After exchanging a few questions and answers +with the girls in the store, Ted was +presently back again in the kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Blue silk!†he sort of hissed at Nancy. +“They want—<em>blue silk</em>.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t any. Tell them we’re out of +it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted went forth with a protest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A few seconds later he again confronted +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Blue <em>twist</em> then. What ever on earth is +blue <em>twist?</em>â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t any!†Nancy told him +sharply. “We’re all out of sewing stuff, +except black and white.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you come on. They’re just +laughin’ at me. It’s your store. You go +ahead and 'tend it.†Ted was on a strike +now. He wasn’t going to be that kind of +store keeper. Twist and silk!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I’m so dirty,†complained Nancy, +brushing at her skirt and then patting her +disordered hair. She had been rushing +around at a mad rate since noon hour and +naturally felt untidy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, any how, go tell them,†suggested +Ted. “They’re just girls like you. You +needn’t worry about your looks.†His eyes +paid Nancy a decided compliment with the +careless speech. Evidently she was not the +only one who found good looks in the family.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Out in the store the girls were waiting, +and when she finally walked up to them, +Nancy was instantly at ease.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, hello!†greeted the stouter one. +She was genuinely pleasant and Nancy at +once liked her. “You’re the girl we’ve been +trying to meet. This is Vera Johns and I’m +Ruth Ashley. We live over on North Road +and we’ve been wanting to meet you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m Nancy Brandon,†replied Nancy +pleasantly, “and I’m glad to meet you, too. +I was wondering if I would get acquainted +away out here. Won’t you sit down? +Here’s a bench,†brushing aside the papers. +“It takes so long to get things straightened +out.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The girls murmured their understanding +of the moving problem, and after Teddy +had called out from the back door, that he +was going “over to see the fellows,†all three +girls settled down to chat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is it really your own store?†asked +Ruth. She had reddish-brown hair, gray +eyes and the brightest smile.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†replied Nancy. “Just a little +summer experiment. You see, I perfectly +despise housework and mother believes I +should learn something practical. I just +begged for a little country store. I’ve always +been so interested reading about +them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How quaint!†murmured Vera Johns. +Her tone of voice seemed so affected that +Nancy glanced quickly at her. Was she +fooling? Could any girl mean so senseless +a remark as “How quaint!†to Nancy’s telling +of her practical experiment?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do you mean,†murmured Nancy, +“why, just—how quaint?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, isn’t it?†Vera again sort of lisped. +At this Nancy was convinced. Vera was +that sort of girl. She would be apt to say +any silly little thing that had the fewest +words in it. Just jerky little exclamations, +such as Nancy’s mother had taught her to +avoid as affectations.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Vera’s hair was of a toneless blonde hue, +cut “classic†and plastered down like that +of an Egyptian slave. Her eyes, Nancy noticed +were a faded blue, and her form—Nancy +hoped that she, being tall herself, +did not sag at all corners, as did Vera Johns.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it’s a wonderful idea,†chimed +in Ruth, “to have a chance really to try out +business. Just as you say, Nancy, we learn +to wash doll dishes as soon as we can reach +a kitchen chair. Then why shouldn’t we +learn to make and count pennies as early as +we possibly can?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do you hate housework too, Ruth?†+Nancy asked, hoping for the joy of finding a +mutual understanding. “Are you also anxious +to try business?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hate housework, abhor it,†admitted +Ruth, dimpling prettily, “but mother says +we just have to get used to it, so we won’t +know we’re doing it. You would be surprised, +Nancy, how easy it is to wash dishes +and dream of babbling brooks.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really!†That was Vera again. “I +adore dishes, but I won’t dream of bobbling +brooks, ever.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Bobbling,†repeated Ruth. “That’s +good, Vera. I suppose they bobble more +than they babble. But I guess you’re not +much of a dreamer, Vera,†she finished, in +a doubtful compliment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was amused. Ruth was going to be +“good fun†and Vera was already proving +a pretty good joke. Their acquaintance +was surely promising, and Nancy responded +fittingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She had time to notice in detail each of +these new friends. Ruth was dimply and +just fat enough to be happily plump. She +also was correspondingly sunny in her disposition. +She wore her hair twisted into +three or four “Spring Maids†and it gave +her the effect of short, curled hair. Her +summer dress was a simple blue ratine, and +Nancy admired it frankly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Vera was affected in manner, in style, in +dress and every way. Her hair was so arranged +Nancy couldn’t be sure just how it +was done, but it looked like a model in a hairdresser’s +window. Also, she wore, bound +around it a Roman ribbon, with a wonderful +assortment of rainbow colors. Her costume +was sport, with a very fancy jacket and a +light silk and wool plaid skirt. That she +had plenty of money was rather too obviously +apparent, and Nancy wondered just +how she and Ruth were connected.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were inspecting the newly acquired +little store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you are the manager, the proprietor—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The clerk and the cashier,†Nancy interrupted +Ruth. “I’ve always loved to play +store, so now, mother says, she hopes I’ll be +satisfied. But this is a very old-timey place. +I don’t see how the Townsends ever made +it pay.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Miss Townsend is a queer old lady,†replied +Ruth. “I guess of late years they +didn’t have to worry about making things +pay in the store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why Ruthie!†exclaimed Vera. “Don’t +you know every body says they went bankrupt?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that,†laughed Ruth. “I guess Mr. +Townsend lent out his money and couldn’t +get it back handy.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But he and his sister had a perfectly desperate +fight over it,†insisted Vera, eyes +wide with curious interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Desperate,†repeated Ruth, as if trying +to give Nancy a cue to Vera’s queer vocabulary. +“I can imagine their sort of desperate +fight. Sister Sarah would say to +Brother Elmer: 'Elmer dear, you really +can’t mean a thing like that,’†imitated +Ruth, “and Brother Elmer would clasp and +unclasp his thin hands as he replied: 'I’m +sorry, Sister Sarah, but it looks that way.’â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth and Nancy laughed merrily as the +little sketch ended.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s about how desperate those two +would fight,†Ruth declared.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then why did they sell out?†demanded +Vera. “Every body knows they lost everything.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t actually bought the place,†+Nancy explained, “just have an option on it. +You see, we had to go to the country every +summer, and mother thought this might suit +us. It is so convenient for her to commute, +and Ted and I can’t get into a lot of mischief +in a place like this. So it seems, at +least,†she hastened to add.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, if you let your brother go around +with that queer old fellow we saw him with +today, he may get into mischief,†intimated +Vera, mysteriously, with a wag of her +bobbed head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders? What’s the matter with +Mr. Sanders?†demanded Nancy, rather +sharply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh talk, talk, and gossip,†Ruth interposed. +“Just because he sees fit to keep his +business to himself—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You know perfectly well, Ruth, that is +more than gossip,†insisted Vera.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What is? What’s the mystery?†again +demanded Nancy, dropping her box of lead +pencils rather suddenly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†drawled Vera, getting up with a +tantalizing deliberateness, “if you were to +see a person in front of you one minute and +have him vanish the next—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A peal of laughter from Nancy broke in +rudely upon Vera’s recitation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†Vera added, in a hurt tone. +“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, but +just wait and see.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Disappearing Dick?†chanted Nancy +gaily. “Do you mean to say he’s one of +those so-called miracle men?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no, nothing of the sort,†protested +Ruth. “But there is something—different +about him. A lot of people say he does disappear, +but of course, there’s nothing uncanny +about it. It’s probably just clever,†+Ruth tried to explain.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Rather,†drawled Vera.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy could not suppress an impolite +but insistent chuckle.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chV' class='c010'>CHAPTER V<br /> <br />ORIGINAL PLANS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>During the next half hour the girls busied +themselves playing store. Ruth was almost +as keenly interested in the little place as was +Nancy, herself, but it was noticeable that +Vera was more curious. She poked into the +farthest corners, even opening obscure little +cubby-holes that Nancy had not yet discovered. +All the while they talked about the +Townsends and the mysterious Mr. Sanders, +declaring that something around the +Whatnot Shop held the clue to the Townsend +disagreement, and Mr. Sanders’ mysterious +power of disappearing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it’s the funniest thing,†ruminated +Nancy, clapping the wrong cover on +the white thread box, “here we came away +out here to be peaceful, quiet and studious. +Mother looked for a place just to keep Ted +and me busy, and then we run into a regular +hornet’s nest of rumors.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t you know,†replied Ruth, “that +still waters run deepest?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I didn’t know we had to take on a +whole Mother Goose set of fairy tales with +a little two cent shoe-string shop,†protested +Nancy. “Of course it will serve me +right if I get into an awful squall. My rebellion +against the long-loved house-work +idea, is sure to get me into some trouble, +isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who doesn’t rebel secretly?†admitted +Ruth. “Isn’t it fairer to up and say so than +to be always hoping the dishpan will spring +a leak, and dish-towels will blow away?†+Ruth was making rapid strides in gaining +Nancy’s affection. She was so unaffected, +so frank, and so sensible.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Vera wasn’t saying much but she was poking +a lot. Just now she was fussing with +some discarded and disabled toys. She held +up a helpless windmill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine!†she said, simply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, what of it?†asked Ruth. “It +was pretty—once!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Pretty! As if anyone around here +would ever buy a thing like that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let me see it,†Nancy said. “I’m sure +Ted would love 'a thing like that.’ He’d +spend days tinkering with it.†Nancy took +the red and blue tin toy and inspected it +critically. As she wound a tiny key a little +bell tinkled.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Lovel-lee!†cried Ruth. “That’s a +merry wind. Or is it a tinkle-ly wind? +Anyway it’s cute. Save it for the small +brother, Nancy. And I think he’s awfully +cute. Here’s something else for his camp,†+she offered, handing Nancy over a red, white +and blue popgun.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Great!†declared Nancy. “Ted has +been too busy to rummage yet, but he’s sure +to be thrilled when he does go at it. Yes, I +think Ted is cute, and I hope the disappearing +man won’t cast a spell on him,†she +finished, laughing at the idea, and meanwhile +inspecting the toy windmill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can joke,†warned Vera, “but my +grandmother insists that what everyone +says must be true, and everyone says Baldy +Sanders is freakish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Baldy,†repeated Nancy gaily. “I noticed +that. But he has enough of eyes to +make up for the lost hair. I never saw such +merry twinkling eyes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really!†Vera commented. “I never +notice men’s eyes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just their bald heads,†teased Ruth. +“Now Vera, if Mr. Sanders is a professor, +as some folks claim, and if he ever gets our +class in chemistry, I’m afraid you would +just have to notice his merry, twinkling +eyes. Anyhow,†and Ruth cocked up a +faded little blue muslin pussy cat, “he’s +merry, and that is in his favor. What are +you doing with that windmill, Nancy?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Inspecting it. It’s a queer kind of +windmill. Look at the cross pieces on top +and this tin cup.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>All three girls gave their attention to the +queer toy. It was, as Nancy had said, +different from the usual model. It had cross +pieces on top instead of on the side, and one +piece was capped off with a metal cup.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll save it for Ted,†Nancy concluded. +“But I hope it isn’t dangerous. It takes +boys to find out the worst of everything. +Just before we moved, most of our furniture +is in storage you know,†she put in to explain +the scarcity of things at the country +place, “Ted went up to the attic and found +an old wooden gun. It would shoot peas, +and what those boys didn’t shoot peas at +wasn’t worth mentioning. I’ll put the freak +windmill away for him, though. It looks +quite harmless.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I think it’s just joyous to have a +shop,†exclaimed Ruth, “and if you’ll let +me, Nancy, I’ll come in and 'tend sometimes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’d love to have you,†replied Nancy +earnestly. “I did expect my chum, Bonny +Davis, to visit me, but she’s gone down to +the shore first. Bonny’s lots of fun. I’m +sure you’d like her if she does come,†declared +Nancy, loyally.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I like her name,†Ruth answered. +“What is it? Bonita?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, it’s really Charlotte, but she’s so +black we’ve always called her Bonny from +ebony, you know. Now Vera, what have you +discovered?†broke off Nancy, looking over +to the comer in which Vera was plainly interested. +“Anything spooky?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Not spooky,†replied Vera, “but I never +saw such odd looking fishing things. No +wonder the Townsends went bankrupt. +Here are boxes and boxes of wires and +weights, and I don’t know what all. Oh, I’ll +tell you!†she exclaimed, in a rare burst of +enthusiasm. “Let’s have a fishing sale?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And sell fish!†teased Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No,†objected Nancy, taking Vera’s +part. “I think a special sale of fishing and +sport supplies would be great. Let’s see +what we’ve got toward it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It would draw the boys and that’s +something,†joked Ruth. “But I’ll tell you +what, Nancy, you had better be careful what +you try to sell to the young fishermen +around here. They’re pretty particular +and rather good at the sport. I like to fish +myself.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I’d love to,†declared Nancy. +“Where do you go?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Dyke’s pond and sometimes the old mill +creek,†replied Ruth. “But we only get +sunnies there. There’s perch in the pond, +though.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This led to discussing the fishing prospects +in brooks, ponds and other waterways +around Long Leigh, until it was being +promptly decided that Ruth and Vera +should very soon introduce Nancy to the +sport. The idea of having a sale of the outfit +at the shop was also entered upon enthusiastically, +until the afternoon was melting +into shadows before the girls realized it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But what ever you do,†Ruth cautioned +Nancy, “don’t let any one induce you to take +the Whatnot out of the window. That’s the +sign of this old shop that’s known for miles +and miles.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think a cute little windmill would be +lots nicer,†suggested Vera. “That Whatnot +is—atrocious.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Windmill!†repeated Ruth. “But we +don’t sell windmills.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Certainly not. Neither do we sell Whatnots,†+contended Vera.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we sell the things that are on the +Whatnot,†argued Ruth. “And besides +Whatnot stands for <em>What Not!</em>â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was amusing Nancy to listen to their assumed +partnership. They were both talking +about “<em>our</em> shop†and insisting upon +what “<em>we</em> sell.†This established at once +a comradeship among all three, and Nancy +was convinced that her own desire to go into +business was not, after all, very queer. +Other girls, no doubt, shared it as well, but +the difference was—Nancy’s mother. She +was the “angel of the enterprise,†as Nancy +had declared more than once.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’ll tell you,†confided Vera, quite +surprisingly, “if you’ll let me, I’ll help you +with your housework. I don’t mind it a +bit, and you hate it so.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that’s just lovely of you, Vera,†+Nancy replied, while a sense of fear seized +her, “but I really must do some of it, you +know. Even a good store keeper should +know how to cook a little,†she pretended, +vowing that her house would be in some kind +of order before Vera ever even got a peek +into the living rooms.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When they were finally gone Nancy stood +alone in the little store, too excited to decide +at once which way to turn. She liked +the girls, especially Ruth, and even Vera had +her interesting features. At least she said +odd things in an odd way, and her drawl was +“delicious,†Nancy admitted. Of course +she was gossipy. There was all that nonsense +about Mr. Sanders. As if any human +being could really disappear. Ted would +just howl at the idea, Nancy knew, and if +the man were really a professor of some sort, +that ought to make him interesting, she reflected. +At any rate, he was, the girls had +said, a friend of the Townsends, and Nancy +would make it her business to ask Miss +Townsend about him the very next time she +came into the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her mind busy with such reflections, +Nancy hooked the screen door, (the shop was +not yet supposed to be open for business) +and turned toward the upset kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ve just got to do something with it,†+she promised, “before mother comes. I +wish Ted would hurry along home. Of +course, he’s a boy and boys don’t have to +worry about kitchens.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nevertheless, as Nancy dashed around she +did make a real effort to adjust the disordered +room, for her pride was now +prompting her. Whatever would Vera +Johns say to such a looking place? And +was all this fair to a mother so thoughtful +and so good-natured as was Nancy’s?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I begin right here at this door,†she +decided, feeling she had to begin at a definite +spot, “and I just straighten out every single +thing from here to the back door.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Peach baskets idling with the odds and +ends of packing, Ted’s red sweater, Nancy’s +blue one, Nancy’s straw hat that she felt she +must have within reach and which therefore +had been “parked†on the floor, safe, however, +under a big chair, and a paste-board +box of books that she also didn’t want to +lose track of, the portable phonograph +cover, the phonograph itself was reposing +safely on the corner of the sink where Ted +had been trying a new record; all these and +as many more miscellaneous articles Nancy +was briefly encountering in her general +clearing up plan “from one door to the +other.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But she forged on, the old broom doing +heroic duty as a plough cutting through the +débris. Finally, having gotten most of the +stuff into a corner, she undertook to scatter +it in a way peculiar to one with business, +rather than domestic, instincts.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll need the baskets, all of them, when +I’m settling the store,†she promptly decided, +“and I’ll get Ted to put the box of +books in there too, so I can read while I’m +waiting. Then the phonograph—That can +go in there just as well, it may draw customers.†+At this Nancy laughed, but she +picked up the little black box, it had been +her birthday present, and put it right on the +small table under the old mantle in the store. +A phonograph in the store seemed attractive.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I guess we’ll find the store handy for +lots of things,†Nancy was thinking, for the +difference in the size of their old home, and +the limits of this new one, was not easy to +adjust.</p> + +<p class='c009'>With a sort of flourish of the broom at the +papers and bits of excelsior that were still +an eyesore about, Nancy at length managed +to “make a path,†as she expressed it, +through the kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’ll gather some flowers to greet +mother with,†she insisted. “There’s no +reason why we shouldn’t make a pretty room +of a kitchen like this, with one, two, three, +good sized windows,†she counted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the glorious bunch of early roses must +have felt rather out of place, trying to conserve +their wondrous perfume from contamination +with the remains of a smudgy +odor from burnt potatoes—which by-the-way, +had not yet come to light, not to say +anything of the real fire smell of burnt meat, +that ran over from a pan-cake griddle into +a seething gas flame.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, those flowers!†exhaled the triumphant +Nancy, pushing the dishpan away so +as not to bend the longest stalk, which was +brushed against it. “Won’t mother just +love it here?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>After all, is not the soul of the poet more +valuable than the skill of a prospective +housewife?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chVI' class='c010'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <br />FAIR PLAY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Mrs. Brandon was such a mother as one +might readily imagine would be the parent +of Nancy and Ted. In the first place she +was young, so young as to be mistaken often +for Nancy’s big sister. Then she was lively, +a real chum with her two children, but more +important than these qualities, perhaps, was +her sense of tolerance.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Fair play, she called it, believing that the +children would more surely and more correctly +learn from experience than from continuous +preaching. Perhaps this was due +to her own experience. She had been a girl +much like Nancy. She had not inherited +the so-called domestic instinct; no more did +Nancy. To that cause was ascribed Nancy’s +unusual disposition toward business and her +dislike for all kitchens.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Those roses!†she breathed deeply over +the scented mass Nancy had gathered. +“Aren’t they just um-um? Wonderful?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I knew you would like them, mother,†+responded Nancy happily. “I’m sorry we +couldn’t get things slicked up better today, +but we were so constantly interrupted.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You will be, Nan dear. It is always just +like that when business runs into housework.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, but say, Mother,†interrupted Ted. +“It’s just great here. There’s the best lot +of boys. And we’ve got a camp, a regular +brigand camp—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look out for mischief, Teddy boy,†replied +his mother fondly. “I want you both +to have a fine time, but a little mischief goes +a long ways toward spoiling things, you +know,†she warned, earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I know. I’ll be careful. We won’t +have any real guns nor knives, nor +swords—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! I should hope not!†+cried Nancy. “Real guns and swords and +knives, indeed! If you go out playing with +that sort of ruffian—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But they aren’t. We don’t have them. +No real firearms at-all,†protested Ted. +“And the boys are nice fellows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But just imagine what I would do if you +came in hurt. And mother away and everything,†+reasoned Nancy foolishly, as if she +enjoyed the sensation. “It is not like it was +when Anna was with us. Mother,†Nancy +asked, “don’t you really think we should +have someone in Anna’s place?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, girlie, I don’t,†promptly replied the +mother, who was just taking from the gas +oven a deliciously broiled steak. “While we +had Anna you never had a chance to find out +all the simple things that you didn’t know. +Anna was an ideal maid, but maids are not +educators and none of us can learn without +being given a chance. Ted, please get the +ice water. And I would try, Nancy, to have +every meal, no matter how simple it is, +served either on the side porch or in the dining +room,†counselled Mrs. Brandon. +“Nothing so demoralizes us as upset kitchen +meals.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, mother, I know that,†admitted +Nancy, who, with her mother nearby for inspection, +was daintily arranging the salad. +“As a matter of fact, I lose things in the +kitchen. Imagine losing the potatoes, pan +and all!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A hearty laugh followed the recalling of +Nancy’s and Ted’s dinner disaster. But +even to that accident Mrs. Brandon insisted +that her daughter was one of the girls who +must learn by experience, so there were no +long arguments given to point out her weakness.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But Anna is coming back, isn’t she?†+Ted pleaded. A boy wants to be sure of his +meals in spite of all the educational processes +necessary for training obdurate sisters.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, dear. I expect she will be back to +us in the autumn, and I’m sure she will be +benefited by her vacation,†said Mrs. Brandon. +“Anna does not really have to work +now. The salary and light expenses of +maids soon place them in a position to retire, +you know,†she pointed out practically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And besides,†chimed in Nancy, “it’s +lots of fun to live all alone for the summer, +at least. Why, if Anna were here she +would be forever poking in and out of the +store, and really mother,†Nancy’s voice fell +to a very serious tone, “when I get things +going, I intend to make <em>you</em> take a vacation. +I’m going to make that store <em>pay</em>.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s lovely, girlie,†replied the +mother, “and I’m sure you and Ted are going +to be wonderful little helpers. Now, +come eat dinner. You must be ravenous. +Here, Nancy, carry along the beans with the +butter. Make each hand do its share to help +out each foot, you know,†she teased.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I’m starved,†declared Ted, making +a rather risky dive for the three dinner +plates and hurrying into the little dining +room with them. “That ice cream was good +while we were eating it, but it doesn’t last +long, does it, Nan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This brought up the story of Mr. Sanders’ +treat, and as her children related it, each +outdoing the other in vivid description and +volumes of parentheses, Mrs. Brandon listened +with but few interruptions. When +the story was told, however, she gave her +version of the gossip concerning the +stranger.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He is really a professor, I’m sure,†she +stated, “for Miss Townsend told me that +much. Of course professors can be as queer +as other folks—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Queer?†interrupted Ted, holding his +plate out for another new potato.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, they are often odd,†admitted his +mother, smiling at the boy’s joke. “But +then, too, we expect to depend upon their intelligence +for reasonable explanations.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother, anyone would know you were a +librarian, the way you talk,†said Nancy. +“I suppose we act booky too, only we can’t +realize it ourselves. Ted, your knife is +playing toboggan—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m too starved to notice,†said Ted. +“Hope you won’t lose the potatoes and burn +the meat again, Sis,†he added, “I can’t +stand starvation.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I didn’t do it, <em>we</em> did it,†insisted +Nancy. “I’m sure we were both getting +dinner—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But about Miss Townsend, dear,†her +mother forestalled their argument. “Did +she say she regretted agreeing to sell?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, mother; that’s the queer part of it +all,†Nancy replied. They were now settled +at their meal and could chat happily. “She +acted so mysterious about everything. And +you should see her little dog, Tiny, sniff +around! Honestly, I thought he’d sniff +his little stumpy nose off at the fireplace. +By the way, mother, can’t we have the old +stove moved out into the back storeroom? +We don’t want it standing around all summer +waiting for a blizzard next Christmas, +do we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No. But I’m afraid we will have to put +off that sort of work until my vacation, +Nancy. You must remember, dear, we have +only agreed to let you run the little store +practically as it is, to sell out Miss Townsend’s +stuff and to give you some experience.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes. I know,†said Nancy a little +ruefully. “But mother—†she hesitated. +Then began again, “Mother, I simply can’t +have the girls come in and have things so upset, +and I won’t, positively won’t have Miss +Townsend fussing around—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can’t be rude to her, Nan,†the +mother said rather decidedly. “And, after +all, there is nothing here she doesn’t know +about.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, there seems to be,†sighed Nancy, +“or else what did she start right in to search +for? And the very first time she met me, +too.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Perhaps her brother lost some papers, or +something like that,†suggested Mrs. Brandon. +“I <em>do</em> know he is a little odd in his +manner.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But if it were only that she wouldn’t +need to act so mysteriously about it, would +she, mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the dog,†put in Ted. “He +couldn’t know about papers, could he? +Dogs are awfully wise, I know that much, +and I’m going to get one—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Paying no attention to Ted’s last sentence, +Nancy continued to deplore Miss +Townsend’s threat of more visits to her +shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the girls, that is Vera, said that she +and her brother had a quarrel about the +place before they left,†Nancy continued. +“Vera is talkative, but I could see myself +that Miss Townsend was awfully unhappy +about something.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†snapped Ted, again allowing his +fork to rest in the prohibited sliding position +from his plate, “and she’s the one who +talks about Mr. Sanders, too. That girl +Veera—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Vera, Ted. Just like very,†said Nancy +critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yeah,†groaned Ted. “Just like scary, +too. That’s what she is, scary. And the +fellows say Mr. Sanders is a first-rate scout, +a real scout. They say he’s even a scoutmaster—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Did they say anything about his habit +of disappearing?†asked Nancy, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, Nan. You know very well that +isn’t so. It couldn’t be. How could any +one dis-sa-peer?†inquired Ted, emphatically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That wasn’t the question, brother,†insisted +Nancy. “I just asked you if the boys +spoke of his reputation as Disappearing +Dick?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This was too much for Ted, and again his +mother was forced to intervene.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Anyway,†the boy managed to interject, +“if they did say something about it they +didn’t say he was a spook, like your old +Very-scary girl told it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! Nothing about spooks! +We never even mentioned them, that I remember. +But they said that Mr. Sanders +lived somewhere around here but no one +knew where, that he went right up the hill +to the stone house and never went in the +house nor in the barn nor anyplace but just +disappeared,†rattled off Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why daughter!†protested Mrs. Brandon, +“how perfectly absurd. I’m surprised +that you should listen to such truck.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But of course I don’t believe it, Mother, +it’s just funny, that’s all,†explained Nancy, +who had begun to carry the dishes to the +kitchen quite as if she just loved to do it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>According to their new schedule, both Ted +and Nancy were expected to do their part in +the clearing of the table, and washing the +dishes, and as this was a beautiful summer +evening, the children “fell to†very +promptly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s too lovely to stay inside,†remarked +Nancy. “You’ll come out with us, won’t +you Mother? There’s heaps of things you +haven’t yet had a chance to see around +here,†she pleaded.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we really must get things in order,†+declared the mother. “You and Ted hurry +along with your work—Ted will dry and you +wash tonight, Nancy, and meanwhile I’ll +sort of dig in—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother! You can’t. You have just got +to have your evenings free,†protested +Nancy. “You need lots of fresh air out +here—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know, dear, but after all we are just +ordinary mortals and we must live as such. +That means—civilization, around here,†+laughed Mrs. Brandon, who was already +“digging in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll put these pans away first.†She +paused. “Whatever is this? I do declare, +children, here are your lost potatoes, packed +away in among the empty pans. Now, who +could have done that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted did,†replied Nancy. “He was +sorting the tins. But Mother,†she said, in +a grieved tone, “I know I did waste a lot +of time today.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was carrying out a tray but she had +stopped abruptly. No punishment could be +greater to her than the loss of a summer +evening out of doors, except it was her +mother’s loss of that self-same evening.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m so sorry,†she sighed. “I know I +did idle my time today, Mother dear, but I +can’t bear to have you—pay for it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nonsense, dear, I don’t mind. Really +the exercise will do me good,†insisted Mrs. +Brandon. “Just attend to the dishes and +you won’t know these quarters presently. +I’m glad we found the potatoes,†she said, +but Nancy was now too serious to joke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A call from the side porch checked their +argument. It was Ruth calling to Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come along!†she shrilled through the +screen door. “There’s going to be a band +concert—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I can’t, Ruth,†Nancy called back. +“I must do—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You <em>must</em> go, dear,†interrupted her +mother.</p> + +<p class='c009'>At this Ruth came in to wait. Ted was +already off—he did not need to be coaxed to +give up his task, and when dishes were not +being washed surely they could not be dried.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nancy felt guilty. In fact the band +concert, novelty though it was, with firemen +and a baseball team making up the “scrambled†+programme, was not loud enough to +still the voice of regret.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can’t bear to think of mother doing, +now on this beautiful evening, what I should +have done today,†she confided to Ruth, as +they waited between numbers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll help you tomorrow,†offered Ruth +kindly. “And I won’t bring Vera. She’s +rather critical—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll be up at daybreak,†resolved Nancy, +really determined now to get the little country +home in order.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A band concert in Long Leigh was plainly +an important event, and the numbers of +persons crowding about the band-stand on +the village green attested hearty appreciation +for the musical efforts. The firemen, +however, seemed to draw out the heaviest applause, +but that was because old Jake Jacobs, +the best piccolo player around, had been +training them. Still, there was Pete Van +Riper, the drummer on the baseball side of +the platform. He certainly could drum, +and the small boys around kept calling to +him in baseball parlance such encouragements +as “Make it a homer, Pete! Hug the +mat! Hit her hard!†and such outfield +coaching.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth had met a number of her friends +and some she introduced to Nancy, but the +concert was spoiled for Nancy. She could +see and actually feel her mother working in +that little country place to which she had +come, just to give Ted and Nancy a happy +vacation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When her worry was becoming so keen +that she felt she must ask Ruth to go home +with her, there pushed into the crowd an old +man in a broad-brimmed straw hat, although +the sun was well out of all mischief.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look!†whispered Ruth. “There’s Mr. +Townsend! And that’s Mr. Sanders—with +him!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Just then the two men stepped over to the +little mound where the girls were. They did +not see the girls, but Mr. Sanders drew Mr. +Townsend to a sudden stop in a space directly +in front of Nancy and Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I tell you, Sanders,†Mr. Townsend +said, in a voice not at all suitable for his +surroundings, “the whole town is talkin’. +They say all kinds of things and you had +better out with the whole thing.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. Sanders laughed as if he enjoyed the +joke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Keep cool, keep cool, friend,†he said.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Mr. Townsend was by no means keeping +cool, and he said so, sharply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’ve left my home, got my sister on +her ear, made a poor man’s name for +myself—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. Sanders grasped his arm with a sudden +movement, perfectly evident to the astounded +girls.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“When you are tired of your bargain, +Elmer Townsend,†he said, “just let me +know.â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chVII' class='c010'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <br />THE SPECIAL SALE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>They had worked like slaves, according +to Nancy, while Ted insisted he was too +tired even to eat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But it’s going to be a grand success,†+promised Ruth. “I can hardly wait until +morning for the doors to open.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sale now going on!†chanted Isabel, a +friend of Ruth’s, who had come in to help. +“Ladies and gentlemen! Step this way for +your fish lines!†she called out, testing the +possibilities of the next day’s special sale. +“Here’s where you get your fish-hooks that +never slip, and your tackle that always +tacks, and as for sinkers—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’ll sink, first shot,†Ruth interrupted, +from her perch on the stepladder, +where she was waving a Japanese lantern +as if that flimsy article had anything to do +with fishing tackle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh say! Look here! Who took my +best reel?†cried Ted. “I want that for +myself. It was in a dollar box—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then it’s got to be sold,†called back +Nancy. She was sitting on the counter +counting fish lines, a dozen to each box.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sold nothing!†retorted Ted. “I’d like +to know why I can’t have the best—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can, Teddy dear,†Ruth told him. +“You have been a perfect lamb to help us +all afternoon, and I never did see two legs +do more trotting than yours have done since +Nancy locked the front doors and put us all +to work like prisoners. You may certainly +have the reel, and there’s a wonderful pole +back of the empty cigar boxes—there on +that first shelf. See it? It’s in a gray +case—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruth Ashley! Whose store is this?†+Nancy pretended to be very severe but her +jolly little laugh filtered through the words +in giggles and titters. “If you are going +to give things away, why not start in with +the perishables? There’s a basket of +apples, Ted himself bought out of the general +fund, and unless they can be sold as bait, I +don’t see what we’re going to do with them.†+She had counted out all the fish lines and +was resting against the old-time candy +glass case, now neatly filled with post cards +and stationery supplies.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They had had a merry time getting the +Whatnot Shop ready for the first special +sale, and girl-like, had expended a lot of +energy upon pretty effects in the arrangements +of articles. Mrs. Brandon “chipped +in†as Ted expressed it, and Nancy was +able to supplement her stock considerably. +She had also made a very attractive poster +for the big front window, in fact, it was so +attractive that Ruth put another sign right +alongside of it which stated:</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>This poster, handmade, for sale</div> + <div>Price $2.00</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>“We always sell our charity posters,†+she insisted, “and they are never as pretty +as this. Just look at that fish. What is +he, Nancy? A cat-fish or a pickerel?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m totally ignorant of the varieties,†+replied Nancy grandly. “But I like the +flecks on his back so I made him up flecked.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The fellows will be here awfully early,†+Ted warned the girls, “so you better be +ready to sell, quick as the door’s opened.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ll be here,†sang out Ruth. “And +Ted, be sure to tell them this is a strictly +cash sale. No charging and no refunds. If +you buy a fish pole and find it’s a curtain rod +you’ve got to go fishing with the curtain +rod. Nancy, here’s those fancy little colored +bags to fool the poor fish with. Where +do you want them put? Some place very +safe, for they’re easily broken, you know,†+Ruth cautioned.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Right here in the show case,†Nancy directed. +“They’re too cute to be stuck away +on a shelf. Ted, you better run off and have +some fun. I don’t want mother to think +we’ve been stunting your growth. You +know how particular she is about exercise.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Exercise!†repeated Isabel. “As if the +poor child hasn’t been stretching every muscle +to its utmost all afternoon. Take my +advice, Ted, and lie down. I’ll make an ice +bag out of an old bathing cap—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ted was not waiting to hear Isabel’s +kind, if foolish, offer. His merry shout as +he rounded the corner, however, spoke decidedly +against ice bags as well as couches.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s quit,†suggested Nancy. “Honestly +girls, I thought housework was tedious, +but I can’t see much difference. I +believe I’ll be winding fish lines all night, +I’ve got them tangled in my brain.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then you’re the one for the ice bags,†+pronounced Isabel. “I love to make them +and I love to put them on pretty heads. +Here Ruth, let’s put her on the couch. I +think she looks a bit feverish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Kicking and protesting Nancy was +forced to get down from “her perch,†and +stretch out on the little leather couch in a +favorite corner of the sun porch. Then, +while Ruth literally held her there, Isabel +cracked ice, put it in a green rubber bathing +cap, that leaked like a sieve, tied it up most +imperfectly, and presently clapped it on +Nancy’s head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, please! It’s leaking! I’m all wet. +Isabel, you’re freezing my—my thinker!†+yelled Nancy, as she struggled to free herself +from her playful companions.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea,†replied Isabel. +“We’ve got to freeze your thinker to +make you forget your fish lines. Here +now, dearie,†she mocked “lie perfectly +still—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re spoiling my pretty new gown,†+yelled Nancy, referring to the oldest and +most faded gown she could find that morning, +in preparation for the extra work.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Isabel held the bag in the general direction +of Nancy’s forehead, while little +icy cold streams tinkled down her neck and +into her ears. Ruth served as body guard, +and almost kept Nancy on the couch, her +feet, arms, and other “loose ends†hanging +over untidily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The store bell was jerked suddenly and +violently.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh me, oh my!†groaned Nancy, jumping +up so as to smash the ice bag to the floor, +cut its string loose and send the remaining +chunks of ice flying. “I can’t go. Ruth, +will you—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Love to,†chanted Ruth, starting off +promptly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look at the puddle,†bewailed Isabel, +but Nancy interrupted her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No one, simply no one can come in to-day. +Do run out, Belle and restrain Ruth. +Just listen to her sweetest tones—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel went. She liked to “'tend store†+and each possible customer represented to +her, as well as to Ruth, a possible adventure.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, I’m not the proprietor,†Nancy +heard Ruth saying.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, she really can’t see you,†was +Isabel’s contribution.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A man’s voice, full, rich, persuasive, was +speaking in so low a tone that his words did +not convey meaning to the listening Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She listened! She crept nearer, and +finally realizing that both Ruth and Isabel +were not being able to dismiss the stranger, +she attempted to right her rumpled self, to +pat the unruly hair into place, and not +knowing that her forehead looked like a +beefsteak from the ice freeze, she sauntered +out into the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This is Miss Brandon,†announced +Ruth as she entered. “She is the +proprietor.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy found herself in the presence of a +very important looking young man. His +Panama hat was on the counter, his suitcase +was on the floor, and he stood in the +most attentive, courteous attitude, bowing +as if she were meeting him in a reception +room.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ve heard of your store, Miss Brandon,†+he said. “In fact, its fame has +travelled far and wide, and I’m here representing +a Boston firm of sporting goods. +I would like you to see—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really,†faltered Nancy, “this is only +sort of a play store. We are doing it for a +vacation experience.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Exactly the thing,†insisted the young +man, who was not polite to the point of affectation +but simply polite as a gentleman. +“I know this territory pretty well, and you +will possibly be surprised at the class of +customers who will, doubtless, seek you out. +The motor people come along here from +Gretna Lake. There’s good fishing on that +lake, and fishing supplies have a way of giving +out suddenly when the inexperienced +handle them. If you will let me—†he was +tackling the suitcase.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you see,†protested Nancy, much +embarrassed, “I really have no authority +to—buy. Mother is not here—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You assume no obligation,†insisted the +man. “As this is your store we are glad, +in fact anxious, to leave you a sample line. +If you sell them you make a very fair commission, +if you do not I pick them up and +try something else on my next trip.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>He opened the case, and presently was +displaying a bewildering line of such fishing +tackle and general sport supplies as Nancy +had never dreamed of. Ruth and Isabel +were fascinated. They suggested, in spite +of their better judgment, that Nancy +stock up with the pretty little trout flies, the +feathery kind tied to fish hooks. Then +Ruth thought they ought to have at least +one box of the dry flies, the sort that floats +without the hook, and before they knew it +the salesman had deposited upon the +counter, goods worth so much money, that +Nancy could only gasp at the transaction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I haven’t any place—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This little case, if I may suggest,†said +the salesman, “is admirably suited. You +could move your cards to the far end, +couldn’t you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†chimed in Ruth, “and Nancy, +just see the lovely window card!†She was +holding up a big folder that had been neatly +packed in, folded in sections, within the +suitcase. “Why, it will be wonderful to +have such goods, and I’m sure the summer +folks from Breakneck Hill will just buy us +out as soon as they hear we have such splendid +stuff.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think you are right,†replied the +salesman. “But as you seem doubtful, +Miss Brandon, I’ll return later and talk +with your mother, if you wish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy considered quickly. Her mother +should not be annoyed with such details; +also, the special sale was to be a matter left +entirely with the girls and Ted. He was +claiming and entitled to a share in certain +articles. So she answered:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t think that will be necessary. +Mother won’t object, I guess, if I don’t have +to sign anything—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nothing whatever,†she was assured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But how did you find out about us?†+asked Isabel. “This is such a tiny store +and it is on the back road, really.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The tiny store on the back road with the +quaint name Whatnot Shop is more attractive +than a big public place,†replied +the salesman. He had handed Nancy his +card and she saw that his name was W. S. +Webster. “As a matter of fact, one of our +firm was passing here in his car, and he left +me the memorandum. But I’ve heard of +the special sale of fishing tackle out on the +Long Leigh road from perhaps a half dozen +persons.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The girls gasped, simultaneously. They +were overwhelmed. If their fame had thus +travelled afar, what would the day of the +sale bring them?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well,†stammered Nancy, trying +once again to keep her wet dress out from +her neck while she worried over the effect +of that besprinkled garment. “I’ll be glad +to do what I can with the goods, but really, +I had no idea of going in for such, such important +articles.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If you will let me say so,†remarked +Mr. Webster in a gentlemanly way, “I +think you girls have the right idea. So +many putter around with art stuff these +days, that they don’t realize the big chances +they are missing in business. Some of +America’s brainiest women are heads of +our wholesale firms, and they make more +money than movie queens,†he finished +pleasantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When he was finally gone and the door +well bolted this time, the three girls joined +hands and danced around like a kindergarten +class.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Me for the movie queen!†sang out +Isabel. “You, Nance and Ruthie, can sell +fish hooks. Just watch this pose and see if +I couldn’t pass in a beauty contest—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a racket, a very noisy one, at +the side door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s Ted!†exclaimed Nancy, apprehensively.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And he’s got a crowd with him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“They can’t come in,†Nancy declared. +“We are not going to show goods or take +any advance orders.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh me, oh my!†cried Ruth. “No wonder +the fine looking drummer said that the +brainiest girls in America were in +business.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He didn’t,†contradicted Nancy. “He +said women.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well, Nancy. Just you wait. Go +sit down on a big stump in the woods and +wait. By and by you’ll be a woman.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, in spite of all their eloquence, in +marched Ted heading a parade of the “fellers.†+And what could Nancy do but show +them the arrangements.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chVIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <br />FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>“Mother! Are you awake?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, dear.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s someone knocking—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m getting up.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The knocking continued.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey there, Nan!†called out Ted. “Get +up and answer that noise. See what your +old sale did! Wake us all up—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted, hush! Be quiet, Mother’s going +down—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You ought to go. It’s your bargain +day.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>As usual Ted was charging Nancy with +delinquency. He wasn’t really quarreling, +but just talking, as Nancy defined it. Mrs. +Brandon had been dressing when the early +knock first sounded, so that she was able to +get down stairs almost directly afterward.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A dread, a sort of feeling that something +might happen in regard to that expensive +outlay of goods left by the travelling salesman, +seized Nancy. She crept to the top +of the stairs to listen, but all she could hear +was a man’s voice; his words were lost behind +the closed doors.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She ventured down to the second landing. +Her mother was chatting pleasantly with +whoever the early visitor might be, and at +the sound Nancy’s spirits rose.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s no collector,†she decided, turning +quickly back to her room and starting at +once to dress. She must be ready early. +All signs pointed to an early patronage, and +although Ted had declared he would be up +at daybreak, it was all right, Nancy concluded, +for him to sleep until seven o’clock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her mother was calling in a subdued +voice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy, I’ll get breakfast now, as I hear +you stirring,†she said. “I want to leave +things ready for your lunch today, so I +came down early.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right, Mother,†Nancy replied over +the balustrade. “I’ll be down soon. Who +called?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is Ted awake?†Mrs. Brandon was still +restraining her voice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He was, but he isn’t,†half whispered +Nancy. “Wait, I’ll run down and help, +then come up and dress later—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Curiosity was too much for Nancy’s patience, +so she merely tucked her hair tidily +into a cap, and in slippers and robe joined +her mother who was preparing breakfast.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who was it?†she asked breathlessly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, your famous Mr. Sanders,†replied +Mrs. Brandon, indifferently. “He +wanted a little model of some sort, a windmill, +it looked like. I happened to spy +it—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The funny little windmill!†Nancy exclaimed. +“Why, we were wondering what +that was. Did he say it was a model?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Not exactly, but I judged it was. At +any rate, dear, you mustn’t always be looking +for mystery in Mr. Sanders’ doings. I +would call him a very pleasant gentleman. +Here, dear, stir this cereal. I want you and +Ted to make sure you get enough proper +food.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy stirred the meal, which was receiving +a preliminary start before being put +over the hot water in the double-cooker.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you see, Mum,†she remarked very +quietly, “he is queer. Whatever could he +want a thing like that for? And why did +he come for it so early?†Nancy asked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He wanted it because it has something +to do with his line, is the way he expressed +it, and he came early because he has been +away and just heard of your sale. If he +waited later, he explained, the little windmill +might have been swept away in the +tumult,†Mrs. Brandon replied. This +seemed to satisfy Nancy’s inquiries, but secretly +Mrs. Brandon herself was just a +little puzzled about Mr. Sanders. For instance, +it had been very clear to her that he +just laughed off, rather than explained, the +purpose of the possible model. Something +“in his line,†which he had forgotten to +take away when the Townsends moved, +seemed vague, to say the least.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was now eating her breakfast with +her mother. She confessed to having waked +more than once during the night, in anticipation +of the big day.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’m going to send you a little surprise +treat for lunch,†her mother confided. +“I want you and the girls to enjoy yourselves +in spite of your self-imposed business +tasks, so I’m sending out some—ice +cream!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Mumsey—love!†exclaimed Nancy, +jumping up and in giving her mother a bear +hug almost spilling the last spoonful of +grape fruit. “Aren’t you too ducky! +We’ll have a regular party, and I’ll ask—How +many have you ordered for?†she demanded abruptly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Two quart bricks. That’s counted +twelve servings,†replied her mother. “Of +course, one brick is for Ted, and you must +help him a little.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course, Mumsey-love,†promised +Nancy. “We’ll get every body out and +close up shop from one until two, and have +a regular party!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>From that time until Nancy was almost, +but not quite, ready “for the fray,†as she +expressed it, she kept herself in a flutter of +excitement. Her mother went into town as +usual on the seven forty-five trolley, and +even then there was a waiting list at the +front door of the shop, children peering in +the two broad windows which looked out +onto the old-fashioned long porch.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come on, Ted, hurry-up,†begged +Nancy as her brother tarried over his breakfast. +“The girls won’t be here until eight, +and you’ve got to go outside and try to keep +those boys quiet. They’ll be coming +through the window if you don’t.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that’s Buster, making all that +racket,†declared Ted, getting another look +at the paper which he was not supposed to +read at the table. “I’ll go out and talk to +them, in a minute,†he promised laconically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Please do, then,†begged his sister. +“You take it as easy as if we didn’t have a +big responsibility.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What responsibility?†he asked, actually +deciding to move his plump little self +from the table. “I can’t see what you’re +all so excited about.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course you can’t. But I’ll tell you. +Everybody, for miles and miles, knows +about this sale, and we’ve got to get busy.†+Nancy was peering anxiously out of the +side window. “I do hope,†she said again, +“that the girls will get here soon.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is that Very-scary girl coming?†+asked Ted. He was trying to set his blouse +straight around his sun-burned neck.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You mean Vera. She’s gone away for +a while—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hope she stays away,†snapped Ted. +“I can’t seem to like her—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m sure that’s too bad,†mocked Nancy. +“She would feel dreadfully bad to hear +that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, don’t be funny. Listen! They’re +hammering on the door. You had better +open it or they’ll break the glass,†cautioned +the boy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Dear me, Ted,†exclaimed the excited +Nancy, “I can’t go; perhaps you had better +open it. Why didn’t you fix up a little,†+she argued, looking critically at the usual +vacation boy. “You might at least have put +on a white blouse.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“To sell fish hooks?†roared Ted. +“That’s a grand idea. Why, Nan, the fellows +would think I was giving a party—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The noise at the front of the store was +now becoming so insistent that both brother +and sister found it imperative to respond.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come on,†said Nancy, sighing rather +miserably. “We may as well face it. But +don’t let them back of the rope. We can’t +wait on more than a few at a time.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>At that Nancy and Ted entered the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look—at—them!†gasped Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Faces were pressed against the windows, +the door, against every inch of outside space +that could command a view of inside the +store, and they looked so funny, the flat +noses, the white spots on cheeks, the opened +mouths, humping against the glass!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hello! Hello!†shouted Ted as Nancy +fumbled with the door lock. “What do you +think this is? A circus?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, as Nancy opened the door, there +was the unavoidable falling in!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Please!†she begged. But the boys +seemed actually massed as for some game.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey there!†urged Ted. “Whoever +doesn’t behave can’t get waited on a-tall!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But his words had no effect upon the eager +urchins.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I want that rod over there!†shouted +Rory Jennings. He was tall, big and noisy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s mine—that beaut in the window,†+insisted another. Ted called him +Shedder, or something that sounded like +that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey, please, missus please,†begged a +lad so freckled Nancy couldn’t see anything +else but freckles. “Please missus,†he entreated, +“couldn’t you just hand me over +that crab net? That’s all I want.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey there! Stop crowdin’,†ordered a +boy who was using all his strength to make +matters worse. “She can’t wait on us if +you don’t give her a chanst.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There were easily twenty-five or thirty +youngsters in the crowd, and Nancy felt +quite helpless to supply all their wants at +once. The fact that goods were offered at +the very lowest figure possible, that a +twenty-five cent ball of fish line was marked +ten cents, of course, accounted for the rush. +Many boys could get hold of a dime, but a +quarter was not so easy to pick up, it +seemed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, too, the advertising, one boy telling +the other, had done much to make the sale +known; hence the early morning rush.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now don’t muss everything up!†ordered +Ted, for a group of boys had laid hold +of the fish-hook box, and it was impossible +for Nancy to get it back.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You must not take things away from the +counter,†she protested, for at that moment +the box of sinkers was being carted off to the +door, by Jud Morgan and Than Beach. +They said they only wanted to pick out a +couple where there was more room, but +it was plainly a risky way to make their +selection.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Dear me!†sighed Nancy to Ted. +“Please look out and see if the girls are +coming. These boys will have everything +upset—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the girls were coming, in fact they +were just then elbowing their way in from +the front door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hello—hello—hello!†called out Ruth +joyfully. “Isn’t this grand! Going to buy +us out first thing—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, land sakes!†wailed Nancy. “I’ve +been in here fifteen minutes and I haven’t +sold a stick. We should have charged +admission.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel looked on rather importantly. +Evidently she knew or thought she knew +how to handle a crowd of boys.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’ve got to get in line!†she announced.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A laugh, a whole series of laughs was her +answer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do you hear me?†she insisted, raising +her voice to suit the occasion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure, we hear you. Want us to clap?†+answered impudent Sammy Larkins.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now see here,†Ruth attempted to order. +“If you boys really want to buy anything +you have got to stand back and take +turns—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>No sooner had that order been given than +everybody made a dash for the first place in +line, and the tumult that followed all but +drove Nancy under the counter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say, look here! Want us to put you all +out?†demanded Ted, in unassumed indignation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Try it!†tempted Buster, pretending to +roll up sleeves he didn’t have.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But don’t you want to see the things?†+cried out Ruth in desperation, for those boys +were tumbling around the floor and actually +fighting, at least they made that kind of +noise, it seemed to the girls.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Su-ure!†came a chorus.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then Nancy had an inspiration. She got +up on the high stool that stood by what used +to be Miss Townsend’s desk and she immediately +commanded attention.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll tell you,†she began, “if you all sit +down on the floor just where you are, the +window sills or any place, I’ll tell you about +some of the most interesting things we’ve +got here. They are not for sale, but they +belonged to a sea captain—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The magic word had the desired effect. +At the word “sea captain†that crowd of +boys, dropped “in their traces,†and it was +then Nancy’s duty to unfold to them some +wondrous tale.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For boys like a story—when it’s about a +sea captain even if they are out to buy bargain +fishing tackle.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chIX' class='c010'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <br />THE BIG DAY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>As Ted said afterwards: “It was some +story!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy stood there on the stool, dangling +an old rusty knife which she had just spied +among the box of unclassified articles, and +she told those boys a yarn, a regular old +salt-yarn, which she frankly admitted was +pure fiction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But how they listened! As Ruth expressed +it: “How <em>hard</em> they listened!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>No more jostling, nor pushing nor underhand +squabbling. Every boy among them +wanted to hear all that story, and consequently +he was taking no chances on missing +any of it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And when the old sea captain looked into +the poor half-frozen face of that baby he +had picked up, lashed to an icy—an icy +plank,†Nancy trilled, becoming so +interested in her subject she almost forgot the +make up of it, “then he remembered,†she +went on, “the big Newfoundland dog, Jack, +who had fallen back into the sea exhausted +from his long swim.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She stopped. The boys said “Gosh,†and +“Gee Whiz.†Buster said “Jingo!†and +there were probably many other subdued +and impulsive exclamations of the crisp boyish +variety.</p> + +<p class='c009'>One little fellow who was sniffing audibly, +piped up a question over Than’s shoulder.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say miss,†he said. “Say Miss—Nancy,†+he corrected himself, “could a feller +buy that there knife?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why,†flushed Nancy, “the knife hasn’t +anything to do with the story—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Naw!†came a chorus. “'Course not!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was a corkin’ good story,†applauded +Nort Duncan, clapping grimy hands.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you said the ole captain cut the +ropes with a rusty knife—†the little fellow +insisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now look here, boys,†called out Ruth +suddenly. “You are all settled down, nice, +quiet and orderly. Suppose we begin to see +what you want to buy. There are three of +us to serve you, and if we divide you up in +three groups, I’m sure we can give every +single one of you the biggest bargain you +ever got in fishing tackle.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>After that, something like order prevailed, +for most boys are not devoid of a +sense of honor, not by any means, and surely +after Nancy’s story they owed her attention +and politeness.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted helped. He was able to hand out the +poles and took pride in doing so. They +were, most of them, nice shiny, new bamboo +canes, and it didn’t matter how long it took +him to please a customer. In one hour, +however, he had sold ten at fifty cents, five +at seventy-five cents and two at a dollar each. +Ted was delighted, and secretly agreed with +Nancy that “business was the thing.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Meanwhile the girls were busy, and +happy. Ruth had taken charge of the sinkers +and hooks. Isabel was having a fine +time with the crab nets and fancy reels, the +nickel kind with the stem winders, while +Nancy acted as general supervisor and director +of the entire stock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Things were going merrily and few disagreements +marred the proceedings (not to +count the scooping up of fellows’ caps in +trying out crab nets, or the occasional protest +from someone who would resent being +poked with new fish poles), when there appeared +at the door a very pleasant looking, +in fact a very “good-looking†young girl.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s Sanders’ girl,†said a boy into +Nancy’s ear. “You know the feller that—disappears,†+he hurried to explain.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy had neither time nor opportunity +to ask questions so she turned to meet the +very blue eyes of the young girl in question.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t let me interrupt you,†said the +stranger. “I can wait,†and she stepped +aside to let Tom Preston get change from a +precious one dollar bill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy noticed that the young lady had all +the known signs of college life. She wore a +worsted tam o’ shanter (in summer), she +also wore a sweater to match, with a tan +golf skirt and—heavy stockings, ending in +good, strong, walking Oxfords. If these +signs were not collegian, thought Nancy, +then the girl must be an actress which she +obviously was not.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But she had so much personality, that was +it, Nancy promptly decided while still counting +out change for eager boys. Also, +Nancy reasoned, she had such pronounced +individuality, that one did not observe separately +her brown hair, her blue eyes and +her lustrous, fine healthy skin. She just +looked perfect, at least to Nancy, who always +loved the athletic type.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sanders’ girl!†Nancy was thinking. +She didn’t know he had a daughter, but the +girl looked like him, especially around her +firm, determined mouth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth left her boys and was now offering +to wait on Miss Sanders.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m Sibyl Sanders, you know,†she told +Ruth, “and I just dropped in to see if I +couldn’t pick up something for dad.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’re having quite a sale,†replied Ruth +pleasantly. “When things thin out a little +I should like to introduce you to Nancy +Brandon. This is her idea of a vacation,†+Ruth added quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it splendid?†replied Sibyl, brightening +with enthusiasm. “I just ran up to +Long Leigh to see dad. He insists upon +spending a lot of time up here,†she continued, +“and I feel I must look after him a +little. I wonder if you have any pieces of +wire or light springs, around? He has use +for that sort of material.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Wire, springs!†Nancy heard the request +and a joke, that the disappearing man +might slide away on wires and springs, +flashed humorously through her mind. But +again she found no chance even to whisper +the joke to Isabel, for there were still boys +demanding change.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In the course of an hour, however, the +youngsters were all “cleared out.†Their +wants had been supplied, and the girls, with +Sibyl, were chatting away about the first results +of the sale.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If they don’t go trying things out and +then want us to change them,†worried +Nancy. “I told them positively we would +exchange just absolutely not—a—thing,†+she declared, most emphatically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s see how much we took in,†suggested +Isabel. “I had no idea that a lot of +small money could be so fascinating.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Indeed it is,†Sibyl rejoined. “I’ve had +experience at college sales, and it always +seemed to me the peanut money was the most +interesting to handle.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This brought on some talk of her college, +for just as Nancy had guessed, she was a +college girl. Finally, when the receipts +were all counted and it was found that the +boys, they who came in the first squad, had +actually bought seventeen dollars worth of +goods.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It doesn’t seem possible!†Ruth exclaimed, +“and just look at the bushels of +pennies!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And we had better prepare for the next +arrivals,†suggested Isabel. “The lake +folks will be along presently on their morning +drives.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the early golfers returning from the +links,†added Ruth. “Guess we better tidy +things up a little. Those boys certainly can +upset a place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel had found a roll of picture wire and +three small screen door springs. These +Sibyl bought without giving the slightest +hint of the possible use her father was apt +to put them to. Neither Isabel nor Ruth, +however, paid as much attention to the odd +purchase as did Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I do wonder,†Nancy remarked as Isabel +tied up the goods for Sibyl, “what has become +of Miss Townsend?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, haven’t you heard?†exclaimed +Sibyl. “She’s been quite ill.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, I hadn’t,†said Nancy, considerately. +“I’m so sorry. What has been the +trouble?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Worry, chiefly, I guess,†and a sort of +sigh seemed to accompany Sibyl’s words. +“It was too bad she had such a dispute with +her brother,†she continued, “and yet, they +really didn’t seem to dispute, just to disagree, +but they have both such old-fashioned, +gentle natures that they consider it disgraceful +to dissent from the views of loved +ones. Oh, well!†this time the sigh was unmistakable, +“I suppose even the most gentle +can hardly expect to go through life without +differences. I only hope they do not +hold my daddy in any way responsible,†she +said seriously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, how could they?†faltered Nancy, +in honest bewilderment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, of course they couldn’t,†replied +Sibyl hastily, as if regretting her remark. +“But you see, daddy and the old gentleman +have been such close friends that Miss Townsend +might fancy daddy influenced her +brother. But I must be running along,†she +added a little hurriedly. “I’m so glad to +have met you, Nancy, and I hope your sale +will be a tremendous success.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It surely will be,†chimed in Ruth, while +Isabel and Nancy joined in the good-byes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hasn’t she wonderful eyes!†was +Nancy’s first remark following Sibyl’s departure.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I got the surprise of my life,†declared +Ruth, “when I saw Sibyl Sanders saunter +in. There, that sounds like a new song, +doesn’t it? But you know, girls, she is almost +as mysterious as her dad, the way she +comes and goes—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But doesn’t anyone up and ask them +where they live?†asked Nancy in evident +astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Never get a chance,†chimed in Isabel. +“If we were to go out now and follow her up +the hill, I’ll venture to say we would get a +good sample of the disappearing stunt—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we haven’t time, dears,†chirped +Nancy. “Look! Here come three autos. +Now, ladies, step lively,†and the way they +stepped was lively enough to be called trotting.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, sure enough,†Ruth agreed, “they +<em>are</em> coming here, and they’re here!â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chX' class='c010'>CHAPTER X<br /> <br />STILL THEY CAME</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Before the girls could pull their faces +straight a young man dashed up the steps +and was in the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, this is great!†he declared +heartily. “I see by your window card you +carry Mackinaw’s goods and I haven’t been +able to get them nearer than the city.†He +was addressing all three who stood together +back of the counter like a trio in a comedy. +The young man looked critically at the show +goods in the show counter—the supply left +by the travelling salesman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here they are, sure enough!†he exclaimed. +“Just give me a half dozen of +those plugs, and of those dry flies, and a +dozen of those bobbers—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy set out the boxes and the customer +helped himself. He knew exactly what he +wanted, and the girls marvelled at his quick +selection of the fancy colored artificial minnows, +the little feather flies, used to decoy +the poor fish, and the bobbers, of which +article Nancy had as pretty a selection +as might have been in a really large +shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You don’t know what an accommodation +this is,†went on the young man, putting +down a twenty dollar bill to pay for his purchases. +“No, don’t bother to put paper on +the boxes,†he objected, as all three attempted +to wrap the goods. “I’ll put them +right in the car. You see, I’m at the fishing +club over on the lake, and when we want +supplies there we <em>want</em> them instantly,†he +concluded.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And he was gone before the surprised +clerks had time to realize that the sale had +almost cleared out all the fancy tackle, and +there were coming in at the door two elderly +gentlemen, who looked exactly as if they +would want fancy flies.</p> + +<p class='c009'>One of the gentlemen poked his head in +the door so comically, the girls all giggled.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well!†he exclaimed. “So it <em>is</em> a shop. +Thought it might be a Sunday School fair +and I’d get roped in,†he chuckled, stepping +inside cautiously. “Sorry, but I didn’t +come to buy. Can you direct me to Professor +Sanders’ office?†he asked, while politely +removing his hat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“His office? Why, he hasn’t any office +that I know of,†faltered Nancy, surprised +at the question.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He has messages sent to the ticket office +at the station,†volunteered Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I see,†replied the man, seeming to +“see†more than the girls did. “Then, +we’ll go over to the station—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So saying the man backed out of the door +smiling pleasantly as he departed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I declare!†exclaimed Nancy. +“Our Disappearing Dick is going to have +callers. I wonder if he’ll perform for +them?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Those are important looking men,†Isabel +commented. “Did you see their car?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Wasn’t it fancy?†agreed Ruth. “Perhaps +Sibyl will get a ride home.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t think you folks can be very good +detectives around here,†Nancy criticized, +“or you would have found out what so many +people mean by saying that Mr. Sanders disappears.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, listen,†quoth Ruth, in a most confidential +tone, “I don’t call myself sensational, +and in fact, people at Long Leigh +generally have the name of minding their +own business; but there is something mighty +queer about Mr. Sanders.†She paused +while Nancy waited for further explanation. +“He does <em>not</em> live in the old gray +house, for father’s men went through the +entire place the other day, he’s in real-estate +you know,†she explained, “and there +wasn’t a thing to show that the old house +had been opened since they inspected it +last.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Couldn’t he camp in the barn or somewhere +outside the house?†queried Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No; the barn was locked up tight as tuppence,†+insisted Ruth. “But he seems to +hang out somewhere on that hill, just the +same,†she added.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know!†exclaimed Nancy. “He goes +up in a tree with the wires and springs,†+and she sprang up and down without either. +“Some day I’m going up there and I bet +<em>I’ll</em> solve the mystery,†she promised +gaily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let us know when you’re going, Nan,†+suggested Ruth. “We wouldn’t want to +have you swallowed up by—the fairies.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say,†whispered Isabel, her eyes set in +what looked like alarm, “do you know, I +saw a little woman come up and down our +side steps a half dozen times this morning—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh!†and Nancy laughed merrily. +“That would be little Miss Manners, the +dressmaker who lives in the tiny bungalow +under our window. You see, Mother +wouldn’t really let us keep store without +some supervision. She’s pretty particular, +and declares there is no telling who +might pop in—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And hold us up for our cash box—!†+Ruth added so mirthfully as to suggest a +good time in the danger.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, any how,†continued Nancy, +“Mother insists that Miss Manners look in +quite often to see that everything is all right. +She’s as quiet as a mouse—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I should say she is,†Isabel confirmed. +“In fact, I didn’t want to frighten you or +I should have told you someone was sneaking +in,†she added, folding up a tape line as +she spoke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Miss Manners is so quaint, as Vera +would say,†Ruth contributed, “that I think +she ought to be a partner, if a silent partner, +in the Whatnot Shop.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†agreed Nancy, “it does seem as if +this shop should belong to little old people +like Miss Townsend, and I guess that’s why +Miss Manners is so interested. You see, +girls, I’m still a very poor housekeeper, and +our maid, Anna, won’t be back until fall. +After I get tired playing store, I suppose,†+and she sighed heavily, “I’ll be expected to +start in playing house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But if you run the shop as you have done +this morning,†Isabel interposed, “don’t you +suppose your mother will think you’re a real +genius at business?†she inquired.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can’t fool my mother on geniuses,†+replied Nancy, who like her companions was +putting away the odds and ends of things +that had been scattered in the morning’s adventure. +“Mother is an expert, and she sort +of knows—me.†This last was said in a +way implying a very doubtful compliment +for Nancy. “I’ve been almost a genius at +art, for instance. When I was five years +old I could draw a goose with my eyes +shut.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How about it when your eyes were +open?†asked Ruth, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was usually a little fat pig, then,†+Nancy admitted, amid an outburst of girlish +laughter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy,†interrupted Isabel, “here’s the +ice cream man.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ours,†declared Nancy. “Now we’ll +whistle for Ted and his boys and shut up +shop for lunch. Isabel, will you please open +the side door? We’ll take a tray over to +Miss Manners and then sit down and enjoy +ourselves.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here’s Ted and his friends now,†announced +Ruth. “They seem to know it is +ice cream time.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That will save trouble,†Nancy remarked. +And presently the big sale was all +but forgotten in preparations for the feast +of ice cream, with other suitable summer +lunch supplies.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel took an attractive tray over to solicitous +and attentive Miss Ada Manners, +while Nancy and Ruth attempted to satisfy +the demands of Ted and his ice cream loving +friends. The noon day was much +warmer than the morning had indicated, and +this coupled with the sale excitement, went +far to make the little party a tremendous +success, just as Mrs. Brandon had planned +it to be.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXI' class='c010'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <br />THE FAILURE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>The days were slipping by, and Nancy +found herself entangled in a rather confused +vacation. True, she had already reaped +real benefit from the big sale and from the +subsequent days’ sales in her shop, but was +it really being a vacation?</p> + +<p class='c009'>It must be admitted that Nancy had a +tendency to stubbornness, but since that peculiarity +very often marks the first stages of +a strong character, her mother wisely allowed +her to continue to try things out for +herself. The Whatnot Shop was not proving +in any way a disappointment, but it was +most certainly giving Nancy work, so that +she was not free to come and go with the +other girls, in spite of Miss Manners frequent +and generous offers to “'tend store†+for her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A bright spot on her calendar not very far +off, was the coming of Mrs. Brandon’s vacation. +Soon she would be at home, free to do +all the precious things a devoted mother +plans to do in the little interval of freedom +so long looked forward to and so quickly +spent.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“When you are home,†Nancy would continually +plan, “I’m going to do that,†referring +to any one of a number of things being +postponed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Today it was raining; a sudden summer +shower was drenching everything as if rain +had never had such a good time before, and +a charity sale, in which all the girls were interested, +was to be held that afternoon. +Everyone, including Nancy, expected to attend, +and she with others had promised to +donate a cake.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But how it rained! And Nancy had +planned to go into town to the fancy bakers +to get her cake. Hour after hour she hoped +the rain would cease, until it became too late +for a telephone delivery, and still Nancy +could not go out in the downpour.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If I could only bake it,†she reflected, +as she once more gazed gloomily out of the +windows at the dripping world. “It’s easy +enough to bake a cake,†she told herself, +“and, of course, I could follow the recipe in +mother’s cook book.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Still Nancy had misgivings concerning +such an experiment. A cake for a sale +should be good, of that she was certain, and +for that very reason she had previously decided +to buy one at the French Pastry Shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†she sighed, “I may as well try it. +It is sure to clear up just when the girls are +due to call for me, and I simply couldn’t go +without a cake.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>First locking the store, and making up +her mind that no call, however insistent, +would tempt her to leave her task, Nancy +promptly set about baking her cake. It was +no trouble to find the cook book, Mrs. Brandon +had found a small shelf suitable for +that in the open pantry. Also, the required +ingredients were all at hand, and the creaming +of the butter and sugar, according to the +first rule, Nancy executed with something +like skill, for she had strong young hands +and the spoon in her grasp quickly beat the +butter and sugar together in a perfectly +smooth paste.</p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic004'> +<a href='images/illus-132.jpg'><img src='images/illus-132.jpg' alt='' class='ig004' /></a> +<p>Nancy promptly set about baking her cake.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Then she put the flour in the sieve. In +doing this she made a slight mistake, for no +pan nor plate had been placed under the +sieve and consequently a pretty little layer +of the sifted flour showered out upon her +table before she could get a receptacle under +the utensil.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I had better measure over again,†Nancy +decided, feeling that the uncertainty of +guessing at the lost flour might spoil her +cake. So this time she put in her baking +powder, salt and flour, and sifted all into a +little pudding pan. Separating the eggs, +yolks from whites, was not quite so easily accomplished, +but even that was finally managed, +and now Nancy knew it was time to +light the gas oven.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Next, three-fourths of a cup of milk was +added to the creamed butter and sugar, the +egg yolks added to that and all well beaten. +Then the flour was carefully turned in, while +beating all together Nancy felt really elated +at the prospect in sight.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m sure this will be fine,†she was congratulating +herself, “perhaps even better +than a store cake. And I know how to make +the maple icing—I’m glad I have done that +much before, at any rate,†she admitted ruefully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The soft yellow mixture did indeed look +promising, but now came the time to fold +in the whites of the eggs.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Fold in,†repeated Nancy, somewhat +puzzled. “How shall I fold it in?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She looked at the batter and she looked at +the frothy egg whites. To fold that in +would surely mean to spoil all the nice, +white, snowy mound of froth. Nancy hated +to do it, but she finally spilled it into the +bowl full, and started to beat it all over +again. The batter seemed rather thin and +Nancy decided to add a little more flour. +Just here was where her inexperience +threatened disaster, but the trial so fascinated the +little cook that she did a few other things not +proposed by the recipe, but all of which +seemed reasonable to her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The oven was now sizzling hot, and Nancy +quickly turned her mixture into two tins, +which she neglected to grease, and slipped +them into the oven. With a sense of satisfaction +she turned to and really cleared up +all the utensils—something very commendable +indeed in Nancy Brandon. With +watching the clock and getting Ted’s lunch +set out on the little porch table, while she +also managed somehow to start her own personal +preparations for the afternoon, Nancy +was, as she would say, kept on the jump.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the cake didn’t burn, and she took it +from the oven on the dot of thirty minutes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It will have to cool, I suppose,†Nancy +guessed, “and while it’s cooling I’ll make +the icing. It looks pretty good but it has +got a lot of holes in it,†was her rather +skeptical criticism, as she inspected the two +layers of golden pastry. But the cake, even +after a thorough cooling which consumed +more time than could be spared, would not +leave the tins!</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy tried a knife—that broke a great +rough corner off. Then she got the pancake +turner and slipped it under as well as +she could, but alas! The thing actually +splashed up in a regular explosion of +crumbs!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruined!†groaned Nancy. “I can never +fix that!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her disappointment was cruel. To see a +perfectly good and such a fragrant cake go +to pieces when finished, after all the work of +getting it that far was nothing short of a +tragedy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Tears blinded Nancy Brandon.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I might have known,†she sighed, “I +just couldn’t have such good luck with +cooking.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The rain was almost over. Ted would +soon be in, but Nancy just couldn’t help +crying. It was so hard not to succeed when +she had been counting so especially on that +afternoon’s fun. Perhaps she could get Ted +to go to town for her after all. But upon +serious consideration she decided against +that plan. She simply wouldn’t go now +under any circumstances. Her eyes were +red and she wanted a good cry even more +than the fun of the sale. In fact, she +couldn’t help crying and she wasn’t going to +try.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When an hour later the girls called, Ted +told them what was strictly true. Nancy +was in bed with a sick headache and she +couldn’t go. Carrying their messages of +sympathy upstairs to Nancy, along with a +plate full of broken cake and a glass of ice +cold lemonade, Ted tried to cheer his disconsolate +sister, but even then she had not +discovered that the whole trouble was +merely her neglect of greasing those cake +tins. The cook book didn’t direct so simple +a thing as that and, of course, poor Nancy +just hadn’t noticed that her mother did it. +She was usually too concerned about the +remnants of cake dough being left in the +bowl, to observe how the batter was being +put in the pans.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Does it ache hard?†asked Ted, sitting +beside his sister and referring to her head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, it does, Ted, but this lemonade is +splendid.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can make good lemonade,†Ted admitted. +“And your cake is swell, only it +sticks awful. I got it out with the pie +server,†he told Nancy simply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. I couldn’t get it to come off the +pan at all. Well,†and Nancy moved to get +up, “I suppose I won’t feel any worse down +stairs. What color dress did Ruth have +on?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>To the best of his limited ability Ted described +the girls’ costumes and then, determined +to drive away Nancy’s blues, he +started in to recite in detail his great experience +of that morning.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now Nan,†he began, “you can say all +you like, but Mr. Sanders does disappear. +<em>I saw him!</em>â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“<em>You</em> saw him disappear!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, sure as shootin’. We were all running +down the hill, trying to get to the station +before that big shower, when I said to +Tom, 'there’s Mr. Sanders, comin’ up.’ He +said he saw him too, and we kept on runnin’, +when I was just goin’ to shout hello, and +true as I tell you, Nan, there wasn’t any Mr. +Sanders anywhere in sight!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep, that’s just what I’m telling you. +We all saw him go, but no one saw where +to.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And presently even the lost pleasure and +the spoiled cake were soon forgotten in their +discussion of Ted’s remarkable story.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <br />THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>But something had happened to Nancy. +The cake failure represented to her much +more than a simple episode, for it had suddenly +summed up all the awful possibilities +of untrained hands. It was well enough to +make excuses, to claim business and even +artistic talent, for Nancy could draw and +color, and was among the best in her class +as an art student, but the fact now bore +down upon her with undisguised horror! +She could not do what other girls could do. +She could not even bake a cake.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And just as mother so often told me,†+she reflected bitterly, “it is not at all a question +of preference but of simple, civilized +living. What <em>I</em> don’t do and should do +someone else <em>must</em> do, and that’s anything +but fair play on my part,†Nancy sadly +admitted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Aren’t you going to open the store, +Nan?†Ted asked her. “There’s been +someone knocking a long time and now +they’re going away—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, never mind,†she answered indifferently, +“I’m going to get tea ready so +mother won’t have to bother. She does it +like an angel when I plead store business, +but I guess, Ted, the old store—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,†Ted +helped her out rather willingly, for he had +not, at any time, shared her enthusiasm in +the little business venture.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy sighed dramatically. She was +feeling rather sorry for herself and that is +always a symptom of wounded pride. It +was the same day, in early evening, of the +picnic and cake experience, and her crying +spell still stirred its little moisture of hurt +emotions. Ted couldn’t bear to see his sister +cry, ever, and he was now all attention +and sympathetic interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I wish, Nan, you’d just sell out. The +store would make a swell gym, and we +scouts need a place just like that—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! Do you think <em>I</em> would +quit just because a thing is hard! Why, I +should think you would remember how hard +mother works,†she declared, in a sudden +outburst of virtue. “And the harder it is +the more reason to—to do it,†she +floundered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yeah, sure,†agreed Ted amicably. +“Of course that’s so. Want me to set +table?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thanks, Ted, I wish you would. I’m +going to try a cooked custard, I mean a top +of the stove custard. If I can cool it by +putting the dishes flat on the ice,†Nancy +reasoned aloud.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But they’ll melt right through, if they’re +hot,†Ted reminded her. “I know my taffy +pan did—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, perhaps I’d better not try it then, +as it’s so late,†Nancy decided, relieved to +find a genuine excuse. “Suppose we have +toasted crackers with cheese on top? +Mother always likes that and <em>that</em> can’t go +wrong.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Fortified with a new determination, +Nancy went at her task, and in less time, +much less time than she usually required, +succeeded in preparing not only an appetizing +but a really tempting meal. Ted +arranged the crisp lettuce leaves while +Nancy cut the tomatoes, which she “nested†+in the lettuce, prettily. The toasted cheese-crackers +were in the oven and as this was +not only a favorite dish with the Brandons, +but is also a favorite with many others, it +might be well to know how Nancy prepared +it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She buttered saltines, enough to cover +the bottom of a flat pan, the pan usually +used for “Johnnie Cake,†then, on top of +the cracker layer, she showered, plentifully +thick, grated cheese; another layer of crackers +and another shower of cheese. Next, she +wet the layers with just enough milk to +moisten the crackers. The pan was then +allowed to stand long enough for the crackers +to absorb the milk, after which the +preparation was baked in a quick oven. A +delicious brown cheese-cake was the result, +and it “didn’t go wrong.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m glad I can do that much, at any +rate,†Nancy half-complained, half-praised. +“And Ted, you have made the table look +lovely. I shall be so sorry when the roses +are gone—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say Sis,†broke in Ted abruptly, “you +know I was telling you about how Mr. Sanders +disappeared.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Were you?†Nancy was polishing her +water glasses.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure, I was. When you had the headache +and was crying. Don’t you know?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes, I do remember,†admitted +Nancy. “But it’s too foolish, Ted—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Foolish nothing! I tell you I saw him +go,†Ted declared in a voice that admitted +of no argument.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How funny!†cried Nancy. “Do <em>you</em> +really believe in that stuff, Ted?†she asked +quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, say!†Ted was too disgusted to attempt +explanation. That any one should +doubt <em>his</em> eyes was beyond his understanding.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I’ll tell you,†Nancy condescended. +“I’m going to call on Miss Townsend soon, +that is, mother and I are, because Miss +Townsend has been sick, you know,†she +elucidated. “Then, I’m just going to ask +her straight all about that weird story.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“As if she’d tell,†scoffed the boy. +“Why, her own dog never left her house +since she’s been sick, if you want to know. +What do you make out of that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Cute doggie,†replied Nancy, now shutting +off the gas stove to await her mother’s +coming. “And another thing, Ted, I wish +you could see how that dog acts around this +place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m just thinking that maybe Miss +Townsend is acting sick just to get back +here,†hazarded Ted. “I hope mother +won’t give in, if she is, for I like it here, +don’t you, Nan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Love it! Here’s mother! Quick Ted, +the ice water. There, let’s hide!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The joy of a thing well done was Nancy’s +reward for her extra efforts. The little +meal was indeed a credit to her, and that it +gave her mother unmistakable pleasure was +Nancy’s greatest satisfaction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I am always sure that you can do it, little +girl,†her mother told her, as they all three +turned in to clear away the table things, +“but I also know you have to find things +out for yourself. How did you manage it +all so nicely?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I didn’t mean to tell you,†Nancy +sighed, “but I might just as well.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Better,†chimed in Ted mischievously, +as he scurried around to do his part in the +clearing up ceremony.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†Nancy agreed affably. “I +had better tell you, Mother. You see, it was +the day of the sale—the church sale the girls +were all going to. And I expected to get +my cake at the French Bakery.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you couldn’t on account of the +rain,†Mrs. Brandon helped the recital +along.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It never stopped for one half hour,†+Nancy added. “So I tried, that is I just +<em>tried to make</em> a cake.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She drew in her lips and puckered her +pretty face into a wry misgiving expression. +Nancy was looking very pretty in her +rose colored linen dress (the one her mother +had finished off with peasant embroidery), +and her dark eyes were agleam now with +enthusiasm and interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Frankly she told her mother the story of +her spoiled cake, and how they all three +laughed when the mother explained why it +had failed—just because Nancy didn’t know +enough to grease the tins!</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted, all this time, was casting suspicious +glances first at Nancy then at his mother. +He seemed to be enjoying a secret that even +his glances were not imparting to the others.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You may run along, Ted,†his mother +told him, as she always excused him just a +little earlier than she and Nancy were prepared +to finish. “I guess you can call your +part complete. Here dear. I’ll put the +sweeper away. You run, I hear some code +whistling at the side window.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right, Mother, but I can chase the +sweeper in the pantry as I go,†Ted offered. +“But I wanted to tell you.†He sidled up +to his mother very confidentially, “I think +Nancy’s good and sick of the store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why Ted!†His mother showed complete +surprise at the frank declaration. +Nancy was not within hearing so Ted ventured +further.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep,†he continued. “I’ll bet she +chucks it up pretty soon, and if she does, +Mother, could we fellers have it?†he +pleaded.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You boys have it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yeah; for a gym. Fine and dandy. +We’ve got a lot of things to exercise with—†+Nancy was back from the ice box now so +Ted could say no more. The next moment +he darted off to the boys who were calling, +his own vociferous answer shrilling the path +he made as he rushed out.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy remained silent for some minutes +and neither did her mother seem inclined to +talk. Mrs. Brandon put the center piece on +the table and Nancy straightened the window +shades, replaced the fruit dish on the +little table near the cool window, and suddenly +remembered to wind the clock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s Ted’s business, dear,†her mother +reminded her. “You see, even a boy must +get some training in these little household +matters. He too lives in a house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†agreed Nancy. “And isn’t it +strange that I always remember his part +while I so often forget my own?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, not strange,†her mother said gently. +“Ted’s little schedule is new and novel to +you, therefore interesting; yours is old and +monotonous to you, therefore irksome.†+Mrs. Brandon managed to get her arm affectionately +over her daughter’s shoulder. +“But don’t be discouraged, dear. You may +make a star housekeeper in the end,†she +prophesied.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh dear. I’m afraid not, Mother,†and +Nancy sighed heavily. “It seems to me I +get tired of everything. I thought it would +be wonderful to earn money,†she faltered, +“and I suppose because I always liked to +play store I thought it would be just as much +fun to have a real store. But Mother,†and +she snuggled against the sympathetic breast, +“Mother, I do want to help you—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you have,†brightened Mrs. Brandon. +“You have no idea what miracles I +have worked with your extra dollars, earned +in that little store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really, Mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, indeed. In fact I am thinking of +taking a real vacation when my little two +weeks come around. I had expected to do +some extra work—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“In your vacation?†exclaimed Nancy. +She had squatted her mother down in the +arm chair and was herself resting on the +side cushion. “Indeed, I should say not,†+she scoffed, pouting prettily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But if we buy this little summer place, +dear, we must do a lot of certain things,†+explained her mother vaguely.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then I’m not going to get tired of the +store,†determined Nancy, suddenly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yet Nannie, we might do very well to +rent it,†suggested Mrs. Brandon. “A +business place is worth something, you +know.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Rent it? To whom?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it would cure Miss Townsend of +her imaginary ills, to have a chance to come +back—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Mother, somehow I shouldn’t like +to have her around,†faltered Nancy. +“She’s sweet and quaint and all that,†conceded +Nancy, “but she gives one the creeps. +She sort of brings ghosts along with her +when she comes here. And her dog! Why, +he’d bark us all to death if we ever let him +in to fight with the chimney place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mrs. Brandon laughed good-naturedly. +“I’ve felt rather against considering the +plan myself,†she admitted, “for as you say, +dear, we would feel like intruders with Miss +Townsend established in the store. Well, +we don’t have to think about it now, at any +rate,†she decided. “Come along for a +walk. I’m afraid you haven’t been out +much today and that’s one thing that would +really worry me, dear. I don’t want you to +stay indoors to take care of the store,†her +mother admonished. “We don’t pretend to +carry real necessities that people might expect +to buy from us, and such stock as we +do keep can be had at our convenience, as +well as at theirs,†she finished definitely.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are perfectly right, Mother,†+Nancy answered emphatically. “And +that’s one thing I don’t like about business. +Everybody just thinks <em>we</em> are their servants, +and they even become rude when I tell +them I haven’t got something they happen +to want.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes, I know. But I wouldn’t worry +about that. It all adds to the value of the +lesson, you know. Just be sure you are +right, keep a cool head and a steady hand,†+her mother laughed, “then, let the other +folks lose their patience if they are foolish +enough to do so. But listen,†she paused +attentively. “Here comes Miss Manners. +And she seems to be in trouble. I’ll let her +in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The little lady was indeed in trouble for +her face, small and somewhat pinched with +threatening years, showed, as she entered +the room, the unmistakable signs of weeping.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh dear,†she sighed brokenly, as +Nancy pulled out the rocker for her, “I +don’t know why I should come to you folks, +for I’m sure,†she gulped back her interrupting +sobs, “you must have troubles +enough of your own. But I just had to talk +to somebody—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Talk away,†replied Nancy’s mother +cheerily. “You know that is the best way +to conquer one’s own troubles—to attack +them with the troubles of someone else.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe that’s so,†replied Miss Manners, +brushing back a stray strand of her graying +hair, “but I don’t just see how that is going +to help me,†she faltered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Tell us yours,†urged Nancy, “and then +we will be better able to judge.†Nancy sat +back in her own chair, quite prepared now +for a new chapter in the current events of +Long Leigh.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <br />BEHIND THE CLOUD</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Poor little Miss Manners! Hers had +been a brave struggle, and as Nancy and her +mother listened to the brokenly told story, +they were easily ready to pardon the little +lady’s show of emotion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So you were worried about your rent, +principally?†Mrs. Brandon prompted her, +kindly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. You see when I had to give up +teaching on account of my health, I naturally +turned to sewing,†she explained. +“If I had only been a teacher in a public +school, instead of a private school, I +shouldn’t have been left without some +means,†she complained, sorrowfully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was watching her in silent contemplation. +What a “sweet†little woman she +was. The type always called little and +sometimes referred to as “sweet†because +of that indefinable quality usually associated +with flowers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You should not have worried so,†Mrs. +Brandon assured her. “You have done a +great deal for us—I never could have left +the children here alone without feeling sure +of your watchful kindness, you know.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now Mrs. Brandon,†said Miss Manners, +in a rather dictatorial tone, “I have +done nothing at all for you, and I want to +assure you that Nancy and Ted require very—little—watching.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I want to say,†spoke up Nancy, +“that Miss Manners is the very nicest kind +of a watch—a watch-woman,†she laughed. +“We never hear or see her when, perhaps, +we are noisy and—and rackety.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was afraid,†continued Miss Manners, +without apparently heeding Nancy’s intended +compliment, “that you might have +been alarmed about the silly stories current +around here. I mean, that especially about +Mr. Sanders.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†said Mrs. Brandon encouragingly. +“We have heard queer tales of his remarkable +powers, but I can’t say they have +alarmed us, Miss Manners.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You have too much sense, I’m sure, for +that,†she conceded. “But when one comes +into a strange place and hears such stories, +especially, when they have something to do +with this little place—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What could they have to do with +<em>this</em> place?†Nancy questioned sharply. +“Surely, he doesn’t do any disappearing +around here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Both the older folks laughed at that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, not exactly,†replied Miss Manners, +“but you see, they say he influenced old Mr. +Townsend until he spent his own and his +sister’s money. But for my part,†she hurried +to add, “I could never believe that +Mr. Sanders is anything but a perfectly upright +gentleman, and in no way responsible +for the sad state of the Townsends’ business +affairs.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then <em>you</em> don’t believe any of the stories +about him, do you?†pressed Nancy. +“Even Ted insists he saw him—fade away.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The little woman, who seemed for the +moment to have forgotten her troubles, +looked from mother to daughter. It was so +easy to interpret her thoughts. She was +measuring Nancy’s courage.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you don’t need to be afraid of +frightening me, Miss Manners,†Nancy assured +her, “I’m only waiting for a chance to +investigate the disappearing story. I’ve +been so sure <em>I</em> could solve the mystery, that +the girls will soon be calling me a boaster +if I don’t start out to do something. What +do you think, really, Miss Manners?†she +pressed further.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I hate to say so, but I can’t deny +there is something curious about Mr. Sanders. +I have often watched him around this +house, when he and Mr. Townsend were +such friends, and really,†she paused as if +the admission were most distasteful to her, +“I must say, the way those two men ran +around the house—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ran around! Those two old men!†+cried Nancy, sitting up very straight in sudden +interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, actually. I mean out of doors, of +course,†Miss Manners explained. “But +they would first fuss around the outside +chimney—you know the mason work runs to +the ground on my side of this house, I mean +the side next to my bungalow,†she emphasized, +“and there is an old-fashioned opening +there. I suppose they used to take +ashes out that way when they used the old +grate fires.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I know!†cried Nancy excitedly. +“That’s why Miss Townsend’s dog made +such a fuss over the fireplace in the store!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. They always had Tiny with them +and the dog seemed as—crazy as the men,†+Miss Manners remarked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t you suppose they were working at +something?†Mrs. Brandon suggested, sensibly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I did think so, of course; but Miss +Townsend seemed to fear all sorts of things; +yet she never would put her fears into sensible +words,†Miss Manners told them +curiously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But how could that be connected with +the foolish story of Mr. Sander’s disappearing +trick?†Mrs. Brandon wanted to know.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You see, it was all so unusual—I mean +Mr. Sanders coming in here a stranger, and +not living any place that folks could find +out. Then, when he came down to Mr. +Townsend here, got him all excited over +some secret, got him to draw his money +from the bank, and finally worked poor Miss +Townsend into a state of nervous breakdown, +why, naturally the people around suspected +almost everything—even to calling +him a magician,†Miss Manners said, with +a timid little smile.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I couldn’t give credence to any of it,†+replied Mrs. Brandon decidedly. “I have +met Mr. Sanders and share your opinion; +that he is a perfect gentleman.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I’ve talked a long way from my +own story haven’t I?†Miss Manners +sighed again, as she blinked against impelling +thoughts. “You see, I have no friends +at hand, and when I did so large an order of +hand-made handkerchiefs—it took me +months to do them—I depended upon that +money for the summer. But the lady I +made them for was called hurriedly abroad, +on account of the sudden illness of her husband, +and she never gave a thought to my +precious twenty-five dollars,†the little lady +sighed ruefully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She went away and owed you all that +money!†Nancy exclaimed. “However +could she have forgotten?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“My dear child, we are all selfish when +in trouble I suppose,†said Miss Manners +charitably. “But I did fully expect to hear +from her before this, and my next rent will +be due in three days. I just came in to consult +with you, not to borrow. I wondered +if you knew of anything I could do—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Certainly I do,†Nancy almost shouted. +“You can start a little private school, a +class in domestic science right in my—in +our store,†she exclaimed. “I know at +least a half dozen girls who will be glad to +take a month’s course, and we’ll all pay +you in advance. They always do in private +schools!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The women both appeared speechless as +Nancy rattled on. The idea was plainly +fascinating. A domestic science class for +the girls who hated housework, as Nancy +did! How much better than idling an entire +vacation!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, I just wonder—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You needn’t wonder, Mother,†Nancy +interrupted, “I tell you, it’s just perfectly +wonderful, the idea, I mean. I’ll learn, I’ll +learn, I’ll learn,†she chanted, “and then +maybe I’ll find out a pleasant way—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are right, daughter,†spoke up Mrs. +Brandon. “When you learn to do things +as they should be done, you will find the +work interesting. I have been sorry, Miss +Manners, that my home has had to get along +without a great deal of my time,†she turned +to her visitor, “as you know I have had to +attend business and leave things to my +maid. For, after all,†she said evenly, +“only a mother can teach a daughter, and I +have not been with Nancy long enough—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You have too, Mumsey, and it’s all my +very own fault,†Nancy confessed. “You +often showed me how to do things, and you +always told me I would have to pick things +up when I threw them down, but I just +didn’t care. I didn’t think it made any difference.†+Nancy was actually joyous in +her confession, showing the positive relief +one is apt to experience when the mind is +suddenly freed from a heavy weight.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I really think Nancy’s idea is a good +one,†said Mrs. Brandon. “There is no +real reason why you should be tucked away +next door to us when we need you in here, +and we’ve got more room than we know +what to do with.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, joy!†Nancy was positively dancing +now. “We can have Manny in here with us +all the time? May I call you Manny?†+she asked. “It’s the cutest name.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s queer,†replied the little lady, a +soft color showing through her pale skin. +“My girls at Raleigh always called me—Manny—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then the plans were unfolded, and such +plans as they were!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I feel like a fairy with a magic wand†+declared Nancy. “My little store is just +like—a magic carpet or something.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I don’t want to impose—†Miss +Manners began.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re a positive blessing,†Nancy insisted. +“The only trouble is—we can’t +learn sleuthing in your class and I’ve just +got to find out Mr. Sanders’ secret before +I’m many days older. I honestly think, +Mother, the idea of that foolish story going +around without anyone—running it down, +as Ted would say, is getting on my nerves.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And every one enjoyed a good laugh at +the idea of Nancy Brandon having nerves.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXIV' class='c010'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <br />A PLEASANT SURPRISE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It was all very exciting, but Nancy didn’t +want to think that she was really glad to get +rid of her precious Whatnot Shop. Ted +openly declared “he told her so,†as boys +will, but she politely drew his attention to +the fact that she had fulfilled her contract, +that she had earned money, quite a lot of +money, in fact, and in now turning the shop +over to Miss Manners she was following her +mother’s advice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was a few days later than that evening +when she and her mother offered the use +of the shop to the little seamstress, and +now they were preparing to call on Miss +Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Suppose she says <em>she</em> wants it back,†+faltered Nancy, just patting her dark hair +back into the desired soft little bumps. +“What would we say, Mother, if she just +begged us to let her have it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why dear, we could let her have a part +of it, perhaps. She could come in and sell +out what little stock you have, while Miss +Manners is getting ready for her class.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, but,†pouted Nancy, “I would just +hate to have her do that. If you ever saw +the way she snooped around, Mother. And +the way that dog acted!†Nancy’s manner +was very decidedly one of opposition to +Miss Townsend and her dog.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, come along, dear,†her mother +urged, “we must not stay late. I have some +notes to write up and I don’t want to lose +sleep over them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Whatever else bothered Nancy Brandon, +an evening’s walk through the country +roads of Long Leigh, in a beautiful summer +twilight with her arm locked tightly in her +mother’s, was balm enough to soothe and +heal every slightest hurt and anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother-love,†she actually cooed, in the +softest little voice she could command, “I +just love it tonight, don’t you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Perfect,†replied the happy mother, +pressing lovingly upon the imprisoned arm. +“And I am so glad, daughter-love, that you +want to give up your business.†There was +a humorous little twist given to that last +word, for Nancy’s business was and had +been something of a practical joke among +the Brandons.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s walk around the old house,†suggested +Nancy, for they were at a fork in +the road and needed to choose a way to +Miss Townsend’s. “Then, maybe we will +discover something about Mr. Sanders’ +quarters.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But just as they were about to turn into +the lane that led past the old stone house, +Ted hailed them from the hilltop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>He wanted to know where they were going. +He wanted to know if he could go +along, and as they managed to make signs +that gave at least a negative answer to this +last request, they found themselves on the +open road, walking directly away from the +old stone house.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We won’t be long, Ted,†his mother assured +him, as he reached them, “and you +can, if you want to, go over to Norton Duncan’s. +We will give you a call as we come +back, and then we will all go home together. +The side door key is in the regular place +though, if you would rather go home—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no I wouldn’t. I’ll stay out 'til +nine, and Nort and I’ll practice drill,†proclaimed +Ted. “We’re going to have a regular +test drill soon, and he’s my partner.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This being a satisfactory arrangement, +Ted went to Nort’s while Nancy and her +mother continued on to the little country +hotel, where the Townsends had taken up +their abode.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I do hope,†murmured Nancy, “that she +won’t upset our plans. I just can’t see, +Mother, why you bother about her at all,†+she complained.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The place is ours for this summer to do +as we please with it, Nancy,†her mother +replied, “but just the same, it is a little +business courtesy to show to Miss Townsend. +We have the option on the place, and I fully +intend to buy it, but the shop was so dear to +Miss Townsend’s heart, that I feel we ought +to, at least, tell her what we plan to do for +the month.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re so, generous, Mother,†sighed +Nancy. “I wish <em>I</em> were more like you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her mother smiled and squeezed the +young hand that rested so confidently upon +her own arm.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t worry, dear,†she answered. +“You know what dear grandma always said +when you got into little troubles?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†replied Nancy, “that my heart +was in the right place if my head was a little +shaky.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, that’s it. And don’t we miss +grandma? She might just as well come out +here with us, but I was afraid of bringing +her to the old-fashioned little house. Well, +here we are at our hotel,†Mrs. Brandon +broke off, as they came in sight of the long +white building, with its unmistakable hotel +piazza.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In the row of rockers on the porch sat a +row of men on one side and almost a row of +women, or “ladies†on the other. Country +folks, with a few city interlopers, composed +the patronage of the Waterfall House, it +was quite evident.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy and her mother smiled at the faces +and half-greeted them, as they passed into +the office, and after asking for Miss Townsend’s +rooms, followed the boy along the +red carpeted hall, and up a stairs carpeted +with what once had been red. They journeyed +on until they reached a little turn in +the second hall. Before this their guide +halted and pointed out a door that bore the +number twenty-seven.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy’s heart would have jumped a little +apprehensively had it been a less healthy +young heart, but as it was, she merely kept +very close to her mother until the boy +turned on his heel and whistled a returning +tune.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe she’s sick in bed,†Nancy was +thinking, just as the door was opened in +response to her mother’s knock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why! Mrs. Brandon!†she heard a +voice exclaim. “And Nancy!†as Miss +Townsend bowed them in. “How glad I +am to see you! Do come right in. Here, +take this chair, it’s so comfortable. Nancy, +sit by the window,†she was pushing a chair +over to the girl, “and you can see the people +passing. Well, I can’t tell you how glad I +am to see you both.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was so surprised she almost exclaimed +aloud. There was the “sick†Miss +Townsend fairly beaming, in, what surely +looked like, very good health. The little +dog was frisking around and Nancy had +scarcely seated herself in the chair by the +window when he pounced up on her lap, and +after “kissing her†several times, finally +subsided into a small, brown, woolly ball, +cuddled into a little nest formed from the +soft folds of Nancy’s blue voile skirt.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m so glad to see you are better, Miss +Townsend,†Mrs. Brandon presently said. +“You have been ill, we heard.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes indeed, but I’m better now, really +a new woman, you might say,†and Miss +Townsend now seated herself comfortably +on the small green sofa near them. “But +it was just worry. Worry is a pretty bad +ailment, isn’t it?†she asked, smiling a contradiction +to anything like worry affecting +her just then.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are real cozy here,†Mrs. Brandon +ventured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, it’s quite pleasant, but I’ve just +come back from a trip to the sea shore. I +guess that is what helped me most,†conceded +Miss Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Like Nancy, Mrs. Brandon also, was much +surprised at Miss Townsend’s exuberant +spirits. It was perfectly plain that some +good fortune had befallen the lady since she +had paid that mournful visit to Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You see,†she began, as if in answer +to their unmasked questions, “our business +affairs are being all straightened out and +Brother Elmer is getting back the money he +loaned. Of course I didn’t understand, and +it is one of those affairs a woman isn’t supposed +to understand.†This was said in +that sort of tone that conveys deep and mysterious +meaning.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m awfully glad of that,†Mrs. Brandon +assured the woman in her brand new heliotrope +one piece dress. It was quite modish, +indeed, and without question, very becoming +to Miss Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†went on the hostess, “I was +so worried for a long time. You see, I +really couldn’t have faith in a business deal +that I was not privileged to know the details +of. I have been a business woman all my +life,†she insisted, “and I’m not afraid to +tackle any business deal,†at this she +dangled her amethyst beads self-consciously. +“But Elmer and Mr. Sanders!†Her hands +went up protestingly. “They just used +every dollar. Well—†she broke off suddenly, +“it’s all right now, so why should I +fuss about it. You didn’t come to hear of +my troubles, I’m sure.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>At this point Mrs. Brandon divulged the +real purpose of her visit. Nancy was having +a great time with Tiny. He was awake +now and evidently eager to show off. He +stood up and begged, jumped down and +“prayed†and otherwise disported himself +most wonderfully. The distraction afforded +Nancy a welcome chance to sit aside +and take little or no part in the elder’s conversation, +but she was, as Ted would have +said, “all ears to it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, I think that’s a perfectly splendid +idea,†she heard Miss Townsend say, +in reference to the plan of giving the store +over to Miss Manners. “And I must say +you are very generous, Mrs. Brandon,†+she complimented. “As a matter of fact, +fancy-store business is not what it used to +be. More folks now take to the mail order +plan, especially in winter. Why, there +were months when I didn’t see the color of +a 'green back’ in that place,†she admitted. +“Yet, I couldn’t help loving the old place. +I had been in it so long,†she concluded +earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I met Mr. Sanders’ daughter, Miss +Townsend,†Nancy spoke up, determined to +bring up that subject, “and I think she’s +a perfectly splendid girl.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t she though! But she couldn’t +help but be smart with such a father.†+This last little speech was indeed a compliment +to the absent Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But where does he live?†demanded +Nancy, without any attempt to cloak her +question with indifference.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Live? Why, my dear child, he lives +here! Just moved in, and I do declare, the +man needs some comfort after all he’s been +through. If Elmer comes in before you go +I’ll have him bring Mr. Sanders in. We +are all the best of friends now,†declared +the incomprehensible little woman on the +green velour sofa.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXV' class='c010'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <br />TALKING IT OVER</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>“You haven’t really sold out?†Ruth demanded +incredulously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Going, going, going, gone!†sang back +Nancy. “Manny is a wonder. She just +sells and goes on with her preparations, +and girls, when my store is all cleaned out +I wouldn’t wonder but we’ll have a model +class room, instead of the Whatnot Shop.†+Nancy was flitting around like some full +grown elf. The three girls, Isabel was with +them, were out on the broad sloping grounds +surrounding Ruth’s home, and it was perfectly +plain that Nancy was already enjoying +her freedom from business.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it’s splendid,†Isabel joined in. +“We took millinery last August, you know, +so we don’t want any more hat making. +Mother is simply thrilled, as Vera would +say, and you know, Nan, Vera is due back +Tuesday. I guess the stores ran out of post +cards and she couldn’t live at Beverly without +cards. I’ve got enough of mine to paper +our attic room.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you’d never guess,†enthused +Nancy, “that salesman who came in with the +fishing tackle for our big sale, you know, is +going to send Manny a gas range! Just +think of it, a gas range for us to use, to practice +cooking on.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For nothing?†Ruth inquired.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For the advertising. It seems, a demonstrator +for a special line of gas ranges +used to go to Raleigh, that’s Manny’s old +school, and, of course, when the salesman +came in to sell and <em>we</em> weren’t buying,†she +was drawling her words to assume an imposing +air, “of course,†she continued, “he +became deeply interested in our plans, and +at once offered to send his friend, the lady +demonstrator, out to make plans with +Manny.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And we’re to be demonstrated,†chimed +in Isabel, imitating Nancy’s twang. “I +choose pie. I want my picture 'took’ curling +the edge of a lemon meringue,†and +she executed a few very 'curly’ steps to +illustrate.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was no denying it. Nancy was +happy on these the first days of her real vacation. +It had been splendid, of course, to +have twenty-five dollars of her very own to +offer to advance Miss Manners, to clear up +the rent worry, but the store had not been +all fun, she was willing to admit that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And do you know, girls,†Nancy confided, +“we, mother and I, had some doubts +about the way Miss Townsend would take +the news? Do sit down, Belle,†she broke +off. “How can I tell a story while you’re +doing hand-springs?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“These are flip-flaps,†insisted Isabel. +“Just watch this one.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She was leaning with both hands on a long +low bench, and the “flip†consisted of a violent +spring of both feet from the ground. +After bringing the feet down again with the +unavoidable jerk, she performed the “flop†+by pivoting around until she sat on the +bench and stuck both her feet out straight +in front of her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s very pretty,†commented Nancy. +“But if you want to hear my story you +have got to flop. I insist upon a sitting +audience.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This demand restored comparative quiet +and Nancy continued with her narrative.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was telling you about Miss Townsend,†+she went on. “You just should see +that lady. She’s all 'set up.’ We understood +she was a nervous wreck—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She was,†interrupted Ruth, “but I +heard mother say her brother’s business +affairs are being mysteriously adjusted. +Maybe that’s why she has become +rejuvenated.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, that’s exactly it,†snapped Nancy. +“And how the great, grand trick worked +is one of the stories we have missed. I +never saw such a place as Long Leigh for +floating stories that no one can explain. +Miss Townsend talked all around her good +luck, but never touched it. Of course, I +couldn’t be so rude—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course <em>you</em> couldn’t,†mocked Isabel.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just the same,†retorted Nancy, “I did +ask right out straight, without hint or apology, +where—Mr. Sanders lived.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you got snubbed for your pains,†+flung in Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nothing of the kind, I became informed +for my pains,†asserted Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Land sakes tell us!†pleaded Isabel. +“First thing you know I’ll hear our car, +and miss the—mystery.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†began Nancy, deliberately and +provokingly, “I asked her: 'Where does +Mr. Sanders live?’ And just as I was gulping +hard to control my emoting emotions, +Miss Townsend shook her necklace like a +dinner bell, and said softly—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy paused. The girls were threatening +to throw her over the bench into the +flower bed but she seemed about ready +to divulge the secret, so presently they +desisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†she said, “Miss Townsend answered, +'Mr. Sanders lives right here in this +hotel. He moved in yesterday and the poor +man needed the change after all he’s been +through.’ Now girls,†pouted Nancy, +“did you ever see anything as mean as that? +Just when I’m free to dig up the wild and +woolly mystery, our hero goes and rents a +room in the Waterfall House,†and she affected +a pose intended to excite pity, but in +reality causing mirth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I see it all!†cried Isabel, jumping up on +the bench and laying a sprawled hand over +the heart location. “All, girls, all.†Her +voice was droning like a school boy reciting +the Charge of the Light Brigade. “What +happened was this!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This!†interrupted Ruth, pinching Isabel’s +ankles until she literally fell from her +perch.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Whow!†yelled Isabel. “Can’t one elocute +without being plucked by cruel hands? +I tell you, girls, we have lost a lot of fun in +not keeping up with our little brothers.†+This was said in a very different and quite +serious tone. “If you were to ask Ted, +Nancy, very confidentially, what is or was +the secret of the hidden treasure place, I’m +almost sure he would tell you. He <em>knows</em>!†+she declared loudly, “and so does my +brother Gerard know, but <em>he</em> won’t tell +me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then it is or was a question of hiding +a treasure,†reflected Nancy. “I’m so +sorry it is only that. I perfectly hate treasure +mysteries, they’re so horribly common. +I had in mind some sort of great, grand, +spooky, now-you-see-me and now-you-don’t +trick. That would have been heaps more +fun than just the old hidden treasure business. +Well, at any rate, <em>we</em> seem to have +missed it, for Mr. Sanders is really living at +the hotel,†she wound up finally.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is that any reason why we shouldn’t +find out the secret?†demanded Ruth. “It +seems to me we would be better able to do so, +now that every one else has suddenly grown +rich, and there’s no more danger of getting +folks into trouble by prying into their business. +I just wish Sibyl Sanders would +come up again. I fancy she would be just +tickled to tell us the whole thing,†declared +Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I must trot along,†Nancy suddenly announced. +“And girls, please don’t forget +about the first lesson in domestic science, to +be held at the residence of—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A loud and insistent honking of a motor +horn interrupted Nancy’s flattering announcement, +and presently all three girls +were scampering down to the roadside to +pile into Gerard’s Duryea car, for Isabel’s +brother was taking them for a ride into +town, ostensibly to do some important family +errands, but really to have one of those +unplanned jolly times that go to make up +the happy summer time.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I must be back by five,†warned Nancy. +But her companions only pushed her back +further in the over crowded car-seat as they +sailed along.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXVI' class='c010'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <br />JUST FISHING</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Some days later the Whatnot Shop was +being dismantled, that is the shelves were +being treated to a great clearing off, and the +old-fashioned glass cases were being lined +with white oilcloth, preparatory to Miss +Manners’ Domestic Science Class storing +their samples of food therein.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Gradually Nancy’s sense of honor was +coming back into its own, for not only her +mother but also her girl friends were constantly +reassuring her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s nothing small nor frivolous +about changing one’s mind for the better,†+they told her. “In fact,†said the mother, +“that one is willing to do so, is very often +a mark of progress. If we didn’t change +our minds how could we grow wiser?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I thought I’d just love business,†+Nancy complained. “I was crazy to keep +store and now I’m crazy to start something +else.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Which is perfectly normal and entirely +reasonable for any healthy young girl,†her +mother insisted. “Can you imagine girls +being as staid and as old fashioned as their +mothers?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Moth-thur!†Nancy sort of moaned, “If +ever I could be as <em>new</em> fashioned as my +mother I shouldn’t mind how old nor how +young I might be. And you are a love not +to scold me. I know you are glad to see +Manny so happy setting-up her school, and +I know you will be better satisfied to have +her there, facing the fierce public, than allowing +me to do so. Not that I had +any trouble with the dear public,†Nancy +mocked. “And not that Brother Ted +wasn’t always within a few miles call if I +needed him. But, at any rate, Mums, I did +make some real money, didn’t I?†she +cooed, quite birdlike for Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A clean little, yellow bankbook was offered +for evidence by Mrs. Brandon at this +question, for being a business woman, she +knew the value of personal interest in every +part of a business undertaking, and so, +early in the experiment, she had brought +Nancy into the City Bank and there attended +to the formalities of opening her +bank account.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother, you keep the book, please,†+Nancy begged just now, as Mrs. Brandon +offered it to her. “I know I ought to be +very careful and not forget where I put +things, but somehow I do. And I would +hate to lose that precious book,†she murmured, +touching her mother’s cheek with +her lips as she made the appeal.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well, daughter,†Mrs. Brandon +conceded, “but you simply must learn to remember, +and the way to do that is think of +a thing as you do it,†she advised.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was, however, already improving +in such matters. Being obliged to find +things for herself, instead of calling out to +Anna, the maid, as she had been in the habit +of doing, was teaching a lesson that words +had never been able to convey to her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It now lacked but three days of the opening +of the class, and in these days Nancy +and Ted were planning to have a great time +fishing, exploring, and hunting. By “hunting†+they meant looking for Indian relics +along the river bank, for Ted insisted there +really were such articles to be found there, +if one were only patient enough in the +search.</p> + +<p class='c009'>This was the day set for fishing, and Ted +was just now coming up to the back door +with a tin can slung on a string, and that, in +turn, was slung over his shoulder on a pole.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Got lots of them!†he called out. “Nice +fat ones, too. We can catch big fish with +such worms as these,†and he set down the +outfit to display his freshly dug bait.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I’m not going to put them on the +hook,†protested Nancy. “I don’t mind +handling the slippery little things, but I +can’t murder them. You’ll have to bait my +hook, Ted, if you want me to go,†she +insisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right,†growled Ted, merely pretending +to protest, but really just showing +his boyish contempt for such girlish whims. +“I’ll put them on for you. But do hurry, +Nan,†he urged. “This is a dandy morning +to fish. Hardly any sun at all.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Calling good-bye to Miss Manners, who, +even, this early, was at work in the store, +Nancy was soon ready to start off with her +brother on the fishing trip. She was clad +in her oldest gingham, and wore her most +battered big straw hat, nevertheless she +looked quite picturesque, if not really +pretty even in this rough attire; for Nancy +was ever a striking looking girl.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Think we ought to take your old express +wagon, Ted?†she asked, jokingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What for?†demanded the boy in +surprise.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“To carry them home in,†laughed +Nancy. But even then Ted didn’t see the +joke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently they were trudging along the +heavily shaded road that wound in and out +around Bird’s Woods until it would stretch +along side Oak’s Pond, where the fishing +was to be done.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s fine to have you come, Nan,†remarked +the boy, wagging his bare head and +slapping his fish bag against his bare legs. +Ted was wearing old clothes himself, and +his trousers had not been trimmed any too +evenly, for one leg ended above the knee +and the other leg ended below the other knee. +But he looked about right as a fisher-boy, +his cheeks well tanned, his brown +eyes sparkling and his browner hair doing +pretty much as it pleased all over his +head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m mighty glad to come, Ted,†Nancy +was saying in reply to his gentle little compliment. +“It is great to be off all by ourselves, +although, of course, I have good +enough times with the girls,†she amended, +loyally.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Me too,†added Ted, “I have lots of +sport with the fellows but this is better,†+he concluded, as Ted would.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Arrived at a spot where the pond dug +into a soft green bank, rounding into a +beautiful semi-circular basin, brother and +sister there camped. Ted insisted that +Nancy take the choicest seat, a smooth spot +on the big tree that must have been felled +years before, and which had found comfortable +quarters on the edge of the jolly little +stream. Sympathetic ferns stretched their +soft green fronds along the sides of the +naked wood, as if they wanted to supply +the fallen tree with some of the verdure of +which it had been cruelly bereft, and even +a gay, flowering swamp lily, that wonderful +flaming flower that holds its chalice above +all other wood blooms, bent just a little toward +the one branch of that tree that still +clung to the parent trunk.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy squatted down expectantly. Ted +had baited her hook and she was now casting +out her line in the smooth, mysterious +stream, clear enough on the surface, but +darker than night beneath. She had removed +her “sneaks†and stockings, so +that she might enjoy the freedom of dipping +her toes into the little ripples that +played around the log.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t care whether I catch anything +or not,†she remarked, “it’s lovely just to +sit here and fish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ll catch, all right,†Ted assured her. +“This is a great place for fish—regular nest +of them in under these rocks.†He shifted +a little on his perch, which was on a live +tree that leaned out of the stream.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently Nancy developed a song from +the tune she had been humming:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Singing eyly-eely-ho! Eyly-eely-ho!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Got to keep quiet when you fish,†Ted +interrupted her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†agreed Nancy affably. +“But that tune has been simmering all day +and I just had to let it light up. Say Ted,†+she began all over again, “did you hear +about your friend, Mr. Sanders, getting +rich?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Rich? I’m glad of it. He’s all right,†+the boy declared, flipping his line to a new +spot.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep-py, rich,†Nancy repeated. “He’s +living at the hotel.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I knew that,†scoffed the boy, airily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Did you? Then why didn’t you tell +me?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Secret,†snapped Ted, shutting his lips +with a snap that even a venturesome fish +might have heard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the Townsends—they are quite +prosperous too,†Nancy pressed further.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ye-ah.†Ted was not encouraging the +confidence.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For a few moments neither of them spoke +again. Then Nancy’s line began to draw, +to pull out into a straight line.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Easy!†whispered Ted. “You’ve got a +bite! Don’t yank it. Wait until he’s on, +good and tight!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>They waited, breathless. Then Ted, the +experienced, gave the signal, and Nancy, +the amateur, drew very gently on her pole. +Up, up, but still under water, until suddenly +the water surface freed the capture, and +something black, shiny, snaky, dangled violently +from the upheld line!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ted, quick! It’s a snake! Look a +snake!†cried Nancy, getting to her feet +finally, after slipping several times on the +smooth log.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look out,†yelled Ted, for the black +slimy thing dangling on Nancy’s line +seemed to be making directly for her face, +as it swung back and forth and darted violently +toward the shore.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh-h-h-h-h!†Nancy screamed. “He’s +going for—†But she was taking no further +chances, instead, she flung her pole, +line and hook and catch, as far from her as +a single fling could send it. The pole floated +contentedly but the slimy thing was again +hidden in its beloved waters, although it +must have still been impaled upon the tortuous +hook.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted looked a moment at the lost outfit.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy,†he said gloomily. “You’re +crazy. That was a fine, fat eel, and they’re +hard to catch that way. And look at—your—pole.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll get it,†decided the surprised girl, +instantly slipping down from the log and +leaning out over the stream.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t!†yelled Ted. But the warning +was given too late, for as Nancy stepped on +what seemed to be grass, she found herself +thrust into the water, deep enough to +frighten her of something worse than a +snake.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh!†she yelled again. “I’ve got to +swim out, I’ll smother in the bog if—I—don’t.†+And so saying she flung her body +free from the deep marsh-grass, and struck +out in an emergency stroke toward the open +stream.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Go up to the cove!†Ted yelled. “Just +around that pine tree! I’ll meet you +there!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The light clothing she wore was not much +more cumbersome than some bathing suits +are often found to be, so that Nancy, a +capable swimmer, was now pulling surely toward +the cove, while Ted was racing, as best +he could in the heavy undergrowth to meet +her as she would land.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But just as Nancy turned in to a clear +little corner to make her landing, she heard +a muffled call.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Help! Help!†came the indistinct cry.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted was abreast of her and he too heard +the call.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s over in the sand dunes,†he yelled, +as Nancy stepped ashore and shook some +of the heavy water from her clothing. +“Quick, Nancy, the fellows went to play Indian +there!â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXVII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <br />THE CAVE-IN</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>There was no time to think of wet garments +as Nancy raced after Ted toward the +sand dunes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Quick,†he urged. “They’re the little +fellows, Billy and Jack, and they must be +under the sand.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Just beyond the trees and undergrowth +that surrounds Oak’s Pond, a stretch of +sand hills offered the youngsters an ideal +playground. A few scrubby pines managed +to draw from the dry soil enough vitality +for a very much impoverished growth, +and it was from the direction of the trees +that the feeble call was now heard, at protracted +intervals.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There!†pointed out Ted. “There’s the +shack. They must be in a cave-in near it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>His surmise proved correct, for quickly +as brother and sister could reach the spot, +they found every evidence of a cave-in and a +sand deluge.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’re here,†Ted called. “That you +Billy?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yeah,†came a pitiful little squeak. +“We’re smoth-rin’ to death. Quick—please—quick.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s a board,†Ted ordered, at once +taking charge of the rescue. “You can dig +with that, Nan. I’ll dig with my hands.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Exactly like a very eager dog that digs +with all fours when he wants to get in or out +of a pit, Ted went to work. The light sand +flew in clouds as he pawed and kicked, so +that compared with his efforts Nancy’s +board-shovelling seemed provokingly slow.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, this is no good!†she finally burst +out. “I can do that, too,†and without a +thought but for the rescue, Nancy dropped +to the position Ted was working in, and was +soon digging and kicking until her clouds +of sand rivalled his.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh! Oh!†came repeated calls and +groans. “We—can’t—breathe. Move the +board! It’s pressing—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’re coming. We’re coming,†Nancy +called back. “Don’t get frightened; you +can’t smother now.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But it was not easy to reach the imprisoned +youngsters, for a collapsed sand hill is +as slippery to control as a rushing water +fall. Every time the rescuers thought themselves +within reach of a board, an avalanche +of sand would tumble upon it and bury the +end they tried to grasp.</p> + +<p class='c009'>At last Nancy grabbed hold of a big stick +that protruded from the hill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here Ted,†she called. “Get this! It’s +under a board—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Raising the stick carefully they did, at +last, lay hold of one of the collapsed boards, +the “roof†under which the youngsters had +been caught.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Care-ful,†warned Ted. “Raise it! +Don’t pull it out!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was heavy, for sand pressed itself into +great weight, in spite of its infinitesimal +atoms. At last the rescuers were able, with +care and skill, to raise the board, then another, +until finally the bare feet of two small +badly frightened boys, led directly to the +entire persons of the same little victims.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh my! Mercy me!†gasped Nancy. +“They do look awful, Ted! Quick let’s +get them water!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Jack is the worst,†replied her brother. +“Nan, see if your skirt is wet yet. You +could squeeze a little water on his face—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The garment that had been dripping a few +minutes before was still damp enough to +permit of being “squeezed,†and standing +over the pale face of little Jack Baker, +Nancy managed to extract some drops at +least, to coax back life into the almost unconscious +boy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Billy dragged himself out, although he +was barely able to do so, and as quickly as +little Jack showed signs of life, Ted and +Nancy between them carried him down to the +water’s edge.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were just about to bathe his face +and hands when a canoe drifted into sight +around the cove.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders!†called Ted. “There’s +Mr. Sanders,†he repeated, and his voice +was reaching the occupant of the canoe, for +the bark was now headed directly for land.</p> + +<p class='c009'>First aid and other common sense treatment +was soon being administered to both +Billy and Jack by Mr. Sanders, Ted and +Nancy, and when the cave-in victims were +finally entirely resuscitated, it was decided +that Mr. Sanders should carry them up +stream in his boat, and so enable them to +easily reach their homes, at the head of the +pond.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’ve been having some experience this +morning,†the man remarked to Nancy as +he waited for the boys to climb in the big +long boat. “Can’t I give you and Ted a +lift too? There’s room enough if everybody +obeys canoe rules,†he said pleasantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that would be fine,†Ted replied, +while Nancy was thinking of what to say. +“Sis fell in the pond after her fishing +tackle,†Ted added. “That was our first +adventure.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That must be what I picked up,†interrupted +Mr. Sanders pointing out Nancy’s +pole with the cord wound around it, lying +in the bottom of the boat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, that’s mine,†admitted Nancy, +“and I’m glad to get it back for it was a +special pole—one I got for a premium from +a Boston store,†she explained.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, pile in,†ordered Mr. Sanders, +“and you little 'uns’ had best not frighten +your folks with the cave-in story,†he +warned. “Better to be careful next time,†+he finished laughingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When all were securely ensconced in the +long, graceful bark, Nancy was given the +extra paddle and allowed to ply it alongside +Mr. Sanders. In the joy of that unusual +privilege, (for she was seldom allowed in a +canoe,) the accidents were quickly lost +thought of, even Jack and Billy venturing to +trail their fingers in the stream, while Ted +sitting in the stern took chances on throwing +out his line now and then just for the +fun of feeling it pull through the quiet +waters.</p> + +<p class='c009'>As they sailed along, conversation was +rather scattered, consisting mainly of +snatches of questions and answers between +Nancy and Mr. Sanders. The two little +boys had scarcely spoken since their rescue, +and now within sight of home, they were +just beginning to assume normal courage.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Suddenly Nancy started to titter. There +was no apparent cause for her change of +mood, but the more she bit her lip, looked +out toward shore, bent her head toward her +paddle and otherwise strove to divert herself, +the more the titter gathered and broke +into a laugh, over her helpless features.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Funny, isn’t it?†remarked Mr. Sanders +drolly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Silly, but I just can’t help laughing,†+she admitted. “It’s at the idea—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I wonder if I couldn’t guess,†+interrupted the man with the strong brown arms. +“It’s about me, isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†admitted Nancy, slowly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And about—about my supposed magic +powers.†He stopped and enjoyed a light +laugh himself. “Wouldn’t it be tragic if I +should disappear just now?†he said so suddenly, +that Nancy jerked her paddle out of +the water and stared at him with a sort +of guilty flush.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The idea—†she faltered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ha, ha, ha!†roared the big man swinging +toward the shore where Jack and Billy +were to land. “That’s a great story, isn’t +it? But I’ll tell you,†he lowered his voice +in a tone of confidence, “I am altogether to +blame for that fantastic yarn, but sometimes +we have to let folks guess even if they +do make—spooks out of us.†He laughed +again and even the little boys were now being +tempted to join in. “But I want to +promise you and your brother this, Nancy,†+he said seriously. “You shall be among the +first to know the answer to the riddle of my +magic disappearance around the gray +stone house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thank you,†Nancy managed to say, as +Ted caught a strong little branch on shore, +and helped land the canoe.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXVIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <br />INTRODUCING NERO</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It did not seem possible that Manny’s +school had been successfully opened two +weeks ago! That the girls in her class, at +first numbering eight now counted fourteen, +each paying five dollars for the month’s +training in domestic science, with lessons +three mornings a week. Fourteen pupils at +five dollars each and every single one paid in +advance, while Nancy was acting as class +president and Ruth as class secretary; these +were, indeed, auspicious arrangements.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And besides the seventy dollars paid Miss +Manners for tuition, the class members +brought their own supplies and were privileged +to take them home with them, in the +form of various tempting dishes, “the like +of which†as Nancy expressed it, “never +had been seen in Long Leigh before nor +since.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe you don’t know you’re a +wonder,†Ruth remarked very casually to +Nancy, while she, as secretary, was consulting +with Nancy as president. “I can cook +better <em>now</em> than I ever expected to in my +whole life. And as for Isabel! She’s so +enthusiastic, her mother says she has to restrain +her from going into the boarding +house business. You should just taste +Belle’s 'Cherry Moss.’ Um-m-m! It was +de-lic-ious!†and Ruth smacked her lips to +the echo. “Her brother Tom wanted to +know why we didn’t make up a class for +boys. He was in the army, you know, +and so thinks himself very efficiently +trained.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it great?†Nancy remarked, referring, +of course, to the success of the class. +“And for a laggard, an idler and one who +positively hated the very letters that spelled +cooking, I think I’m doing pretty well myself. +I made a fudge cake yesterday and +mother carried it out to set before the library +ladies, can you imagine that? A cake that <em>I</em> +made! After my heartbreaking experience +with the ungreased pans!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was very early in the afternoon and +Ruth, with Nancy, was putting the class +room in order. She had remained over to +lunch as she often did, and the two chums +found pleasure in arranging the white covered +tables, the shining pans, the numbered +spoons and other utensils. It was all so +much pleasanter than doing anything in an +ordinary kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The gas range, that was sent in to Miss +Manners as a demonstrator’s sample, was +majestically white and really quite attractive, +if such an article can be called attractive, +and just how Nancy hovered rather +lovingly over it, polishing with the very +softest, whitest cloth the impeccable, enameled +surface.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth had been finishing a little memorandum +in her oilcloth covered book. She laid +the book down now and strolled over to +Nancy. In their white aprons and white +caps, Nancy and Ruth looked too +picturesque to be passed by without compliment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth wound her arm around Nancy’s +shoulder. “I wonder,†she said, “why we +sometimes think that all play is more +fun?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I never did,†replied Nancy, innocently. +“My trouble always has been in finding +enough different things to do.†She looked +rather pathetically into the soft gray eyes +that were caressing her own darker orbs. +There was no impulsive hugging, nor other +ordinary demonstrations of affections dear +to the average emotional girls, for Nancy +was not given to extremes, nor was Ruth addicted +to such flagrant sentiment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The two girls were especially happy just +now. Nancy was accomplishing more, much +more, than she had ever hoped to do, with +her little shop that first brought real financial +help to her mother, and was now doing +as much for Miss Manners. Besides all +this, it was giving the girls themselves a +very useful, as well as enjoyable, summer +diversion. Ruth, although a new friend of +Nancy’s, had become a very fond friend indeed, +for the frank, original and genuine +qualities of Nancy were unmistakable in +their sincerity, and it was easy enough for +any girl to love her—if she could but get +near enough to her to know her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you don’t think it shows a weakness +to be so changeable?†Nancy asked Ruth. +“I just can’t seem to be happy unless I’m +planning something new.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, that’s—that’s a sign of originality,†+replied Ruth, smoothing Nancy’s cap +on her dark hair. “Some day you’ll do +something wonderful—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“About the girls,†Nancy interrupted. +“Don’t you think we were fortunate to get +the Riker girls to join the class? They +seem to represent the smart set at Upper +Crust Hill, and they brought at least five +others along.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy, our school is the talk of Long +Leigh. Lots of mothers think their girls +should do something useful during the +month of August, and I’d just like to see +any mother find a study more useful than +cooking—according to her ideas,†said +Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And Vera is going to take an extra hour +for desserts,†Nancy went on. “I can see +Vera the pride of her family some day. +Such home talent may be inherited. We +haven’t any of it in our family, I’m afraid,†+said Nancy, regretfully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you’ve got something more precious,†+Ruth assured her. “I never saw +three folks so like one person as you three +are, and yet you are all individually different; +if you know what I mean.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I do,†said Nancy. “And you’re a dear, +Ruth. What would I have done out here +without you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Taken the stylish Vivian Riker to your +heart,†teased Ruth. “She’s a beauty.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a stir outside.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look who’s here!†interrupted Nancy, +jumping up and hurrying toward the door. +“Ted! And he’s got the threatened new +dog with him. Come and see!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The threatened new dog was indeed being +coaxed along by Ted, but he didn’t look exactly +new. In fact, his coat was matted and +shaggy, his tail hung down without a bit +of “pep†in it, and even his long, long-haired +ears seemed too discouraged to pick +up the kindest words Ted was trying to pour +into them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nero!†announced Ted simply, as Nancy +opened the door and Ted tried to push the +melancholy Nero in.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What ails him?†Nancy asked, looking +the strange animal over, critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just nothin’ but lonesome,†replied the +small boy cryptically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He looks pretty—blue,†Ruth commented, +giving the dog a friendly but unappreciated +pat on his shaggy head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Guess you’d be blue too, if you lived +where he did,†Ted told Ruth. “That poor +dog hadn’t a friend in the world until I +found him. Here, Nero, come along and +eat,†ordered Ted, while Nero followed +him toward the back door through the +erstwhile Whatnot Shop and present-time classroom. +“He’s a fine dog,†the little fellow +continued to praise, “and when I get him +all fixed up he’ll be a beauty too,†he insisted +stoutly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe,†Nancy almost giggled as she +looked after Ted and his dog. “But when +you take him to the beauty shop, Ted, you +better get him a real Russian bob, his hair +is long enough to braid,†she commented +gaily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can laugh,†Ted retorted, “but he’s +a thoroughbred—a one-man dog. He won’t +notice you girls. Come on Nero, attaboy,†+chanted Ted, importantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But being cooks, Nancy and Ruth could +do no less than offer to provide Nero’s meal. +Each thought he would like something else +best, and each tried the other dish, pushing +it under his indifferent nose and coaxing +him with:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here Nero! Good! Eat! Eat-er-up!†+etc.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nero merely sniffed disdainfully, +snuggled his nose deeper into his flattened +paws, and turned two big, brown adoring +eyes up at his young master.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Pity about him!†quoth Nancy. +“Maybe he wants some of Isabel’s Cherry +Moss. Just stew or beefsteak or even fried +potatoes are not, it seems, on his diet +bill.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were all out on the back porch, Ted +squatted squarely beside the new dog, while +the girls floated around Nero, like little tugs +surrounding a big steamer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He doesn’t <em>have</em> to eat,†Ted remarked +indifferently, “he had a free lunch on the +way over.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He did!†screeched Nancy. “And you +let us go to all this trouble!†She kicked +the tin pan of water over in sheer disgust.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I thought he might like something +else,†murmured the small boy, provokingly. +“He only had a big soup bone and loaf of +bread.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Taking off their cooking-school caps and +unbuttoning their aprons as they went, the +girls wended their way back to the deserted +class room.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can anyone beat that?†remarked +Nancy, inelegantly. “Ted and his dog and +the big—soup—bone! I could put a tune +to that; a sad mournful dirgy tune.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Wherever do you suppose he picked up +the brute?†Ruth asked. “I don’t remember +having seen him around town.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, trust Ted,†replied Nancy. “When +we first came here, mother answered him +once, in a most casual, unthinking way: +'Yes.’ It seemed his question was could he +have a dog, and mother hadn’t been paying +strict attention. Since then he’s been on a +hunt for a dog. He brought home a poor +half-dead little tatters one day, but some +boy followed him up and claimed the beauty. +I wonder if this one will be left to him? He +seems pretty particular about his food, +doesn’t he?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†replied Ruth, who was just glancing +out the door. Suddenly she exclaimed:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here’s a taxi coming, and it’s the one +mother always uses. I guess she’s sending +for me, I’ll go out and see.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy looked out and saw Ruth talking +earnestly to the driver. She seemed to be +disagreeing with the message he was giving +her, and she turned abruptly to come back to +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine that!†she panted, “Mother +wants me to meet a train and take an old +lady to see the Hilton house. As if I could +show a house to one of father’s customers!†+Ruth’s voice betrayed actual antipathy to +the very idea.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But why not?†queried Nancy. “If she +is just an old lady—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A rich old lady who has come a distance +without notifying father’s office, and there +isn’t a man within call to take her out,†+Ruth sighed miserably. The thought of +showing a house seemed absolutely beyond +her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll go with you,†Nancy offered. “Why +couldn’t we show a house? We know how +to call out rooms, don’t we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth jerked back her pretty head and +stared at Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†she exclaimed, brightening +perceptibly. “I’ll go if you promise to do +the talking. I’m sure you can call off +rooms and do more than that in the business +line, Nancy. Let’s hurry. The train is almost +due.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So the two young “real estate ladies†+were presently seated most circumspectly in +the taxi, on the way to “meet a wealthy lady +who wanted to look at the Hilton house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy was fairly aglow with the +prospect of a new and interesting business +adventure.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXIX' class='c010'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <br />A DISCOVERY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>“Isn’t she lovely? Looks like a cameo.†+That was Nancy’s remark to Ruth when +Mrs. Mortimer Cullen tarried in the sun +parlor of the Hilton house, through which +the girls were conducting her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ruth only sighed. Her task was too +obnoxious to permit of compliments even to +the handsome, elderly woman, who indeed +did look like an animated cameo, set in a +frame of gray veils, thrown over a small +summer hat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t the garden beautiful from this +porch?†Nancy enthused, joining Mrs. +Cullen there. “Just look at that hedge! +It’s literally screened in with fine white +clematis! And look! Mrs. Cullen! Just +see that bower of Golden Blows! Oh, I +don’t believe I have ever seen such a beautiful +place,†and Nancy flitted around like +a big butterfly herself, her yellow and white +tissue dress escaping in little clouds about +her, as she raced from room to room.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“My grand-daughter Naomi, is quite like +you,†smiled the amused lady. “If you see +so much beauty here I am sure it would +please her. And it is for her, principally, +that I am considering coming to Long +Leigh.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I’m sure she’d love it,†chirped +Nancy. “But do come upstairs and see all +the wonderful bay-windows. Why, this +house is made just like a lot of flower bowls. +Every single room opens out in—Just see +these windows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So Ruth and Mrs. Cullen followed Nancy +upstairs to see the windows. From that +point of vantage she dragged them to the alcove +over the stairs and pointed out the +“glorious garden,†from that view. And +she was being perfectly sincere in her enthusiasm. +None of it was assumed, in fact, +one would have imagined Nancy was +considering buying the fine old homestead for +her own use.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They spent more than an hour looking +over the place and even then Nancy hated to +leave.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine having a home like that,†she +tried to whisper to Ruth. “I think I’d be +satisfied even to do housework if I could +look out that kitchen window as I did it,†+she added, while Mrs. Cullen smiled her satisfaction +into Nancy’s eager face.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They drove back to the train with the +prospective customer, who, when taking her +leave, glanced significantly at Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“My dear,†she said, “you gave me a very +pleasant little visit to your pretty Long +Leigh, and I hope if my grand-daughter, +Naomi, comes here—ever, she will meet +you.†She then touched Ruth’s hand +gently, saying something about having her +father’s office get in touch with her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When the train had cleared the station +the two girls broke into a much relieved +giggle. Ruth declared that Nancy had won +the heart of “Lady Cullen who is as rich +as they come,†she explained, inelegantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I had such a good time—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Whoa there! No, you don’t, Antoinette +Brandon,†Ruth warned Nancy. “You are +<em>not</em> going in the real-estate business, so you +needn’t get all set for it. My father has a +family to feed—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the very gentleman spoken of was +at that moment hurrying across the platform, +to meet the two uproarious girls.</p> + +<p class='c009'>He was most anxious to know about their +mission. Mrs. Cullen, it appeared, was a +very important personage, and he regretted +genuinely the absence from his office of a +suitable escort for the lady.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you needn’t worry, Daddy,†Ruth +assured him, taking the city newspaper +from one of his pockets and feeling for +candy in the other. “Nancy took such good +care of her that she almost stayed over to +buy more houses. You’ll have to look out +for Nancy, Dad.†Ruth continued to joke. +“She’s an expert business man, you know, +and might take a notion to try real-estate.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The more the merrier,†replied the +genial gentleman, who, like Ruth, had great +gray eyes and a clear florid complexion, +“I’ve been wanting to see your mother, +Nancy,†he said next. “Maybe, I could suit +her better in a house than you are being +suited in the Townsend place,†he ventured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, we love it over there,†Nancy hurried +to state. “And besides, Mr. Ashley, +we’re just poor folks,†she added +laughingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So are we all of us,†joined in Mr. Ashley. +“But I supposed, now that Sanders +has struck his gold mine, he might want to +buy the little place himself, sort of souvenir, +you know.†As they talked, they were +walking back to the waiting taxi, in which +the girls had fetched Mrs. Cullen to the +station.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now Daddy,†objected Ruth, “we’ve had +enough business for one afternoon. Nancy +must get back home and I’ve got a music +lesson, if Miss Dudley has waited for me, +and I hope she hasn’t.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy felt rather important stepping out +of the taxi at her door, it seemed, somehow, +much more business-like than just riding +in someone’s private car, and she dashed +up the store steps, still thrilled with enthusiasm +from her experience.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Inside the door she found Ted, crouched +before the fireplace urging Nero to “sic†+something.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Get him, boy!†he was coaxing. “Go-get-him!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Get whom?†Nancy asked, in surprise at +the spectacle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What ever is in that chimney,†the boy +replied. “Do you think Nero couldn’t get it +as good as that puny little dog of Miss +Townsend’s?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But how do you know anything is in +there?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Heard it—it whistles. Besides you said +so.†Ted was not a waster of words.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I never said there was anything there,†+Nancy argued. “But what whistled? +What did you hear?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just whistlin’. Sic him Nero!†and +Ted tried to push the big shaggy head +against the old-fashioned fireplace board, +that was papered with a very brilliant and +hideous set paper piece, the center representing +a terrible time among birds that +looked like freak chickens.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nero was absolutely deaf to Ted’s +entreaties. No more would he “go for†+the chimney than he went for the food offered +him by the solicitous young domestic +science students, Nancy and Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t think you should keep that big—untidy +dog in here, Ted,†remonstrated +Nancy, who hesitated over calling Nero +“dirty†and felt foolish at calling him “untidy.†+She crossed to the corner of the +store and raised a window. “You know,†+she continued, “this is a cooking school and +everything has to be strictly sanitary.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s strictly sanitary,†Ted declared, +pressing his own curly head down to Nero’s. +“I’m glad I’ve got him, I needed a chum +around home,†he finished, affectionately.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How about me?†teased Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh you!†Ted was caressing Nero, and +Nero was thudding his tail in response.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, what about me, Ted? Don’t you +like me any more?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Like you! But you ought to hear folks +talk. They say you’ll be starting a—butcher +shop next.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy drew her breath in sharply. Were +they criticising her like that?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who’s talking about me?†she demanded +of her brother.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t have to get mad,†drawled Ted. +“What do we care? We know, I guess,†+he placated, tactfully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But who’s talking?†she insisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s all jealousy,†the boy evaded. +“They’re disappointed because the Townsends +and Mr. Sanders are getting along so +well. First, they tried to make Mr. Sanders +out foolish, and now they say this place is +spooky. Guess I’ve been here long enough +to know,†he retorted, as if answering the +unknown foes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nancy was stricken with that painful +self-consciousness that so often lately had +taken possession of her. The changeable +girl, even her friends were calling her; why +did she so love—to change?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look!†whispered Ted, directing her +attention to the dog. “He—hears—it!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nero was now alert, head cocked to one +side, ears pricked up, and every dog-feature +of him ready to pounce.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted and Nancy watched him, breathless.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A little snapping bark, a growl, long and +threatening; then a wild, fierce howl, and +the big creature dashed against the fireboard!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There!†exclaimed Ted. “I told you +so!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What is it?†gasped Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the barking of Nero shut out even the +sound of their voices, and as brother and +sister looked on, the big dog pawed the fireboard, +scratching away the paper, birds, +flowers, impossible sky and all.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently he turned from that attack and +dashed to the back door. Ted and Nancy +were quick to follow him.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let him out,†Nancy directed. “He +may know there’s someone around.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Unhooking the screen door Ted let his dog +out. With a bounding leap Nero cleared +the steps and dashed around the house to +the chimney corner.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look!†screamed Nancy, “there—goes—a—man!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>As she pointed to the farthest corner of +the lot, where the fence was broken down to +admit a short cut to the avenue, they saw a +man, just stepping through the brush.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders!†exclaimed Ted. “I see +his bald head!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders,†Nancy repeated. “What +can he have been doing here?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s what Nero is trying to find out,†+replied Ted, dryly. “Let’s see how he’s +making out. He’s stopped barking. Maybe—he’s—got—it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It took but a few moments to reach the +side of the house, where the old-fashioned +stone foundation was broken by a place, +through which the ashes from the fireplace +had once been cleaned out. Here sat Nero. +He wagged his tail happily as Ted came up, +and he now seemed perfectly satisfied and +contented.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What is it Nero?†Nancy coaxed patting +the dog in a most friendly way. He was +evidently winning her affection as well as +Ted’s.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ted knew best how to follow the animal’s +lead. He was down on his knees in +front of the mossy stones and had his ear +cocked to the small iron door.</p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic005'> +<a href='images/illus-228.jpg'><img src='images/illus-228.jpg' alt='' class='ig005' /></a> +<p>Ted had his ear cocked to the small iron door.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep,†he sort of gasped. “It’s there! +It’s kinda-tickin’.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let me listen,†Nancy asked, dropping +down beside him.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For some time brother, sister and the big +dog were all crouched there, attentive, eager +and somewhat excited.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just a little sound—like an egg-beater,†+Nancy suggested. “And look, Ted, those +broken weeds! Mr. Sanders must have +been in here just now.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure, it’s his,†said Ted, in a manner as +matter of fact as if an egg-beater “whistling†+in the old fireplace was the most ordinary +thing in the world to expect being +put there by Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXX' class='c010'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <br />THE MIDNIGHT ALARM</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It was a very exciting story, indeed, that +Ted and Nancy poured into their mother’s +ears that evening. Had she any possible +objections to adopting Nero as the fourth +member of the family, they must have been +quickly dispelled with the graphic account +of that animal’s uncanny intelligence.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He seemed to know just where to find +the outlet to the chimney,†Nancy said, +“for he ran directly to the little furnace +place, and we didn’t really know it was +there ourselves.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course, he knew,†said Ted importantly. +“Dogs know lots of things that we +don’t. And he’s going to sleep in the store, +isn’t he, Mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, not in the store, Ted,†objected +Nancy. “Do you think that would be just +right, Manny?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, a big dog like that,†demurred +Miss Manners, who, now being a real resident +of the Brandon home, shared their table +with them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But he’s had a swim and he’s as clean as—as +anything,†floundered the boy, quite +unable to summon an appropriate comparison +for his great friend. “And Mother, he +can watch the whole house for us. How do +we know someone wouldn’t try to steal—the +secret of the chimney place?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It isn’t our secret,†retorted Nancy, +“and for my part I can’t see what right Mr. +Sanders has around our place at all.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can depend, dear,†said Mrs. +Brandon gently, “that whatever he has put +in the chimney, if anything, it is something +that could in no way bother us. Mr. Sanders +is a professor, and the old-fashioned +stone oven may have some special interest +for him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But couldn’t he ask us about it, if he +wanted to—to plant a bomb there?†Nancy +remarked, superciliously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s no gabber,†said Ted, with more +wisdom than elegance. “And anyway, +maybe he didn’t. But Mother, may I have +the old steamer rug to make a bed for Nero? +He’s so big he needs a big bed.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was finally agreed that Nero should be +allowed to sleep in the store before the fireboard, +and after much work making the rug +into a bed for him, Ted eventually got him +to try it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Very slowly the big shaggy creature +sprawled himself out on the soft wool, but +he only stayed sprawled for a few moments. +The next, he got up, took a corner of the rug +between his teeth, dragged it over to the +show gas-range and, in a dog’s way, proceeded +to make his own bed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Every one was watching him and every +one laughed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He can do tricks,†Ted declared +proudly. “I’m goin’ to train him for a lot +of things. He could almost do anything,†+the boy added, whereat even Miss Manners +laughed softly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nero was settled at last, and so far as +he was concerned, gave no further trouble +to the Brandon family for that evening. +The subject of the buzzing, egg-beater noise +in the chimney, coupled with Mr. Sanders +leaving the grounds so suspiciously that +afternoon was, however, discussed most +thoroughly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Even to the children Mrs. Brandon’s confidence +in Mr. Sanders, agreeing as it did +with the confidence of so many other grown +folks, gave cause for much curious speculation. +Nancy pretended that she disagreed +with this general sentiment, but that was +only because she felt there was a certain injustice +in the manner of Mr. Sanders assuming +rights over their personal property.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted, on the contrary, was ready to vote +for Mr. Sanders at every opportunity, and +while he didn’t exactly say that Nero had at +one time belonged to the people who had +lived in the big stone house, he <em>did</em> say that +Lou Peters, who gave him Nero, said that +the Giffords, who belonged on the hill, used +to feed Nero regularly at their back door. +That was as near to proprietorship as Ted +could bring Nero. Lou Peters had been +keeping him among the old boxes, so he gave +him to Ted. All of which followed a natural +sequence, for Ted himself had been +feeding Nero dog biscuits and soup bones +for a long time previously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it queer how jolly it seems to have +a dog in the house,†remarked the boy, who +was curled up on the couch and hugging a +big story book from which, tonight at least, +he read very little.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It does seem as if we have pleasant company,†+Miss Manners conceded agreeably. +She was, as usual, at her fancy work—some +exquisitely fine linen drawn work, being +done for a city customer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I thought we all agreed never again +to become attached to a dog,†recalled +the mother. She was making notes and +reading a book—a librarian’s method of +reviewing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We all felt so dreadfully when Grumpy +died,†Nancy recalled. She sighed effectively +at the recollection. “Grumpy was +the loveliest dog—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So is Nero,†affirmed the fickle Ted. +“In some ways he’s a lot smarter. You +should have seen him do tricks for Lou Peters. +He’ll do them for me, too,†professed +the youngster, “as soon as we get better +acquainted.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ted,†digressed Nancy. “I’ve +been wanting to ask you. Did Billy and +Jack make out all right at home after their +cave-in scare? Their folks weren’t angry, +were they?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Angry!†scoffed Ted. “They each got +a quarter for ice cream cones; that’s how +angry their mothers were. Jack and Bill +are two—pets,†he finished, rather contemptuously. +“If they hadn’t been so soft +they’d have known how to dig themselves +out. Guess I’ll go to bed,†Ted then announced +suddenly and surprisingly, for he +usually wanted to remain up even longer +than the others.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, that Nero is asleep,†teased +Nancy. “But never mind, Ted,†she +amended. “I’ll give you credit for picking +a fine dog. He’s handsomer than a collie, +and not so awkward as a St. Bernard,†+Nancy commented, rather critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure,†agreed Ted. “He’s a thoroughbred,†+and with that all-meaning compliment, +Ted put his book upon the shelf, +looked very carefully in the store so as not +to disturb the distinguished occupant, and +almost whispered good-night, kissing his +mother fondly as he took his actual leave.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted does love that dog,†Nancy remarked +indulgently. “And I’m glad you +let him keep him, Mother, for Ted likes to +wander off alone and a dog is good company +for him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The dear little fellow!†murmured his +mother. “I can hardly believe he is growing +up and becoming able to look after himself. +So often during the day, I stop and +wonder—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you needn’t, Mums,†interrupted +Nancy, “for Manny barely lets him out of +her sight without all kinds of cautions. +It’s lovely since Manny came,†Nancy concluded, +a little shyly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Following all this each of the three applied +herself to her task, (Nancy was reading,) +until the clock struck ten, then it appeared +time to follow Ted’s example and +retire, which they did.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It had to happen, it always does. The +dog barked wildly in the very blackest part +of the night, and before they realized what +had disturbed them, the Brandon household +was awake and on its feet!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What can—it—be?†breathed little +Miss Manners, wrapping her neat robe +closely around her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, it’s Nero,†answered Ted foolishly, +although he was not trying to +be funny. “He’s after someone. We’re +safe.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ted’s unlimited confidence in his +dog’s power to protect, did not lessen the +uncanny feeling produced by the midnight +howling, growling bark.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mrs. Brandon did what she could to assure +Nancy and Miss Manners that dogs +often bark at almost nothing, but when she +heard Nero’s paws scratching against the +door that led from the hall into the little +group of sleeping rooms, her own courage +sagged somewhat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let him in!†ordered Ted. “Here, let +me!†he corrected, going to the door and +meeting bravely the wild greeting of Nero. +“What is it, boy?†he asked. “What’s +the matter?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>To which question Nero threw his two +great paws against Ted’s chest, barked not +fiercely, but in that talking way dogs have, +and then turned to race back down the +stairs.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s no one he’s after,†explained Ted, +“or he wouldn’t leave them to come up +and tell me. He wants to show me +something—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon!†cried Nancy. “Don’t +you dare go down—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll go along,†volunteered Mrs. Brandon. +“As Ted says, the dog would have +stood guard if any one were trying to get +in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was no use in further arguing, for +Ted was already close on Nero’s heels, following +him to the store whence he was leading. +Mrs. Brandon may have been timid, +but small Ted’s confidence in his dog was +very fortifying, and she, too, fell in with the +small midnight procession.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy did not remain upstairs, neither +did Miss Manners, for somehow it always +does seem safer to “stick together†in that +sort of trouble.</p> + +<p class='c009'>No one spoke as they followed the dog. +With great dignity he led them on, until, +upon reaching the store, he made a pounce +over to the corner near the chimney.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh,†screamed Nancy. “It’s that old +chimney—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s something else,†exclaimed Ted. +“Just look here! A 'busted’ water pipe. +That’s what it is! Look—at—the—flood!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>They all looked, and saw, issuing from a +pipe that was connected near the fireplace, +a very positive and very menacing stream +of water.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, my! Our things!†groaned Nancy. +“I’ve got to turn the water off.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But where? How?†asked Mrs. Brandon +in confusion, fully realizing the damage +water could do.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know,†replied Nancy, in her best +business-like manner. “I was 'monkeying’ +with it the other day. It won’t take me a +jiffy,†and while the others patted the intelligent +Nero for his alarm, Nancy flew to the +kitchen, got a wrench from Ted’s tool chest +in the little corner closet, and then with one +sure, swift turn, reversed the handle on the +water pipe that led from the boiler to the +pipes from the cellar.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s off,†yelled Ted. “That’s all right, +Nan, it’s stopped.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, daughter,†exclaimed Mrs. +Brandon, still breathless, “how did you know +how to do—that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Because—she’s a good plumber,†declared +Ted. “Hurrah! Nan! Let’s start +a plumbing shop! That’s something you—haven’t +tried yet.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted!†said Nancy sharply. “I don’t +like being made fun of. Anybody ought to +know how to turn off a water pipe. We all +know how to turn off the gas, don’t we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted didn’t mean to be rude, dear,†Mrs. +Brandon assured the injured one, “but we +were so surprised.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And Nancy does seem to have such a +talent for business,†ventured Miss Manners. +“I tell you, dear,†and she gathered +her robe around her as she followed the others +out of the store, “it is something to be +proud of. Any of us can be just housekeepers, +but it takes a different sort of ability to +be—the man of the house,†she said, which +was an unusual figure of speech for prim +Miss Manners to make use of.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She can’t be that,†objected Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well, then,†said Nancy. “Let’s +see you mop up that floor, Ted,†she challenged. +“That’s a plumber’s job, too,†she +pointed out. But it was Mrs. Brandon who +found the mop and Ted who used it. Nancy +felt perhaps, that the executive part, in +turning off the water, was enough for her +to have done.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She was hurt, unwillingly, at Ted’s joking +remark.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A plumber shop,†she reflected mentally. +“Well, one could do worse, for +plumbers are necessary and needle-work +fiends aren’t. Maybe I will take up something +practical before I find what would be +best for me,†she continued to reason.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But none of them knew, nor was it possible +for them to guess, what Nero had +saved in his timely midnight alarm.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXXI' class='c010'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <br />FOR VALUE RECEIVED</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It seemed but a very short time later that +Nancy was again awakened. But now the +sunshine was streaming into her room, and +she heard Miss Manners talking down in +the hall, in a suppressed voice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The children are not up yet,†she was +saying. “But come in, Ruth. You see we +were somewhat disturbed—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come on up, Ruth!†called out Nancy. +“Come up and hear about our par-tee!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth came up promptly, and the story of +the broken water pipe was presently being +told her, brokenly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How perfectly—thrill-ing!†she commented +in her well known characterization +of the affected Vera. “But you should +have had Nero turn off the water—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll bet he could too,†shouted Ted from +his room. Ted never lost a chance to praise +Nero.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But just listen to <em>my</em> story,†Ruth +begged. “I’ve got a thrilling yarn, too.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then, wait until I get propped up for +it,†ordered Nancy. “I can’t hear comfortably +when I’m down.†She put her two +pillows under her shoulders and assumed a +most affected air of the tired society girl +after her dance. Even a cap was improvised +from a twisted stocking, a lacy robe +was concocted from her thin, soft slip, and +the luxurious effect was completed by Ruth +piling upon the bed a bunch of mussed up +store paper—the morning mail!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There now,†said Ruth, “I hope you can +hear. Although I must say you are not well +cast. The character for you, Nan, is that +of a short haired lady at a big desk, her eyes +bulging out of goggles and her waist line +strapped into a belt. You know—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, I know,†admitted Nancy, “but I +like this better—it’s more becoming, isn’t +it?†Another pose and a shift of the lacy +robe. Then Nancy appeared ready to hear +Ruth’s story.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You sold the place!†Ruth blurted out +without a hint of its coming.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The place?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. To Lady Cullen. And she said +positively over the long distance last night +to Dad, that she never would have bought it +but for you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course, she would,†scoffed Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nope. Dad said that place just wouldn’t +sell. He and his men have shown it to so +many. But dear Mrs. Cullen!†Ruth +sighed foolishly. “She told Dad that the +young lady was so enthusiastic over the +place that she was positive her granddaughter, +Naomi, would react in the same +way. Notice that Nan, re-act.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yeah,†drawled Nancy. “That’s what +this is—I’m—re-acting,†and she fell +further back among her pillows.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But really, Nan, it is true,†insisted +Ruth, laying hold of one of Nancy’s long, +slender hands. “And you needn’t blush +about it, either. I think the way you +blush under that olive skin of yours—†+But a pillow, vigorously applied to Ruth’s +face, checked further compliments.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If you don’t want to hear,†Ruth presently +continued.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course I do. I’m just as glad as +glad, Ruth, that your dad has sold the place, +but I know very well Mrs. Cullen would +have bought it anyhow.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She wouldn’t. Dad says so, she says so—I +say—says—so,†declared Ruth. “And +if you don’t believe it just listen to this.†+She changed her position sitting up very +straight and facing Nancy very positively +to make the statement most emphatic. +“Mrs. Cullen very tactfully suggested +that your interest and your success be—remunerated.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruth!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, don’t let me hurt your feelings, +Nan, but Dad would honestly love to have +you accept.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I won’t,†declared Nancy, blushing furiously +now. “The idea—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then, he will talk to your mother about +it. Do you know, little girl, what a lot of +money a big sale like that brings to Dad’s +firm? And how much he would have to pay +out in commission to the man who succeeded +in making the sale?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know one thing,†said Nancy, shifting +herself out of the bed and planting two bare +feet firmly upon the floor, “I’m being made +a business woman, a store-keeper, a cooking +school director, a plumber and now a real-estate +agent. I don’t mind being a few +things but that’s quite a—lot!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You haven’t said Enthusiast,†Ruth reminded +her, “that is what counts most. +But Nancy, you really ought to consider,†+pressed Ruth. “The money would mean so +much to your mother, and you have a perfect +right to it. I knew the way you +were tearing around that big place, that +you would flim-flam Cullen,†joked Ruth. +“And Dad says, a hundred dollars isn’t anything +on a fifteen thousand dollar deal—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Fifteen thousand!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, all of that. And here’s the little +one hundred check,†Ruth was pressing a +slip of paper into Nancy’s unwilling hand. +“Dad will be dreadfully disappointed if you +refuse—you’re not too proud, are you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Too proud!†and the black eyes snapped +little pin points of sparks. “No, indeed, I +mean to be a business woman, like mother, +and I don’t care how soon I start,†proclaimed +Nancy, firmly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Spoken like—Nancy Brandon!†hailed +Ruth, gleefully, for she had known all along +what a task it would be to get Nancy to take +the check. And just as she had honestly +stated, the amount given Nancy was but a +small fraction of that which a man from +Mr. Ashley’s office would have had to receive +for the same service.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Unbelieving, Nancy stared at the check.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“One hundred dollars!†she murmured, +her eyes now beaming with anticipation. +“And mother’s vacation only three days +off!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But please, Nan,†Ruth hurried to +change the subject, “don’t go away to parts +unknown and leave me pining here. Of +course, there are lots of girls—hanging +around,†she smiled very prettily and +looked very dimply as she said this, “but +since you came to Long Leigh, Nan, the +other girls don’t count as much as they +did.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I suppose,†said Nancy in her “twinkling†+way, “that may be because I’m such +a freak. I’m a lot of fun—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nan—cee!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruth—ee!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And they finished the argument with a +very pardonable show of affection, if it was +only a sound slap on Nancy’s not fully +clothed shoulders and a pretty good whack +on Ruth’s plump little thigh.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When Nancy was alone again, (for Ruth +was to meet the girls at Isabel’s and they +were all going for a swim before their ten +o’clock cooking lesson,) she smoothed out the +little blue check lovingly. It was so strange +to think that money was acquired through +mere enthusiasm. That Mrs. Cullen would +have decided to buy that enormous place +merely upon Nancy’s—enthusiasm. That +the cooking school had been started and +was successfully running because of her—enthusiasm!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Perhaps,†she told the reflection in her +glass, “it’s a good thing to despise some +kinds of work if it makes one enthusiastic +for other kinds. But even now,†she was +insisting to that same mocking smile, “<em>I +can</em> make a very good cake.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>To meet the girls at the lake, Nancy took +a short cut up, over the hill that would lead +her past the old stone house. She had hurried +her breakfast and made sure that Miss +Manners did not need her help to get ready +for the class, then, gowned in the easiest +thing to put on—and off, her lavender gingham, +she raced off up the hill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But she never could hurry past the stone +house; everything around it held fascination +for Nancy, even the half-formed dread +that someone or something would drop +down from the sky, or spring up out of the +earth, as Mr. Sanders had formerly been +accused of doing. So, instead of crossing +the fence where the old cedar tree had +broken through and had thus made an opening, +Nancy continued on up through the +stone path that would bring her out at the +apple orchard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“As if there could be anything weird in +this open place,†she was saying. “Why, +the old cistern over there looks as spic-span +as when folks used to draw water from it, +and I’m sure,†she was thinking, “a turned +upside-down rain-barrel shows care and attention—no +mosquitoes can breed in that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She stood a few moments to enjoy the soft +summer scene, for it was not yet quite time +to meet the girls, when from the direction +of the rain-barrel she head a whine, a cat’s +cry, surely.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Some poor cat maybe caught in briars,†+Nancy decided promptly, as again came a +piteous meaow of a kitten or a cat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Following the call Nancy hurried in its +direction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here puss?†she called. “Kitty-kitty-kitty!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The cry stopped as her voice called to it. +It was not near the rain barrel, Nancy now +decided, but over by the cistern. Quickly +she turned in that direction, but when +within a few feet of the square little box +that covered the artificial well, she was suddenly +startled by a noise—a queer noise.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What’s that?†was her unspoken +question.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She listened. It was a man’s voice, +singing!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where, where—can that be!†she murmured +half aloud, meanwhile unconsciously +walking toward the cistern.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then a hammering! A buzzing!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh!†screamed Nancy in alarm, now +realizing that she had been hearing +something very strange indeed. “Oh, I must—get—away!†+was her wild determination, +as she turned and dashed down the hill, +making her way this time through the opening +in the fence where the cedar tree had +fallen.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXXII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <br />TARTS AND LADY FINGERS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>No one would believe her. They all came +out of the water as Nancy arrived at the +beach, and declined positively, to go in.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m too—flustered,†she insisted. “My +head is swimming now and it doesn’t matter +about my heels.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But Nancy,†protested Marion Mason, +one of the Upper Crust Hill girls, “how +could you have heard anybody or anything +in that open field? No bushes nor trees big +enough to hide behind, just there.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was the cat,†insisted Christine Berg, +a friend of Marion’s. “There are queer +cats—always have been—around the old +stone house. First, the cat meaowed, just +to entice you,†said Christine, wringing out +the scant skirt of her black satin bathing +suit. “And then, when she got you over +there, she did the rest,†finished the very +blonde girl with the lovely hazel eyes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sort of ventriloquist,†added Isabel. +“Well, at any rate, Nan, you have had a +thrill. Vera, wouldn’t that constitute a +thrill, don’t you think?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll tell you what <em>I</em> think,†chimed in +Ruth. “I think we had better hurry to +dress or we shall be late for our lesson, and +mine is cream-puffs today. Our family +can eat cream-puffs until the puff—†But +the girls, running up to the little bath houses, +deprived Ruth of her audience, and also of +the necessity of finishing her simile.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy sat on the little board-walk edge +of the row of houses, while the girls dressed. +Ruth finished first and joined her there.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really, Nan?†she quizzed, in an under +tone.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Most certainly—really,†replied Nancy, +seriously. “Do you suppose I would make +that up for fun?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, I don’t. It isn’t your brand of fun. +But it’s mighty curious. Do you suppose +we should all go up there right now, and go +over every inch of the place—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no. We must go back to Manny +and be good cooks,†Nancy answered. +“Besides Ruth, she has my check and I’m +anxious to see if it is still there, not just a +dream check you know,†she smiled understandingly +at Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Rather towsled from their bath, and the +lack of time and tools for hair arrangements, +the party of girls presently started +off to take their domestic science lesson. +Along the way they met and hailed a number +of friends, for at bathing hour the lake +drew folks from all parts of the village and +its suburbs, but there was no time for tarrying +as Miss Manners insisted upon promptness, +and no one willingly ever disregarded +her rule.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was a merry little group that, all +aproned and capped, listened first to Miss +Manners explanation of rules and reasons, +and then they themselves undertook the +practical art of applying this knowledge.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nancy could not forget her experience. +It had been so weird, so wild, in +fact, to hear those noises coming from nowhere.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth was beating the eggs light as air for +her cherished cream puffs; Isabel was carefully +creaming an equally dainty concoction +in her middle-sized yellow bowl, and the +other girls were being similarly and as +practically engaged, when a shadow, a large +manly shadow, darkened the glass that +formed the upper part of the store door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A visitor!†exclaimed Marion, smoothing +her cap at the risk of spoiling her +batter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Manners stepped to the door to answer +the knock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders!†the girls whispered one +to another, as they saw Miss Manners greet +the caller.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe he’s going to inspect—†Christine +began, but was stopped by Miss Manners +speaking.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Girls,†she said, in her best teacher +voice, “Mr. Sanders has called to see if +we can fill an order for him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“An order!†chorused the surprised +pupils.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†spoke up the one man among +them. “The fact is, young ladies, I’m giving +a little party up at Waterfall House, +and I felt convinced that my attractions +would be greatly increased if I could procure +some—some confections from this famous +little class,†he said.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Manners was all but protesting. +That her class could be called “famous†+seemed to her rather too extravagant a +statement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, indeed,†went on the caller, while +it must be admitted some of the girls were +stifling giggles. “My daughter is coming +up, and she thinks her college excels in this +sort of thing.†His sweeping gesture +seemed to include everything, even the +girls. “And I would be mighty glad to +show her what we can do in our little Long +Leigh.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Followed suggestions and questions, so +heaped up that the mere wording of all the +excitement amounted to little compared with +its general effect. Finally, Mr. Sanders +and Miss Manners went into a secret session, +to outline the order, and the girls, who +were supposed to go on with the lesson, in +reality went on with the fun.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine!†chuckled Eleanor Dixon, +“getting an order for fancy cakes! I’m going +to make kisses—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Lady fingers would be more appropriate,†+Isabel remarked sagely, “although, +El, I have heard Miss Manners say, your +biscuits are—splendid.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Tarts!†whispered Christine, shaking +her long handled spoon, and making a comical +face.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mac-a-roons!†came from Dorothy’s +corner.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Mr. Sanders was now preparing to +leave, and Miss Manners was conducting +him to the door, her face alight with the +pleasant excitement. As the caller walked +past Nancy he said to her in an undertone:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can I speak to you, just a minute, +Nancy?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Without answering Nancy followed him +outside to the porch.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m coming up to see your mother this +evening,†he said, when their voices were +beyond reach of the others. “I’ve been expecting +to for some time, but now I <em>must</em>. +Will you tell her, please? And be sure to +be on hand yourself, you and Ted, for I’m +about ready to disclose the long promised +secret,†he finished, his eyes twinkling merrily +as he spoke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right, certainly,†faltered +Nancy, not quite sure just what she was +saying.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†continued Mr. Sanders, “the summer, +is going fast and I’m glad things have +shaped themselves before we were, any of +us, forced to separate.†He was patting +his brown hands together gleefully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Would you mind if Isabel and Ruth +came over? They’re my best friends and +you can trust them,†ventured Nancy, surprised +at herself for doing so.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Certainly, by all means, have them +come,†replied Mr. Sanders. “I see you +anticipate a surprise, and you are generous +enough to want to share it with your +friends. That’s the spirit I like to see. +Tonight it will be a sort of private performance,†+he smiled as he said this, “but to-morrow +night at the hotel I’m going to tell +all who come. That’s what I want your +cakes for,†he finished, moving down the +low steps. “We’re going to have a celebration +and—well, I’ll see you this evening,†+he promised, hurrying off like a happy +school boy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was little work done in the cooking +lesson after that. Everybody was so excited +at the prospect of filling a real order, +that the entire class immediately set to planning +just how it was to be filled.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was Christine, however, who had what +Ruth called “the inspiration.†After the +class was dismissed she got the girls +together, out of Miss Manner’s hearing, and +made her suggestion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s all come early,†she began, “<em>very</em> +early. We’ll do our very best, of course, +we can make wonderful cakes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“<em>You</em> can,†corrected Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So can you, Nan,†Christine took time +to say, “I’d like to see any one make a better +sponge cake—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, sponge cake,†scoffed Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The very thing most needed to go with +ice cream,†Christine hurried to say. “But +listen—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We are,†said Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We will take whatever money we get for +the entire order, (we donate the materials, +of course,) and with the money we’ll buy a +gift for—Manny!†said Christine.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hurrah!†came a hushed hail, for there +was danger of the plans being overheard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>However, Christine’s idea was enthusiastically +received, and there was no possible +doubt of the entire plan being successfully +carried out.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth remained with Nancy and so did +Isabel, so that she readily found an opportunity +to tell them of Mr. Sander’s message. +They were as usual, putting things away, +Miss Manners being obliged to leave early +to give a private lesson to an invalid girl.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And we are actually going to hear the +secret,†gasped Nancy. “Girls, you don’t +know how excited I am—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You don’t know how <em>crazy</em> I am,†added +Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And how <em>wild</em> I am,†put in Isabel. +“Think we should have a doctor within +call? Will it be overwhelming?†she joked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Better have a policeman,†suggested +Ruth. “He may disclose some gems, or +other valuables.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here comes Ted,†Nancy interrupted, +“and I know by his walk that he’s worried.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted strode in, Nero close beside him, and +as Nancy had intimated he did act worried.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What’s the matter, Ted?†Ruth asked +first.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Matter? I’ve got to hide this dog. +Folks want to take him away from me. +Say he’s theirs,†Ted’s words fairly hissed +his indignation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who says so?†demanded Nancy +belligerently.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A man who came up to the old stone +house,†answered Ted. “But Nero was +Lou Peter’s dog and Lou gave him to me, +and not all the money there is, is going to +get my dog away from me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted’s voice was not very positive, and +the girls, all three, assisted him in coaxing +Nero out to the small door under the back +porch, where he was finally made a prisoner, +with several plates of food set before him +to lighten the misery.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It surely would be disastrous for Ted to +lose his dog.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXXIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <br />THE STORY TOLD</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>The Whatnot Shop was quite powerless +to prevent the invasion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ll push all the tables back and set +the chairs around in a half-circle,†suggested +the fluttered Nancy. “Then, it will +be just like—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A play,†finished Isabel. “Too bad we +can’t turn on a spot light.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it would be nice to let Mr. Townsend +sit behind the counter on his old +high stool,†Nancy further suggested. “It +might make him feel at home. I wonder +where we put that stool.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Away back in the corner under the +three-cornered shelf,†Ruth informed her. +“I rammed it in there myself.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was dragged out—the stool, and set +just where it had been found when Nancy +first took possession of the shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A regular par-tee!†chanted Isabel. +“Glad I happened to wear a white dress; +being a deb and all that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You may carry the white paper fan, little +deb,†mocked Nancy. “We couldn’t +sell it so I’d be delighted to donate it to your +coming out party.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, it isn’t mine, it’s yours,†chirped +Isabel, “and I hope you are not going to +wear that howling yellow gingham—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I am. Yellow’s my color,†and Nancy +flipped the skirt of her dress around gaily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were preparing, as might easily be +guessed, for the “private performance†+promised by Mr. Sanders. Nancy had +talked with him over the phone, after his +visit to the class that morning, and arrangements +were then made to invite the Townsends +over, besides permission having been +granted Ted to bring in his chum, Buster +Clayton. Just now Ted was upstairs dressing; +also singing and telling stories to Nero, +most of which racket could be heard down +in the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mrs. Brandon’s cheeks became soft as +damask when Nancy showed her the big +check for one hundred dollars, which Nancy +explained was in no sense a gift, but purely +part of a business transaction between her +and Mr. Ashley’s real-estate office. The +mother did not try to hide her delight, that +Nancy should have become such “a splendid +little business woman,†and she predicted +her own retirement from the office +at an early date, if such wonderful achievements +were to be kept up.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And your bank account, my dear,†she +told Nancy when they were in confidence +over the developments, “aren’t you proud +of it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A little, Mother-mine,†faltered the +happy girl, “but there’s something better +than that,†she said shyly, for Nancy was +not given to boasting.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know,†and the mother arms went +around her. “Besides, you know now that +even despised housework is not so bad when +it has an interesting motive. That’s why +we mothers tolerate it; because we are +working for our darling children.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know, Mums, but I really only thought +'dishes’ before, now I think—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The joy of helping <em>us</em>,†Mrs. Brandon +supplied. “And I’m so proud of your +cooking, and how much it has benefited Miss +Manners, as well as your friends. Why, +my dear, I would make you vain were I to +tell you one-half of what I hear—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Not vain, Mums. I’m not silly enough +for that, for I’ve got to admit I’ve been +rather selfish all the way through—it has +been such a lot of fun.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy meant it. She was not posing, +nor was she playing at being humble, +for her mind was of that quality that reasons +and analyzes one’s own motives as well +as looking for motives in others. In that +way she had acquired what is called “common sense,†+perhaps because every one +should try, at least, to possess a measure +of it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Now Mrs. Brandon, as well as Ted, was +dressing. To please Nancy she had promised +to wear her geranium georgette, a soft +dress that toned so well with her dark hair +and dark eyes, for Mrs. Brandon was still +young, and a handsome woman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And the girls were fairly dancing around +the store, arranging chairs brought in from +the porch, dining room and even from the +kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s make a little platform for Mr. +Sanders,†Ruth proposed. “This top step +of the back stairs will do. We don’t have +to open that door.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And have a stand and a glass of water—†+Isabel added.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And flowers,†insisted Nancy. “I must +have flowers, they’re so silly for a man’s +speech, they’ll make every body laugh.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe hollyhocks would,†Ruth said, +“but I doubt if your audience would see +the joke if you put a bunch of roses there.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So they progressed, until very soon, too +soon for the girls, the company began to +arrive.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. and Miss Townsend, and little, +brown, woolly Tiny came first.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m afraid we’re early,†said the lady +in her best silver silk dress and her very +pretty new black-satin-trimmed-with-silver +grapes, hat. She carried a little flat cushion +for Tiny, out of respect for the silver +silk dress.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother will be down directly,†Nancy +greeted Miss Townsend, in her very best +manner. “Sit over here. We’ve fixed this +corner for you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh my!†exclaimed the lady in genuine +admiration. “How lovely everything +looks! However did you paint this old +wood work white?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For our cooking class, you know,†replied +Nancy, gaily. “Doesn’t it look—hygienic?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I—should—say—so!†Miss Townsend +was aghast. “And I suppose, those spotless +tables—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Are the old ones from around the +porches and every place,†Nancy informed +her. “We just daubed the legs white and +covered the tops with oil cloth.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I want to see that gas range. I’ve +heard so much about it. Oh! there’s +Miss Manners,†exclaimed Miss Townsend, +“she’ll explain it to me, and you may run +along, dear.†This was a release, not a +dismissal for Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She’ll buy one and that will be a good +big discount for Manny,†Nancy told +the girls who had heard most of the +conversation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. They’ve bought a new house—a +brand spic-span new one,†Ruth whispered. +“Father said Miss Townsend wanted the +shiniest one he had for sale,†and there was +a pardonable titter in response to that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But guests were now arriving in pairs. +There were Mr. and Mrs. Ashley, Ruth’s +parents, Mr. and Mrs. Duryee, Isabel’s parents, +besides Ted, Buster and Nero, the latter +three being promptly assigned by Ruth +to the corner nearest the side door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So you can watch for prowlers,†she +joked. “Some other folks might sneak up +on the porch and listen in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m all but stage struck,†panted Nancy, +trying to force the little kicked-up curls +around her ears back into place. “And +girls, take your places!†she admonished. +“Here comes—the—talent! Mr. Sanders +and Sibyl!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It really was taking on the look of some +sort of entertainment,—for as Mr. Sanders +and his daughter arrived there was a general +presentation all around by Mrs. Brandon, +while the girls, feeling very much like +ushers at a school entertainment, stood with +backs to the windows, just as they always +did at school affairs.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The preliminary formalities over, Mr. +Sanders was rather humorously conducted +to the “platform.†This pleased Mr. +Townsend “most to death†and he was +heard to chuckle that “the old fire-house as +town-hall had never held a better meeting.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll not keep you in suspense, my +friends,†began Mr. Sanders, without so +much as clearing his throat, “but I’ll just +introduce myself to those who don’t happen +to know me. I’m Edwin Sanders of Eastern +College, professor of science there.†+There was a murmur through the room at +that announcement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Professor!†was the surprised word it +conveyed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I came here to experiment,†the +gentleman continued in a pleasantly matter +of fact voice. “I found this little house +had a direct air shaft, it runs from this +room at that old fireplace down to the cellar, +and out through an old-fashioned flue-door, +you know the kind.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s a relic on this place,†spoke up +Mr. Elmer Townsend. “It was built in +here by a Dutch man from Holland—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, and it’s a good one,†agreed Mr. +Sanders. “Well, you see, my friends,†he +continued, “I had to experiment on an extremely +delicate little instrument,†he was +all professor now, “so, when I found the +exact conditions that I required here, I made +an offer to the owner, Mr. Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was much shifting around and +significant scraping of chairs at this point, +but the speaker was in no way disturbed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I thought it only fair to tell him how +important my experiment was, and what +it would mean if it worked out as I expected. +Well, it did,†he stated emphatically, +“but not without the usual trouble that +must be endured if we want to succeed in +big things.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend was whispering, or she +thought she was, and her brother was trying +to restrain her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I could not tell the nature of this work +because there was a new secret principle involved +in it,†Mr. Sanders said, having +overheard, likely, what Miss Townsend was +trying to tell her neighbor. “That was why +Mr. Townsend and I had to keep our secret +so close.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted and Buster were visibly squirming in +their chairs, they were so interested, but old +Nero snoozed contentedly, not even suspecting +apparently, the presence of another +dog, Tiny, that was safely hidden in Miss +Townsend’s cushion. And as if Mr. Sanders +remembered Tiny, he next said:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Even the little dog was so interested as +we worked he would insist upon barking a +tune for us. Sometimes we were afraid he +might tell,†he finished, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That was it,†Ted privately told Buster. +“Nancy said that puny, little dog barked all +the time he was in here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“After I got my point worked out in this +air shaft,†went on Mr. Sanders, who had +actually taken a sip of water from the glass +at his hand, “I was obliged to try it out in +a very much more condensed atmosphere. +And just there is where I was forced to excite +such wild suspicions.†He was almost +laughing at the recollection.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was funny; I’m willing to admit that +myself, for like the King of France in the +story, I marched up the hill, but unlike him, +I did not march down again. And I’m surprised +that no one seems to have guessed +where I was hidden.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a pause. Nancy’s face was betraying +her suspicions but she uttered no +word.</p> + +<hr class='c011' /> + +<p class='c009'>“Just once I was almost discovered,†continued +Mr. Sanders. “And that was the +other day when my cat—cried. Just then +some one was passing—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was,†blurted out Nancy. “And I +heard you singing!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Every one laughed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Was I singing, really?†asked the professor. +“Well, I might have been for I was +surely very happy. The anemometer was +working beautifully down there, in my—cistern!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Cistern!†Every one seemed to cry out +the word.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He was in the cistern!†Nancy gasped. +“That was where I heard the—noises coming +from!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“In the cistern!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It took some time for the older folks to +realize the significance of the revelation, +but the girls and boys seemed instantly to +understand.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, and you would be surprised what +fine quarters I’ve had there. I have that +nice, perfectly dry cistern actually furnished, +even a rug on the floor! Chairs and +a table, a looking glass—oh, you are all invited +to inspect now,†announced the professor +cheerily, “for my precious instrument +has been safely shipped to the +manufacturers, and I’ve been able—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s paid me more than a thousand dollars,†+declared Mr. Townsend, rising from +his chair and addressing the house, “and I +think it’s only fair that folks around here +should know how well I’ve made out on my +investment.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes indeed,†Miss Townsend chimed in, +“if any body in Long Leigh has heard me +say I was worried about Brother Elmer’s +money affairs,†she sort of hesitated before +framing that term, “I just want them to +know now that we’ve made more money by +Mr. Sanders investment in six months, than +we would make in six years in this little +store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A burst of applause followed this. And +presently every one seemed to be talking at +once. The formality of the occasion was +lost in a round of enthusiastic interest; the +men demanding to know more about the invention, +while the women and girls were +keen to hear all about the cistern.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Sibyl was glad to tell them about the +curious little work shop under the ground, +and she soon had a group of the young folks +listening to her story.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I thought it was awful, at first,†she explained, +“but, of course, I’m used to father’s +peculiar experiments. He has invented +some wonderful instruments,†she said this +in a properly restrained voice. “They are +being used in the college observatories, +where they make weather predictions, you +know,†she pointed out.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I did notice some little pipes sticking +out of the sides of that cistern box,†+Nancy now remembered. “I might have +known, but I was too surprised to investigate,†+she admitted frankly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really girls,†Sibyl went on, “Dad has +that cistern furnished like a room. You +walk down a little ladder, and sit on a regular +chair—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But isn’t it dark?†Ruth wanted to +know.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no. One whole side of the cover is +glass, a side that is back away from the +opening,†Sibyl told them. “No one would +ever notice the glass there. And besides +that, father had cut the concrete away, over +on one side of the bowl, and there he made a +little skylight. You would never notice +that either, as there are bushes all around +it,†she said.</p> + +<p class='c009'>By this time Ted and Buster were demanding +to be heard. They had tried to +get a hearing with the older folks, but +according to Ted “the buzzing there was +worse than a bee fight.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And say, Nan,†he called out now, “I +just want to know about—about what Nero +was after down the cellar, you know.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. Sanders was trying to make his way +toward the girls just then, so Nancy delayed +answering Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And say, Ted,†Mr. Sanders began. +“About your dog. You needn’t worry that +anyone will take him from you. That man +who spoke to you used to be care-taker at +the old stone house. And he was supposed +to look after Nero, whose real name is Jason. +That’s the fellow who went after the Golden +Fleece you remember.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Jason?†repeated Ted. “Sounds like +an auto fixer. I like Nero best.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right, son,†and Mr. Sanders gave +Ted a friendly slap on the shoulders. +“Nero he shall be. But as I was saying, +the man who was expected to care for your +dog hadn’t done so, and he’s got sort of +worried lately and wanted to get him back.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He can’t have him,†Ted defended +stoutly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, that’s right; he can’t. And I told +him so. He knows now that the dog is in +good hands, and that I’ll answer any questions +the Ellors family care to ask about +him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted’s face was now beaming with joy. +He had been so worried about Nero that he +simply wouldn’t let the animal out of his +protective sight for days past.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And Mr. Sanders,†he insisted, “night +before last Nero saved us from a flood. A +water pipe broke right over there and Nero—made +us all get up—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Night before last!†exclaimed the +professor.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes; and Nancy turned off the +water—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That was the night I had my precious +little air-meter right under this chimney,†+said Mr. Sanders very slowly, “and if water +had trickled through the floor, down onto +that, it would have been ruined.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then, just as Ted says,†Nancy spoke, +“Nero really did save it, for there was a +regular flood around this hearth.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You must have seen me leaving the +grounds that afternoon,†Mr. Sanders admitted. +“I was sure you did, but I wasn’t +ready to tell my story—just then. But Ted, +I’ll have to get you a fine collar for Nero—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The girls were begging Nancy to make an +announcement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Go on,†urged Ruth. “They’re all talking +together and no one will listen unless +you get up on the step.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>With this and considerable more urging, +Nancy finally mounted the step. She smiled +shyly at her mother as she passed along, for +Mrs. Brandon, like the other “principals,†+was having a busy time of it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I just want to say,†Nancy began with a +little quaver in her voice, “that we’ve prepared +some little cakes and punch as samples +of our cooking class work, and we’ll be glad +to have you all stay and try them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was real applause at this, and mentioning +the cooking class—was a signal for +another outburst of comment from the +ladies. They all believed in girls doing +something during summer, and they did not +believe in girls “wasting†an entire +vacation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think we ought to give a cheer for the +girls,†Mr. Sanders proposed. “They have +kept things going pretty lively around here +this summer, just lively enough to save me +from having been discovered.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’d like to say a word,†ventured +timid Miss Manners. But the girls would +not permit her to do so, Nancy, especially +being fearful that the little lady’s gratitude, +for the domestic science class and for +Mrs. Brandon’s hospitality might become +embarrassing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Any how,†said Buster to Ted, “we can +have our dog.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And a dandy new collar,†appended Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was waiting a chance to finish her +announcements, and in a little lull she again +called out:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders and Miss Sanders are entertaining +tomorrow evening at the Waterfall +House. Every body is invited! And +you will be treated there to some real samples +of our cakes!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now I call that lov-el-lee,†declared +Miss Townsend, shaking her new hat at +every syllable. “And these cakes,†(the +girls were passing them) “are de-lic-ious.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was very happy. She tugged at +her mother’s arm and cuddled her head +against the loving shoulder, just as she had +always done in her great moments.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it lov-ell-lee, Mums,†she +whispered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A complete—success!†murmured the +mother.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And the next morning half, if not all, of +Long Leigh trooped up the hill to inspect +the wonderfully outfitted and “infitted†+cistern, that had so long escaped notice, on +the grounds of the old, stone house.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was going to look down that cistern +first chance I got,†Nancy confessed. +“But being successful is such a busy—business,†+she joked, “that I think it will be +a delightful change to begin a real vacation +with mother tomorrow.â€</p> + +<div class='c012'>THE END</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45497 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with fpn.py 1.76 on 2014-04-25 10:56:58 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/45497-h/images/cover.jpg b/45497-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ee5d34 --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/45497-h/images/illus-012.jpg b/45497-h/images/illus-012.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac6030e --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-h/images/illus-012.jpg diff --git a/45497-h/images/illus-132.jpg b/45497-h/images/illus-132.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ad802b --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-h/images/illus-132.jpg diff --git a/45497-h/images/illus-228.jpg b/45497-h/images/illus-228.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9715d3e --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-h/images/illus-228.jpg diff --git a/45497-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg b/45497-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e61454 --- /dev/null +++ b/45497-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1165690 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #45497 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45497) diff --git a/old/45497-8.txt b/old/45497-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a31cdc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/45497-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6020 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nancy Brandon, by Lilian Garis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Nancy Brandon + +Author: Lilian Garis + +Illustrator: Thelma Gooch + +Release Date: April 26, 2014 [EBook #45497] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANCY BRANDON *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: They had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + NANCY BRANDON + + By + + LILIAN GARIS + + _Author of_ + "JOAN'S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE," "GLORIA AT BOARDING + SCHOOL," "CONNIE LORING'S AMBITION," + "BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER," + "CLEO'S MISTY RAINBOW," ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY + + THELMA GOOCH + + + + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + _Copyright, 1924_ + By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY + Springfield, Massachusetts + _All Rights Reserved_ + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS + + I. THE GIRL AND THE BOY + II. DINNER DIFFICULTIES + III. BELATED HASTE + IV. NEW FRIENDS + V. ORIGINAL PLANS + VI. FAIR PLAY + VII. THE SPECIAL SALE + VIII. FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS + IX. THE BIG DAY + X. STILL THEY CAME + XI. THE FAILURE + XII. THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE + XIII. BEHIND THE CLOUD + XIV. A PLEASANT SURPRISE + XV. TALKING IT OVER + XVI. JUST FISHING + XVII. THE CAVE-IN + XVIII. INTRODUCING NERO + XIX. A DISCOVERY + XX. THE MIDNIGHT ALARM + XXI. FOR VALUE DECEIVED + XXII. TARTS AND LADY FINGERS + XXIII. THE STORY TOLD + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + NANCY BRANDON: ENTHUSIAST + + + CHAPTER I + + THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + +The small kitchen was untidy. There were boxes empty and some crammed +with loose papers, while a big clothes basket was filled--with a small +boy, who took turns rolling it like a boat and bumping it up and down +like a flivver. Ted Brandon was about eleven years old, full of +boyhood's importance and bristling with boyhood's pranks. + +His sister Nancy, who stood placidly reviewing the confusion, was, she +claimed, in her teens. She was also just now in her glory, for after +many vicissitudes and uncertainties they were actually moved into the +old Townsend place at Long Leigh. + +"You're perfectly silly, Ted. You know it's simply a wonderful idea," +she proclaimed loftily. + +"Do I." There was no question in the boy's tone. + +"Well, you ought to. But, of course, boys--" + +"Oh, there you go. Boys!!" No mistaking this tone. + +"Ted Brandon, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. To be so--so mean to +mother." + +"Mean to mother! Who said anything about mother?" + +"This is mother's pet scheme." + +"Pretty queer scheme to keep us cooped up all vacation." He rocked the +basket vigorously. + +"We won't have to stay in much at all. Why, just odd times, and +besides--" Nancy paused to pat her hair. She might have patted it +without pausing but her small brother Ted would then have been less +impressed by her assumed dignity, "you see, Teddy, I'm working for a +principle. I don't believe that girls should do a bit more housework +than boys." + +"Oh, I know you believe that all-righty." Ted allowed himself to sigh +but did not pause to do so. He kept right on rocking and snapping the +blade of his pen-knife open and shut, as if the snap meant something +either useful or amusing. + +"Well, I guess I know what I'm talking about," declared Nancy, "and now, +even mother has come around to agree with me. She's going right on with +her office work and you and I are to run this lovely little shop." + +"You mean _you_ are to run the shop and _I'll_ wash the dishes." Deepest +scorn and seething irony hissed through Teddy's words. He even flipped +the pen-knife into the sink board and nicked, but did not break, the +apple-sauce dish. + +"Of course you must do your part." Nancy lifted up two dishes and set +them down again. + +"And yours, if you have your say. Oh, what's the use of talkin' to +girls?" Ted tumbled out of the basket, pushed it over until it banged +into a soap box, then straightening up his firm young shoulders, he +prepared to leave the scene. + +"There's no use talking to girls, Ted," replied his sister, "if you +don't talk sense." + +"Sense!" He jammed his cap upon his head although he didn't have any +idea of wearing it on this beautiful day. The fact was, Teddy and Nancy +were disagreeing. But there really wasn't anything unusual about that, +for their natures were different, they saw things differently, and if +they had been polite enough to agree they would simply have been fooling +each other. + +Nancy smiled lovingly, however, at the boy, as he banged the door. What +a darling Ted was! So honest and so scrappy! Of all things hateful to +Nancy Brandon a "sissy" boy, as she described a certain type, was the +worst. + +"But I suppose," she ruminated serenely, "the old breakfast dishes have +got to be done." Another lifting up and setting down of a couple of +china pieces, but further than that Nancy made not the slightest +headway. A small mirror hung in a small hall between the long kitchen +and the store. Here Nancy betook herself and proceeded again to pat her +dark hair. + +She was the type of girl described as willowy, because that word is +prettier than some others that might mean tall, lanky, boneless and +agile. Nancy had black hair that shone with crow-black luster in spite +of its pronounced curl. Her eyes were dark, snappy and meaningful. They +could mean love, as when Ted slammed the door, or they could mean +danger, as when a boy kicked the black and white kitten. Then again they +could mean devotion, as when Nancy beheld her idolized little mother who +was a business woman as well, and in that capacity, Nancy's model. + +A tingle at the bell that was set for the store alarm, sent the girl +dancing away from the looking-glass. + +"Funniest thing about a store," she told herself, "there's always +someone to buy things you haven't got." + +The catch was on the screen door and, as Nancy approached it, she +discerned outside, the figure of an elderly woman. It was Miss Sarah +Townsend from whom her mother had bought the store. + +"Oh, good morning, Miss Townsend. I keep the door fastened when I'm +alone, as I might be busy in the kitchen," apologized Nancy. + +"That's right, dear, that's right. And I wouldn't be too much alone if I +were you," cautioned the woman who was stepping in with the air of +proprietorship, and with her little brown dog sniffing at her heels. +"Don't you keep your brother with you?" + +"Ted? Oh yes, sometimes. But he's a little boy, you know, Miss Townsend, +and he must enjoy his vacation." Nancy was making friends with Tiny, the +dog, but after a polite sniff or two Tiny was off frisking about +happily, as any dog might be expected to do when returning to his +old-time home. + +Miss Townsend surveyed Nancy critically. + +"Of course your brother is a little boy," she said, "but what about you? +You're only a little girl." + +"Little! Why I'm much stronger than Ted, and years older," declared +Nancy, pulling herself up to her fullest height. + +The woman smiled tolerantly. She wore glasses so securely fixed before +her deep-set eyes that they seemed like a very feature of her face. She +was a capable looking, elderly woman, and rather comely, but she was, as +Nancy had quickly observed, "hopelessly old-fashioned." + +"We haven't anything fixed up yet," said Nancy apologetically. "You see, +mother goes to business and that leaves the store and the house to me." + +"Yes. She explained in taking our place that she was doing it to give +you a chance to try business. But for a girl so young--Come back here, +Tiny," she ordered the sniffing, snuffing, frisky little dog. + +"If I'm going to be a business woman I've got to start in," interrupted +Nancy. "They say it's never too early to start at _housework_." + +"But that's different. Every girl has to know how to keep house," +insisted Miss Townsend. She was busy straightening a box of spools that +lay upon the little counter, but from her automatic actions it was +perfectly evident that Miss Townsend didn't know she was doing anything. + +"I can't see why," retorted Nancy. "Just look at mother. What would she +have done with us if she hadn't understood business?" + +Miss Townsend sighed. "Being a widow, my dear--" + +"But I may be a widow too," breezed Nancy. "In fact I'm sure to, for +everyone says I'm so much like mother. Do let me fix that box of spools, +Miss Townsend. Someone came in for linen thread last night and Teddy +looked for it. I'm sure he gave them a ball of cord, for all the cord +was scattered around too." She put the cover on the thread box. "Boys +are rather poor at business, I think, especially boys of Teddy's age," +orated the important Nancy. + +Miss Townsend agreed without saying so. She was looking over the little +place in a fidgety, nervous way. Nancy quickly decided this was due to +regret that she had given the place up, and therefore sought to make her +feel at ease. + +The little brown dog had curled himself up in front of the fireplace on +a piece of rug, evidently his own personal property. The fireplace was +closed up and the stove set back against it, out of the way for summer, +and handy-by for winter. + +Nancy smiled at the woman who was moving about in a sort of aimless +restlessness. + +"It must seem natural to you to be around here," Nancy ventured. + +"Yes, after thirty years--" + +"Thirty years!" repeated Nancy, incredulously. "Did you and your brother +live here all that time?" + +"Yes." A prolonged sigh brought Miss Townsend down on the old hickory +chair that stood by the door, just out of the way of possible customers. + +"Brother Elmer and I kept on here after mother died. In fact, so far as +I was concerned, we might have gone on until we died, but there was a +little trouble--" + +"Just like me and my brother, I suppose," intervened Nancy, kindly. "We +love each other to death, and yet we are always scrapping." + +"In children's way, but that's different, very different," insisted Miss +Townsend. "With me and Elmer," she sighed again, "it became a very, very +serious matter." + +"Oh," faltered Nancy. Things were becoming uncomfortable. That kitchen +work would be growing more formidable, and Nancy had really wanted to +settle the store. She would love to do that, to put all the little +things in their places, or in new places, as she would surely find a new +method for their arrangement. She hurried over to the corner shelves. + +"I hope no one comes in until I get the place fixed up," she remarked. +"Mother doesn't intend to buy much new stock until she sees how we get +along." + +"That's wise," remarked Miss Townsend. "I suppose I know every stick in +the place," she looked about critically, "and yet I could be just as +interested. I wonder if you wouldn't like me to help you fix things up? +I'd just love to do it." + +Now this was exactly what Nancy did not want. In fact, she was wishing +earnestly that the prim Miss Townsend would take herself off and leave +her to do as she pleased. + +"That's kind of you, I'm sure," she said, "but the idea was that I +should be manager from the start," Nancy laughed lightly to justify this +claim, "and I'm sure mother would be better pleased if I put the shop in +order. You can come in and see me again when I'm all fixed up," (this +gentle hint was tactful, thought Nancy) "and then you can tell me what +you think of me as the manager of the Whatnot Shop." + +Miss Townsend was actually poking in the corner near the hearth shelf +where matches, in a tin container, were kept. She heard Nancy but did +not heed her. + +"Looking for something?" the girl asked a little sharply. + +"Looking?" Yes, that is--"Tiny keep down there," she ordered. "I can't +see what has got into that dog of late. It was one of the things that +Elmer and I were constantly fussing over. Tiny won't let any one touch +things near this chimney without barking his head off. Now just watch." + +As she went to the shelf back of the stove the dog sprang alongside of +her. He barked in the happy fashion that goes with rapid tail wagging, +and Nancy quickly decided that the dog knew a secret of the old chimney. + +[Illustration: Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove.] + +Again Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove, and Tiny +all but jumped into the low, broad door. + +"Now, isn't that--uncanny?" asked the woman, plainly bewildered. + +"Oh, no, I don't think so," said Nancy. "All dogs have queer little +tricks like that." + +"Do they? I'm glad to hear you say so," sighed Miss Townsend, once more +picking up a small box of notions. "You must excuse me, my dear. You see +the habit of a life time--" + +"Oh, that's all right, Miss Townsend, I didn't mean to hurry you," spoke +up Nancy. "But the morning goes so quickly, and mother may come home to +lunch." This possibility brought real anxiety to Nancy. If she had only +slicked up the kitchen instead of arguing with Teddy. After all the +plagued old housework did take some time, she secretly admitted. + +But Miss Townsend laid down the unfinished roll of lace edging, although +she had most carefully rolled all but a very small end, walked over to +Nancy, who was just attempting to dust out a tray, and in the most +tragic voice said: + +"Nancy, I think you really have a lot of sense." + +Nancy chuckled. "I hope so, Miss Townsend." + +"I mean to say, that I think you can be trusted." + +"Well," stammered Nancy, forcing back another chuckle, "I hope so, to +that too, Miss Townsend." She was surprised at the woman's manner and +puzzled to understand its meaning. The dog was again snoozing on the +rug. + +"Let's sit down," suggested Miss Townsend. + +"Oh, all right," faltered Nancy, in despair now of ever catching up on +the delayed work. + +"You see, it's this way," began the woman, making room for herself in +the big chair that was serving as storage quarters for Teddy's +miscellany. "Some people are very proud--" + +Nancy was simply choking with impatience. + +"I mean to say, they are so proud they won't or can't ever give in to +each other." + +"Stubborn," suggested Nancy. "I'm that way sometimes." + +"And brother and sister," sighed Miss Townsend. "I never could believe +that Elmer, my own brother, could, be so--unreasonable." + +"Why, what's the matter?" Nancy spoke up. "You seem so unhappy." + +"Unhappy is no name for it, I'm wretched." The distress shown on Miss +Townsend's face was now unmistakable. Nancy forgot even the unwashed +breakfast dishes. + +"Can I help you?" she asked kindly. + +"Yes, you can. What I want is to come in here sometimes--" + +"Why, if you're lonely for your old place," interrupted Nancy. + +"It isn't that. In fact I just can't explain," said Miss Townsend, +picking up her hand bag, nervously. "But I'm no silly woman. We've +agreed to sell this place to your mother and I'm the last person in the +world to make a nuisance of myself." + +"You needn't worry about that," again Nancy intervened, sympathetically. + +"You are a kind girl, Nancy Brandon, and I guess your mother has made no +mistake in buying the Whatnot Shop for you. You'll be sure to make +friends, and that's what counts next to bargains, in business," declared +the woman, who had risen from the big chair and was staring at Nancy in +the oddest way. + +"If I had a chance--" again the woman paused and bit her thin lip. She +seemed to dread what she evidently must say. + +"I'll be busy here tomorrow," suggested Nancy briskly, "and then perhaps +you would like to help me. But I really would like to get the rough dirt +out first. Then we can put things to rights." + +"The fact is," continued Miss Townsend, without appearing to hear +Nancy's suggestion, "I have a suspicion." + +"A suspicion? About this--store?" + +"Yes, and about my brother. He's an old man and we've never had any real +trouble before, but I'm sorry to say, I can't believe he's telling me +the truth about an important matter. That is, it's a very important +matter to me." + +"Oh," said Nancy lamely. She was beginning to have doubts of Miss +Townsend's mental balance. + +"No, Elmer is a good man. He's been a good brother, but there are some +things--" (a long, low, breathful sigh,) "some things we have individual +opinions about. And, well, so you won't think me queer if I ask you to +let me tidy the shop?" + +"Why--no, of course not, Miss Townsend." + +"Thank you, thank you, Nancy Brandon," emotion was choking her words. +She was really going now and Tiny with her. "And perhaps it would be +just as well not to say anything about it if my brother should drop in," +concluded the strange woman. + +"Oh, do you suppose he will?" asked bewildered Nancy. "I mean, will he +drop in?" + +"He's apt to. Elmer is a creature of habit and he's been around here a +long time, you know." The dark eyes were glistening behind the gold +framed glasses. Miss Townsend was still preparing to depart. + +Nancy opened the screen door and out darted Tiny. + +"Good-bye, my dear, for the present," murmured Miss Townsend, "and I +hope you and your mother and your brother will--be happy--here," she +choked on the words and Nancy had an impression of impending tears. "We +wouldn't have sold out, we _shouldn't_ have sold out, but for Elmer +Townsend's foolishness." + +Back went the proud head until the lace collar on Sarah Townsend's neck +was jerked out of place, a rare thing indeed to happen to that prim +lady. + +"Good-bye," said Nancy gently, "and come again, Miss Townsend." + +"Yes, yes, dear, I shall." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + DINNER DIFFICULTIES + + +Nancy jerked her cretonne apron first one way and then the other. Then +she kicked out a few steps, still pondering. When Nancy was thinking +seriously she had to be acting. This brought her to the conclusion that +she should hurry out to the porch and look after Miss Townsend, but she +had decided upon that move too late, for the lady in the voile dress was +just turning the corner into Bender Street. + +Nancy's face was a bed of smiles. They were tucked away in the corners +of her mouth, they blinked out through her eyes and were having lots of +fun teasing her two deep cheek dimples. She was literally all smiles. + +"What a lark! Won't Ted howl? The dog and the--the chimney secret," she +chuckled. "And dogs know. You can't fool them." She came back into the +store and gazed ruefully at the squatty stove that mutely stood guard. + +"I don't suppose mother will want that left there all summer," Nancy +further considered. "It might just as well be put out in the shed, and +the store would look lots better." + +She could not help thinking of Miss Townsend's strange visit. The lady +was unmistakably worried, and her worry surely had to do with the +Whatnot Shop. + +"But I do hope we don't run into any old spooky stories about this +place," Nancy pondered, "for mother hates that sort of thing and so do +I--if they're the foolish, silly kind," she admitted, still staring at +the questionable fireplace. + +"What-ever can Miss Townsend want to be around here for? No hidden +treasures surely, or she would say so and start in to dig them up," +decided the practical Nancy. The clock struck one! + +"One o'clock!" she said this aloud. "Of course it isn't," laughed the +girl. "That clock has been going since the moving and it hasn't unpacked +its strike carefully. But, just the same, it must be eleven o'clock, and +as for the morning's work! However shall I catch up?" + +One hour later Ted was in looking for lunch. He had been out "exploring" +and had, he explained, met some fine fellows who were "brigand scouts." + +"I'm goin' to join," he declared. "They're goin' to let me in and I'm +goin' to bring a lot of my things over to the den." + +"Den?" questioned Nancy. "Where's that?" + +"Secret," answered Ted. "An' anyhow, it isn't for girls." This was said +in a pay-you-back manner that Nancy quickly challenged. + +"Oh, all right. Very well. Just as you say, keep it secret if you like," +she taunted, "but I've got a real one." The potatoes were burning but +neither of the children seemed to care. + +Ted looked closely at his sister and was convinced. She really was +serious. Then too, everything was on end, no dinner ready, nothing done, +the place all boxes, just as they were when he left. Something must have +been going on all morning, reasoned Ted. + +"Good thing mother didn't come home, Sis," he remarked amicably. "Say, +how about--chow?" + +"Chow?" + +"Yes. Don't you know that means food in the military, and I'm as starved +as a bear." + +"Well, why don't you get something to eat? I understood we were to camp, +share and share alike," Nancy reminded him, giving the simmering +potatoes a shake that sent the little pot-cover flying to the floor. + +"That was your idea. But mother said you had to be sure we ate our +meals," contended Ted. "I'll get the meat. It's meat balls, isn't it?" + +"It will be, I suppose, when _I_ make them," said Nancy, deliberately +shoving everything from one end of the table with a sweep that rattled +together dishes, glasses and various other breakable articles. + +There was no doubt about it, Nancy Brandon did hate housework. Every +thing she did was done with that degree of scorn absolutely fatal to the +result. Perhaps this was just why her mother was allowing her to try out +the pet summer scheme. + +"I'd go mad if I had to stick in a kitchen," Nancy declared +theatrically. "I'm so glad we've got the store." + +"But we can't eat the store," replied Ted. "Here's the meat. Do get it +going, Sis. I've got to get back to the fellows." + +"Ted Brandon! You've got to help _me_ this afternoon. Do you think, for +one instant, I'm going to do everything?" + +"'Course not, I'll do my share," promised the unsuspecting boy. "But +just today we've got something big on. Here's the meat." + +"Big or little you have just got to help me, Ted. Look at this place! It +seems to me things walk out of the boxes and heap themselves up all +over. Now, we didn't take those pans out, did we?" + +"I don't know, don't think so. But here's a good one. It's the meat +kind, isn't it?" + +"Yes. Give it here." Nancy took from his hand a perfectly flat iron +griddle. "I'll fix up the cakes if you make place on the table. We'll +eat out here." + +"All right." Ted flew to the task. "But you know, Sis, mother said we +might eat in that sun porch. It's a dandy place to read. Look at the +windows." + +Nancy had flattened the chopped meat into four balls and was pressing +them on the griddle. + +"There. What did you do with the potatoes?" + +"Nothing. I didn't take them." + +"But we had potatoes--" She lighted the gas under the meat. + +"Sure. I smelled them burning." + +"Well, hunt around and see if you can smell them now," ordered Ted's +sister. "I can't eat meat without potatoes." + +Ted dropped his two plates and actually went sniffing about in search of +the lost food. Meanwhile Nancy was standing at the stove, a magazine in +one hand and the griddle handle in the other. Her eyes, however, were +not upon the griddle. + +Presently the meat was sizzling and its odor cheered Ted considerably. + +"Don't let's mind the potatoes," he suggested. "I can't find them." + +"Can't find them? And I peeled three! We've _got_ to find them." + +"Then you look and I'll stir the meat." + +"It doesn't have to be stirred." But Nancy stood over the stove just the +same. + +"Then what are you watching it for?" + +"So it won't burn, like the potatoes." + +"Maybe they all burned up." Ted didn't care much for potatoes. + +"Oh, don't be silly. Where's the pan?" + +"Which pan?" + +"Oh, Ted Brandon! The potato pan, of course!" + +"Oh, Nancy Brandon! What potato pan, of course! Has it got a name on +it?" + +Nancy dropped her magazine on a littered chair, in sheer disgust. She +realized the meat was cooking; (it splattered and spluttered merrily on +the shallow griddle,) and she too was hungry. Ted might be satisfied to +eat just bread and meat, but she simply had to have freshly cooked +potatoes. Wasn't housework awful? Especially cooking? + +There was a jangle of the store bell, actually some one coming at that +critical moment. + +"Oh, dear!" groaned Nancy. "What a nuisance! I suppose I'll have to +go--" + +"But the meat?" Ted was getting desperate. + +"It's almost ready." Nancy wiped her hands on the dish towel and hurried +to the store. + +"A man!" she announced, as she went to open the screen door. + +Ted left his post and cautiously stole after her. A customer was a real +novelty and Ted didn't want to miss the excitement. A pleasant voice +filled in the moment. A gentleman was talking to Nancy. + +"I'm glad to find some one in," he was saying. "Since my friend, Elmer +Townsend, left here I've been rather--that is, I've missed the little +place," explained the man. Ted could see that he was very tall and +looked, he thought, like a school teacher, having no hat on and not much +hair either. + +"We've just been unpacking," Nancy replied. She was conscious of the +confusion in the store as well as she had been of things upset in the +kitchen. + +"Oh, yes," drawled the man, stepping behind the counter. "It will take +you some time to go over everything. But you see, Mr. Townsend and I are +great friends, and I know where most of the things are kept. You don't +mind if I take a look for a ball of twine?" + +"No, certainly not," agreed Nancy. + +"I can get you that," spoke up Ted. "I had it out last night," and he +jumped behind the counter to the littered cord and twine box. + +Nancy pulled herself up to that famous height of hers. She +smelled--something burning! + +"Ted!" she screamed. "It's a-fire! The kitchen! I see the blaze!" + +"The meat!" yelled Ted, springing over the low counter and following his +sister toward the smoke filling place. + +"Oh-h-h-!" Nancy continued to yell. "What shall we do!" + +"Don't get excited," ordered the stranger. "And don't go near that +blazing pan. Let me go in there," and he brushed Nancy aside making his +way into the untidy place, which now seemed, to the frightened girl, all +in flames. + +"The meat--gosh!" moaned poor Ted, for the stranger had opened the back +door, and having grabbed the flaming pan with that same towel Nancy had +tossed on the chair, he was now tossing the blazing pan as far out from +the house as his best fling permitted. + +"There!" he exclaimed, brushing one hand with the other. "I guess we're +safe now." + +"Oh, thank you, Mister, Mister--" Nancy waited for him to supply the +name, but he only smiled broadly. + +"Just call me Sam," he said pleasantly. + +"Sam?" echoed Ted. + +"Yes, sonny. Isn't that all right?" asked the stranger. + +They were within the cluttered kitchen now and, as is usually the case +with girls of Nancy's temperament, she was much distressed at the looks +of the place. In fact, she was making frantic but futile efforts to +right things. + +"What's the matter with Sam?" again asked the man, curiously. + +"Oh, nothing," replied Ted. "Only it isn't your name." + +"No? How do you know?" persisted the stranger, quizzically. + +"You don't look like a Sam," said Ted, kicking one heel against the +other to hide his embarrassment. He hadn't intended saying all that. + +The man laughed heartily, and for the moment Nancy forgot the upset +kitchen. But the dinner! + +"I hope your dinner isn't gone," remarked the stranger who wanted to be +called Sam. + +"Oh, no," replied Nancy laconically, avoiding Ted's discouraged look. +"That was only some--some meat we were cooking." + +"Can't keep house and 'tend store without spoiling something. But I feel +it was somewhat my fault. Suppose we lock up and trot down to the corner +for a dish of ice cream?" he suggested. "It's just warm enough today for +cream; don't you think so?" + +"Oh, let's!" chirped Ted. A hungry boy is ever an object of pity. + +"You go," suggested Nancy, "but I think I had better stay here." + +"Oh, no. You've got to come along. Let me see. If you call me Uncle Sam +what shall I call you?" + +"I'm Nancy Brandon and this is my brother Ted," replied Nancy. "But I'd +like much better to call you by your real name." + +"Real name," and he laughed again. "I see we are going to be critical +friends. Now then, since you insist Sam won't do suppose we make it +Sanders. Mr. Sanders. How does that name suit?" and he clapped Ted's +shoulders jovially. + +"Then Mr. Sanders, you and Ted go along and get your cream. I really +must attend to things here," insisted Nancy. "We are all so upset and +mother will expect us to have things in some sort of order." + +"Oh, Sis, come along" begged Ted. "I'll help you when we get back. It +won't take a minute." + +Hunger is a poor argument against food, and presently the back door was +locked, the front door was locked, and the two Brandons with the man who +called himself Mr. Sanders, because they refused to call him Uncle Sam, +were making tracks for the ice cream store. + +Burnt potatoes, burnt meat with ice cream for dessert, thought Nancy. +But she was still convinced that business was more important than +housekeeping. + +"Glad we didn't burn up," remarked Ted, as he trotted along beside Mr. +Sanders. + +"Never want to throw water on burning grease," they were advised. "And +always keep a thing at full arm's length, if you must pick it up. Of +course, if you turned out the gas and pushed the pan well in on the +stove it would eventually burn out, but think of the smoke!" + +"You bet!" declared Ted, as they reached the little country ice cream +parlor. Two girls, whom Nancy had seen several times since she came to +Long Leigh, were just leaving the place and she thought they looked at +her very curiously as they passed out. Then, she distinctly heard one of +them say: + +"Fancy! With him!" + +And Nancy knew she had made some sort of mistake in accepting the +well-intentioned invitation. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + BELATED HASTE + + +Instinctively Nancy sought a sheltered corner of the ice cream room. She +was greatly embarrassed to have come along the road with a stranger whom +she knew nothing about, and now she was determined to leave him alone +with Teddy. There must be something odd about him, to have drawn that +remark from the girls. Nancy looked at him critically from her place +below the decorated looking glass, and decided he did appear queer to +her. + +"But I'm just starved," she told herself, "and I've got to have +something to eat." The girl in the gingham dress, with a great wide +muslin apron, took an order for cake and cream and a glass of milk. +Fortunately, Nancy had her purse along with her. That much, at least, +she had already learned about being a business woman. + +Teddy was chatting gaily with the man down near the door. They seemed to +be having a great time over their stories, and Nancy rightly suspected +the stories concerned Ted's favorite sport, camping. + +She ate her lunch rather solemnly. Everything seemed to be going wrong, +but the escape from fire, with the frying meat on a shallow griddle, was +surely something to be thankful for. + +Oh, well! Only half a day had been lost, and she really couldn't have +done more when Miss Townsend took all that precious time with her +lamentations. + +Miss Townsend! Nancy sipped the last of her milk as she reflected on the +little dog's interest in the old fireplace. Of course, Miss Townsend +would come again, and Tiny would always be along with her. And Nancy +hadn't yet told Ted about that experience. + +"Just buying a country store didn't seem to mean buying a lot of freaks +along with the bargain," Nancy speculated. "And now here's Mr. Baldy who +wants to be called after Uncle Sam, going right in back of my counter +and helping himself--" + +"Ready, Sis!" called out Teddy, as he waited for Mr. Sanders to pay his +bill. + +"You go along, Ted," called back Nancy. "I've got to stop some place, +but I'll be there in time to open the door for you." + +Ted never questioned one of those queer decisions of Nancy's. He knew +how useless such a thing would be; so off he went with the man in the +short sleeved shirt, while Nancy tarried long enough to give them a fair +start. + +Then, easily finding a way through the fields, she raced off herself, +although getting through thick hedges and climbing an occasional rail +fence, proved rather tantalizing. + +In front of the store she found Mr. Sanders just leaving Ted. They were +both talking and laughing as if the acquaintance had proved highly +satisfactory, but it irritated Nancy. + +"Now, I suppose, _he'll_ come snooping around," she grumbled. "Well, +there's one thing certain, I'm not going to keep an old-fashioned +country store. No hanging around my cracker barrels," she told herself, +although there was not, and likely never would be a cracker barrel in +the Whatnot Shop. + +Once more left to themselves, the burnt dinner was not referred to, as +Ted helped at last to clear up the disordered kitchen. Not even the lost +potatoes came in for mention as brother and sister "made things fly," as +most belated workers find themselves obliged to do. + +"Here, Ted, get the broom." + +Ted grabbed the broom. + +"No, let me sweep. You empty those baskets of excelsior." + +"Where?" + +"Where?" + +"Yes. Can we burn it?" + +"No, never. No more fire for us," groaned Nancy. "Just dump the stuff +some where." + +"But we can't, Sis," objected Ted. "Mother 'specially said nothing could +be dumped around." + +"Well, do anything you like with it, but just get it out of the way," +and Nancy's excited broom made jabs and stabs at corners without quite +reaching them. + +Ted was much more methodical. He really would do things right, if only +Nancy would give him a chance. Just now he was carefully packing the +excelsior in a big clothes basket. + +"You know, Nan," he remarked, "Mr. Sanders is awfully funny." + +"How funny?" asked Nancy crisply. + +"Oh, he knows an awful lot." + +"He ought to, he's bald headed," answered Nancy, implying there-by that +Mr. Sanders was an old man and ought to be wise. + +"Is he?" asked Ted innocently. + +"For lands sake! Ted Brandon!" exclaimed Nancy. "Can't you think what +you're saying? Is he what?" + +The thread of the argument thus entirely lost, Ted just crammed away at +the excelsior. + +"I'm just dying to get at the store," said Nancy next. "I want to fix +that all up so that mother will buy more things to put in stock." + +"She's going to bring home fishing rods. I'm goin' to have a corner for +sport stuff, you know," Ted reminded the whirl-wind Nancy. + +"Oh, yes, of course, that's all right. But we'll have to see which +corner we can spare best. The store isn't any too big, is it?" + +"Big enough," agreed the affable boy. "And I'll bet, Nan, we'll have +heaps of sport around here this summer. There's fine fellows over by the +big hill. That's more of a summer place than this is, I guess." + +"Where does your friend Uncle Sam live?" + +"You mean Mr. Sanders. Why, he didn't say, but he went up the hill +toward that old stone place." + +"Yes. I wouldn't wonder but he would live in an old stone place," echoed +Nancy sarcastically. + +"Why, don't you like him?" + +"Like him?" + +"I mean--do you hate him?" laughed Ted. His basket was filled and he was +gathering up the loose ends of the splintered fibers upon a tin cover. + +"I don't like him and I don't hate him, but I do hope he won't come +snooping around _my_ store," returned Nancy. + +Teddy stopped short with a frying pan raised in mid air. He swung it at +an imaginary ball, then put it down in the still packed peach basket. + +"Now, Nan," he protested, "don't you go kickin' up any fuss about Mr. +Sanders. He always came around here; he's a great friend of the +Townsends." + +"Ted Brandon!" Nancy flirted the dust brush at the gas stove, "do you +think I am going to take all that with this store? Did we buy all the +Townsends' old--old cronies along with the Whatnot Shop?" + +"There's someone," Ted interrupted, as the store bell jangled timidly. + +"Oh, you go please, Ted," begged Nancy, who had glimpsed girls' skirts +without. "I'm too untidy to tend store this afternoon." + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + NEW FRIENDS + + +Nancy never looked as untidy as she really felt. In fact, she always +looked "interesting and human," as her friends might say, but she was +sensitive about the disorder she pretended to despise. Now, here were +those two girls! She simply could not go in the store as she looked. + +"You're all right," Ted insisted, as they both listened to the jangling +bell. "You look good in that yellow dress." + +"Good?" she took time to correct. "You mean--something else. And it +isn't yellow," she countered. "But please, Ted, you go. There's a dear. +I'll do something for you--" + +Ted started off dutifully. "But I won't know," he argued. + +"Run along, like a dear," whispered Nancy, for persons were now within +the store, she could easily hear them talking and could even see their +reflections in the little hall mirror. + +Ted went. He was such a good-natured boy, and Nancy was glad to notice +once more "so good-looking." + +After exchanging a few questions and answers with the girls in the +store, Ted was presently back again in the kitchen. + +"Blue silk!" he sort of hissed at Nancy. "They want--_blue silk_." + +"We haven't any. Tell them we're out of it." + +Ted went forth with a protest. + +A few seconds later he again confronted Nancy. + +"Blue _twist_ then. What ever on earth is blue _twist?_" + +"We haven't any!" Nancy told him sharply. "We're all out of sewing +stuff, except black and white." + +"Oh, you come on. They're just laughin' at me. It's your store. You go +ahead and 'tend it." Ted was on a strike now. He wasn't going to be that +kind of store keeper. Twist and silk! + +"But I'm so dirty," complained Nancy, brushing at her skirt and then +patting her disordered hair. She had been rushing around at a mad rate +since noon hour and naturally felt untidy. + +"Well, any how, go tell them," suggested Ted. "They're just girls like +you. You needn't worry about your looks." His eyes paid Nancy a decided +compliment with the careless speech. Evidently she was not the only one +who found good looks in the family. + +Out in the store the girls were waiting, and when she finally walked up +to them, Nancy was instantly at ease. + +"Oh, hello!" greeted the stouter one. She was genuinely pleasant and +Nancy at once liked her. "You're the girl we've been trying to meet. +This is Vera Johns and I'm Ruth Ashley. We live over on North Road and +we've been wanting to meet you." + +"I'm Nancy Brandon," replied Nancy pleasantly, "and I'm glad to meet +you, too. I was wondering if I would get acquainted away out here. Won't +you sit down? Here's a bench," brushing aside the papers. "It takes so +long to get things straightened out." + +The girls murmured their understanding of the moving problem, and after +Teddy had called out from the back door, that he was going "over to see +the fellows," all three girls settled down to chat. + +"Is it really your own store?" asked Ruth. She had reddish-brown hair, +gray eyes and the brightest smile. + +"Yes," replied Nancy. "Just a little summer experiment. You see, I +perfectly despise housework and mother believes I should learn something +practical. I just begged for a little country store. I've always been so +interested reading about them." + +"How quaint!" murmured Vera Johns. Her tone of voice seemed so affected +that Nancy glanced quickly at her. Was she fooling? Could any girl mean +so senseless a remark as "How quaint!" to Nancy's telling of her +practical experiment? + +"Do you mean," murmured Nancy, "why, just--how quaint?" + +"Yes, isn't it?" Vera again sort of lisped. At this Nancy was convinced. +Vera was that sort of girl. She would be apt to say any silly little +thing that had the fewest words in it. Just jerky little exclamations, +such as Nancy's mother had taught her to avoid as affectations. + +Vera's hair was of a toneless blonde hue, cut "classic" and plastered +down like that of an Egyptian slave. Her eyes, Nancy noticed were a +faded blue, and her form--Nancy hoped that she, being tall herself, did +not sag at all corners, as did Vera Johns. + +"I think it's a wonderful idea," chimed in Ruth, "to have a chance +really to try out business. Just as you say, Nancy, we learn to wash +doll dishes as soon as we can reach a kitchen chair. Then why shouldn't +we learn to make and count pennies as early as we possibly can?" + +"Do you hate housework too, Ruth?" Nancy asked, hoping for the joy of +finding a mutual understanding. "Are you also anxious to try business?" + +"I hate housework, abhor it," admitted Ruth, dimpling prettily, "but +mother says we just have to get used to it, so we won't know we're doing +it. You would be surprised, Nancy, how easy it is to wash dishes and +dream of babbling brooks." + +"Really!" That was Vera again. "I adore dishes, but I won't dream of +bobbling brooks, ever." + +"Bobbling," repeated Ruth. "That's good, Vera. I suppose they bobble +more than they babble. But I guess you're not much of a dreamer, Vera," +she finished, in a doubtful compliment. + +Nancy was amused. Ruth was going to be "good fun" and Vera was already +proving a pretty good joke. Their acquaintance was surely promising, and +Nancy responded fittingly. + +She had time to notice in detail each of these new friends. Ruth was +dimply and just fat enough to be happily plump. She also was +correspondingly sunny in her disposition. She wore her hair twisted into +three or four "Spring Maids" and it gave her the effect of short, curled +hair. Her summer dress was a simple blue ratine, and Nancy admired it +frankly. + +Vera was affected in manner, in style, in dress and every way. Her hair +was so arranged Nancy couldn't be sure just how it was done, but it +looked like a model in a hairdresser's window. Also, she wore, bound +around it a Roman ribbon, with a wonderful assortment of rainbow colors. +Her costume was sport, with a very fancy jacket and a light silk and +wool plaid skirt. That she had plenty of money was rather too obviously +apparent, and Nancy wondered just how she and Ruth were connected. + +They were inspecting the newly acquired little store. + +"And you are the manager, the proprietor--" + +"The clerk and the cashier," Nancy interrupted Ruth. "I've always loved +to play store, so now, mother says, she hopes I'll be satisfied. But +this is a very old-timey place. I don't see how the Townsends ever made +it pay." + +"Miss Townsend is a queer old lady," replied Ruth. "I guess of late +years they didn't have to worry about making things pay in the store." + +"Why Ruthie!" exclaimed Vera. "Don't you know every body says they went +bankrupt?" + +"Oh, that," laughed Ruth. "I guess Mr. Townsend lent out his money and +couldn't get it back handy." + +"But he and his sister had a perfectly desperate fight over it," +insisted Vera, eyes wide with curious interest. + +"Desperate," repeated Ruth, as if trying to give Nancy a cue to Vera's +queer vocabulary. "I can imagine their sort of desperate fight. Sister +Sarah would say to Brother Elmer: 'Elmer dear, you really can't mean a +thing like that,'" imitated Ruth, "and Brother Elmer would clasp and +unclasp his thin hands as he replied: 'I'm sorry, Sister Sarah, but it +looks that way.'" + +Ruth and Nancy laughed merrily as the little sketch ended. + +"That's about how desperate those two would fight," Ruth declared. + +"Then why did they sell out?" demanded Vera. "Every body knows they lost +everything." + +"We haven't actually bought the place," Nancy explained, "just have an +option on it. You see, we had to go to the country every summer, and +mother thought this might suit us. It is so convenient for her to +commute, and Ted and I can't get into a lot of mischief in a place like +this. So it seems, at least," she hastened to add. + +"Well, if you let your brother go around with that queer old fellow we +saw him with today, he may get into mischief," intimated Vera, +mysteriously, with a wag of her bobbed head. + +"Mr. Sanders? What's the matter with Mr. Sanders?" demanded Nancy, +rather sharply. + +"Oh talk, talk, and gossip," Ruth interposed. "Just because he sees fit +to keep his business to himself--" + +"You know perfectly well, Ruth, that is more than gossip," insisted +Vera. + +"What is? What's the mystery?" again demanded Nancy, dropping her box of +lead pencils rather suddenly. + +"Well," drawled Vera, getting up with a tantalizing deliberateness, "if +you were to see a person in front of you one minute and have him vanish +the next--" + +A peal of laughter from Nancy broke in rudely upon Vera's recitation. + +"All right," Vera added, in a hurt tone. "Don't believe me if you don't +want to, but just wait and see." + +"Disappearing Dick?" chanted Nancy gaily. "Do you mean to say he's one +of those so-called miracle men?" + +"Oh, no, nothing of the sort," protested Ruth. "But there is +something--different about him. A lot of people say he does disappear, +but of course, there's nothing uncanny about it. It's probably just +clever," Ruth tried to explain. + +"Rather," drawled Vera. + +And Nancy could not suppress an impolite but insistent chuckle. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + ORIGINAL PLANS + + +During the next half hour the girls busied themselves playing store. +Ruth was almost as keenly interested in the little place as was Nancy, +herself, but it was noticeable that Vera was more curious. She poked +into the farthest corners, even opening obscure little cubby-holes that +Nancy had not yet discovered. All the while they talked about the +Townsends and the mysterious Mr. Sanders, declaring that something +around the Whatnot Shop held the clue to the Townsend disagreement, and +Mr. Sanders' mysterious power of disappearing. + +"I think it's the funniest thing," ruminated Nancy, clapping the wrong +cover on the white thread box, "here we came away out here to be +peaceful, quiet and studious. Mother looked for a place just to keep Ted +and me busy, and then we run into a regular hornet's nest of rumors." + +"Don't you know," replied Ruth, "that still waters run deepest?" + +"But I didn't know we had to take on a whole Mother Goose set of fairy +tales with a little two cent shoe-string shop," protested Nancy. "Of +course it will serve me right if I get into an awful squall. My +rebellion against the long-loved house-work idea, is sure to get me into +some trouble, isn't it?" + +"Who doesn't rebel secretly?" admitted Ruth. "Isn't it fairer to up and +say so than to be always hoping the dishpan will spring a leak, and +dish-towels will blow away?" Ruth was making rapid strides in gaining +Nancy's affection. She was so unaffected, so frank, and so sensible. + +Vera wasn't saying much but she was poking a lot. Just now she was +fussing with some discarded and disabled toys. She held up a helpless +windmill. + +"Imagine!" she said, simply. + +"Well, what of it?" asked Ruth. "It was pretty--once!" + +"Pretty! As if anyone around here would ever buy a thing like that." + +"Let me see it," Nancy said. "I'm sure Ted would love 'a thing like +that.' He'd spend days tinkering with it." Nancy took the red and blue +tin toy and inspected it critically. As she wound a tiny key a little +bell tinkled. + +"Lovel-lee!" cried Ruth. "That's a merry wind. Or is it a tinkle-ly +wind? Anyway it's cute. Save it for the small brother, Nancy. And I +think he's awfully cute. Here's something else for his camp," she +offered, handing Nancy over a red, white and blue popgun. + +"Great!" declared Nancy. "Ted has been too busy to rummage yet, but he's +sure to be thrilled when he does go at it. Yes, I think Ted is cute, and +I hope the disappearing man won't cast a spell on him," she finished, +laughing at the idea, and meanwhile inspecting the toy windmill. + +"You can joke," warned Vera, "but my grandmother insists that what +everyone says must be true, and everyone says Baldy Sanders is +freakish." + +"Baldy," repeated Nancy gaily. "I noticed that. But he has enough of +eyes to make up for the lost hair. I never saw such merry twinkling +eyes." + +"Really!" Vera commented. "I never notice men's eyes." + +"Just their bald heads," teased Ruth. "Now Vera, if Mr. Sanders is a +professor, as some folks claim, and if he ever gets our class in +chemistry, I'm afraid you would just have to notice his merry, twinkling +eyes. Anyhow," and Ruth cocked up a faded little blue muslin pussy cat, +"he's merry, and that is in his favor. What are you doing with that +windmill, Nancy?" + +"Inspecting it. It's a queer kind of windmill. Look at the cross pieces +on top and this tin cup." + +All three girls gave their attention to the queer toy. It was, as Nancy +had said, different from the usual model. It had cross pieces on top +instead of on the side, and one piece was capped off with a metal cup. + +"I'll save it for Ted," Nancy concluded. "But I hope it isn't dangerous. +It takes boys to find out the worst of everything. Just before we moved, +most of our furniture is in storage you know," she put in to explain the +scarcity of things at the country place, "Ted went up to the attic and +found an old wooden gun. It would shoot peas, and what those boys didn't +shoot peas at wasn't worth mentioning. I'll put the freak windmill away +for him, though. It looks quite harmless." + +"Oh, I think it's just joyous to have a shop," exclaimed Ruth, "and if +you'll let me, Nancy, I'll come in and 'tend sometimes." + +"I'd love to have you," replied Nancy earnestly. "I did expect my chum, +Bonny Davis, to visit me, but she's gone down to the shore first. +Bonny's lots of fun. I'm sure you'd like her if she does come," declared +Nancy, loyally. + +"I like her name," Ruth answered. "What is it? Bonita?" + +"No, it's really Charlotte, but she's so black we've always called her +Bonny from ebony, you know. Now Vera, what have you discovered?" broke +off Nancy, looking over to the comer in which Vera was plainly +interested. "Anything spooky?" + +"Not spooky," replied Vera, "but I never saw such odd looking fishing +things. No wonder the Townsends went bankrupt. Here are boxes and boxes +of wires and weights, and I don't know what all. Oh, I'll tell you!" she +exclaimed, in a rare burst of enthusiasm. "Let's have a fishing sale?" + +"And sell fish!" teased Ruth. + +"No," objected Nancy, taking Vera's part. "I think a special sale of +fishing and sport supplies would be great. Let's see what we've got +toward it." + +"It would draw the boys and that's something," joked Ruth. "But I'll +tell you what, Nancy, you had better be careful what you try to sell to +the young fishermen around here. They're pretty particular and rather +good at the sport. I like to fish myself." + +"Oh, I'd love to," declared Nancy. "Where do you go?" + +"Dyke's pond and sometimes the old mill creek," replied Ruth. "But we +only get sunnies there. There's perch in the pond, though." + +This led to discussing the fishing prospects in brooks, ponds and other +waterways around Long Leigh, until it was being promptly decided that +Ruth and Vera should very soon introduce Nancy to the sport. The idea of +having a sale of the outfit at the shop was also entered upon +enthusiastically, until the afternoon was melting into shadows before +the girls realized it. + +"But what ever you do," Ruth cautioned Nancy, "don't let any one induce +you to take the Whatnot out of the window. That's the sign of this old +shop that's known for miles and miles." + +"I think a cute little windmill would be lots nicer," suggested Vera. +"That Whatnot is--atrocious." + +"Windmill!" repeated Ruth. "But we don't sell windmills." + +"Certainly not. Neither do we sell Whatnots," contended Vera. + +"But we sell the things that are on the Whatnot," argued Ruth. "And +besides Whatnot stands for _What Not!_" + +It was amusing Nancy to listen to their assumed partnership. They were +both talking about "_our_ shop" and insisting upon what "_we_ sell." +This established at once a comradeship among all three, and Nancy was +convinced that her own desire to go into business was not, after all, +very queer. Other girls, no doubt, shared it as well, but the difference +was--Nancy's mother. She was the "angel of the enterprise," as Nancy had +declared more than once. + +"And I'll tell you," confided Vera, quite surprisingly, "if you'll let +me, I'll help you with your housework. I don't mind it a bit, and you +hate it so." + +"Oh, that's just lovely of you, Vera," Nancy replied, while a sense of +fear seized her, "but I really must do some of it, you know. Even a good +store keeper should know how to cook a little," she pretended, vowing +that her house would be in some kind of order before Vera ever even got +a peek into the living rooms. + +When they were finally gone Nancy stood alone in the little store, too +excited to decide at once which way to turn. She liked the girls, +especially Ruth, and even Vera had her interesting features. At least +she said odd things in an odd way, and her drawl was "delicious," Nancy +admitted. Of course she was gossipy. There was all that nonsense about +Mr. Sanders. As if any human being could really disappear. Ted would +just howl at the idea, Nancy knew, and if the man were really a +professor of some sort, that ought to make him interesting, she +reflected. At any rate, he was, the girls had said, a friend of the +Townsends, and Nancy would make it her business to ask Miss Townsend +about him the very next time she came into the store. + +Her mind busy with such reflections, Nancy hooked the screen door, (the +shop was not yet supposed to be open for business) and turned toward the +upset kitchen. + +"I've just got to do something with it," she promised, "before mother +comes. I wish Ted would hurry along home. Of course, he's a boy and boys +don't have to worry about kitchens." + +Nevertheless, as Nancy dashed around she did make a real effort to +adjust the disordered room, for her pride was now prompting her. +Whatever would Vera Johns say to such a looking place? And was all this +fair to a mother so thoughtful and so good-natured as was Nancy's? + +"I begin right here at this door," she decided, feeling she had to begin +at a definite spot, "and I just straighten out every single thing from +here to the back door." + +Peach baskets idling with the odds and ends of packing, Ted's red +sweater, Nancy's blue one, Nancy's straw hat that she felt she must have +within reach and which therefore had been "parked" on the floor, safe, +however, under a big chair, and a paste-board box of books that she also +didn't want to lose track of, the portable phonograph cover, the +phonograph itself was reposing safely on the corner of the sink where +Ted had been trying a new record; all these and as many more +miscellaneous articles Nancy was briefly encountering in her general +clearing up plan "from one door to the other." + +But she forged on, the old broom doing heroic duty as a plough cutting +through the débris. Finally, having gotten most of the stuff into a +corner, she undertook to scatter it in a way peculiar to one with +business, rather than domestic, instincts. + +"I'll need the baskets, all of them, when I'm settling the store," she +promptly decided, "and I'll get Ted to put the box of books in there +too, so I can read while I'm waiting. Then the phonograph--That can go +in there just as well, it may draw customers." At this Nancy laughed, +but she picked up the little black box, it had been her birthday +present, and put it right on the small table under the old mantle in the +store. A phonograph in the store seemed attractive. + +"I guess we'll find the store handy for lots of things," Nancy was +thinking, for the difference in the size of their old home, and the +limits of this new one, was not easy to adjust. + +With a sort of flourish of the broom at the papers and bits of excelsior +that were still an eyesore about, Nancy at length managed to "make a +path," as she expressed it, through the kitchen. + +"And I'll gather some flowers to greet mother with," she insisted. +"There's no reason why we shouldn't make a pretty room of a kitchen like +this, with one, two, three, good sized windows," she counted. + +But the glorious bunch of early roses must have felt rather out of +place, trying to conserve their wondrous perfume from contamination with +the remains of a smudgy odor from burnt potatoes--which by-the-way, had +not yet come to light, not to say anything of the real fire smell of +burnt meat, that ran over from a pan-cake griddle into a seething gas +flame. + +"Oh, those flowers!" exhaled the triumphant Nancy, pushing the dishpan +away so as not to bend the longest stalk, which was brushed against it. +"Won't mother just love it here?" + +After all, is not the soul of the poet more valuable than the skill of a +prospective housewife? + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + FAIR PLAY + + +Mrs. Brandon was such a mother as one might readily imagine would be the +parent of Nancy and Ted. In the first place she was young, so young as +to be mistaken often for Nancy's big sister. Then she was lively, a real +chum with her two children, but more important than these qualities, +perhaps, was her sense of tolerance. + +Fair play, she called it, believing that the children would more surely +and more correctly learn from experience than from continuous preaching. +Perhaps this was due to her own experience. She had been a girl much +like Nancy. She had not inherited the so-called domestic instinct; no +more did Nancy. To that cause was ascribed Nancy's unusual disposition +toward business and her dislike for all kitchens. + +"Those roses!" she breathed deeply over the scented mass Nancy had +gathered. "Aren't they just um-um? Wonderful?" + +"I knew you would like them, mother," responded Nancy happily. "I'm +sorry we couldn't get things slicked up better today, but we were so +constantly interrupted." + +"You will be, Nan dear. It is always just like that when business runs +into housework." + +"Oh, but say, Mother," interrupted Ted. "It's just great here. There's +the best lot of boys. And we've got a camp, a regular brigand camp--" + +"Look out for mischief, Teddy boy," replied his mother fondly. "I want +you both to have a fine time, but a little mischief goes a long ways +toward spoiling things, you know," she warned, earnestly. + +"Oh, I know. I'll be careful. We won't have any real guns nor knives, +nor swords--" + +"Ted Brandon! I should hope not!" cried Nancy. "Real guns and swords and +knives, indeed! If you go out playing with that sort of ruffian--" + +"But they aren't. We don't have them. No real firearms at-all," +protested Ted. "And the boys are nice fellows." + +"But just imagine what I would do if you came in hurt. And mother away +and everything," reasoned Nancy foolishly, as if she enjoyed the +sensation. "It is not like it was when Anna was with us. Mother," Nancy +asked, "don't you really think we should have someone in Anna's place?" + +"No, girlie, I don't," promptly replied the mother, who was just taking +from the gas oven a deliciously broiled steak. "While we had Anna you +never had a chance to find out all the simple things that you didn't +know. Anna was an ideal maid, but maids are not educators and none of us +can learn without being given a chance. Ted, please get the ice water. +And I would try, Nancy, to have every meal, no matter how simple it is, +served either on the side porch or in the dining room," counselled Mrs. +Brandon. "Nothing so demoralizes us as upset kitchen meals." + +"Yes, mother, I know that," admitted Nancy, who, with her mother nearby +for inspection, was daintily arranging the salad. "As a matter of fact, +I lose things in the kitchen. Imagine losing the potatoes, pan and all!" + +A hearty laugh followed the recalling of Nancy's and Ted's dinner +disaster. But even to that accident Mrs. Brandon insisted that her +daughter was one of the girls who must learn by experience, so there +were no long arguments given to point out her weakness. + +"But Anna is coming back, isn't she?" Ted pleaded. A boy wants to be +sure of his meals in spite of all the educational processes necessary +for training obdurate sisters. + +"Yes, dear. I expect she will be back to us in the autumn, and I'm sure +she will be benefited by her vacation," said Mrs. Brandon. "Anna does +not really have to work now. The salary and light expenses of maids soon +place them in a position to retire, you know," she pointed out +practically. + +"And besides," chimed in Nancy, "it's lots of fun to live all alone for +the summer, at least. Why, if Anna were here she would be forever poking +in and out of the store, and really mother," Nancy's voice fell to a +very serious tone, "when I get things going, I intend to make _you_ take +a vacation. I'm going to make that store _pay_." + +"That's lovely, girlie," replied the mother, "and I'm sure you and Ted +are going to be wonderful little helpers. Now, come eat dinner. You must +be ravenous. Here, Nancy, carry along the beans with the butter. Make +each hand do its share to help out each foot, you know," she teased. + +"But I'm starved," declared Ted, making a rather risky dive for the +three dinner plates and hurrying into the little dining room with them. +"That ice cream was good while we were eating it, but it doesn't last +long, does it, Nan?" + +This brought up the story of Mr. Sanders' treat, and as her children +related it, each outdoing the other in vivid description and volumes of +parentheses, Mrs. Brandon listened with but few interruptions. When the +story was told, however, she gave her version of the gossip concerning +the stranger. + +"He is really a professor, I'm sure," she stated, "for Miss Townsend +told me that much. Of course professors can be as queer as other +folks--" + +"Queer?" interrupted Ted, holding his plate out for another new potato. + +"Yes, they are often odd," admitted his mother, smiling at the boy's +joke. "But then, too, we expect to depend upon their intelligence for +reasonable explanations." + +"Mother, anyone would know you were a librarian, the way you talk," said +Nancy. "I suppose we act booky too, only we can't realize it ourselves. +Ted, your knife is playing toboggan--" + +"I'm too starved to notice," said Ted. "Hope you won't lose the potatoes +and burn the meat again, Sis," he added, "I can't stand starvation." + +"I didn't do it, _we_ did it," insisted Nancy. "I'm sure we were both +getting dinner--" + +"But about Miss Townsend, dear," her mother forestalled their argument. +"Did she say she regretted agreeing to sell?" + +"No, mother; that's the queer part of it all," Nancy replied. They were +now settled at their meal and could chat happily. "She acted so +mysterious about everything. And you should see her little dog, Tiny, +sniff around! Honestly, I thought he'd sniff his little stumpy nose off +at the fireplace. By the way, mother, can't we have the old stove moved +out into the back storeroom? We don't want it standing around all summer +waiting for a blizzard next Christmas, do we?" + +"No. But I'm afraid we will have to put off that sort of work until my +vacation, Nancy. You must remember, dear, we have only agreed to let you +run the little store practically as it is, to sell out Miss Townsend's +stuff and to give you some experience." + +"Oh, yes. I know," said Nancy a little ruefully. "But mother--" she +hesitated. Then began again, "Mother, I simply can't have the girls come +in and have things so upset, and I won't, positively won't have Miss +Townsend fussing around--" + +"You can't be rude to her, Nan," the mother said rather decidedly. "And, +after all, there is nothing here she doesn't know about." + +"Well, there seems to be," sighed Nancy, "or else what did she start +right in to search for? And the very first time she met me, too." + +"Perhaps her brother lost some papers, or something like that," +suggested Mrs. Brandon. "I _do_ know he is a little odd in his manner." + +"But if it were only that she wouldn't need to act so mysteriously about +it, would she, mother?" + +"And the dog," put in Ted. "He couldn't know about papers, could he? +Dogs are awfully wise, I know that much, and I'm going to get one--" + +Paying no attention to Ted's last sentence, Nancy continued to deplore +Miss Townsend's threat of more visits to her shop. + +"And the girls, that is Vera, said that she and her brother had a +quarrel about the place before they left," Nancy continued. "Vera is +talkative, but I could see myself that Miss Townsend was awfully unhappy +about something." + +"Yes," snapped Ted, again allowing his fork to rest in the prohibited +sliding position from his plate, "and she's the one who talks about Mr. +Sanders, too. That girl Veera--" + +"Vera, Ted. Just like very," said Nancy critically. + +"Yeah," groaned Ted. "Just like scary, too. That's what she is, scary. +And the fellows say Mr. Sanders is a first-rate scout, a real scout. +They say he's even a scoutmaster--" + +"Did they say anything about his habit of disappearing?" asked Nancy, +quizzically. + +"Now, Nan. You know very well that isn't so. It couldn't be. How could +any one dis-sa-peer?" inquired Ted, emphatically. + +"That wasn't the question, brother," insisted Nancy. "I just asked you +if the boys spoke of his reputation as Disappearing Dick?" + +This was too much for Ted, and again his mother was forced to intervene. + +"Anyway," the boy managed to interject, "if they did say something about +it they didn't say he was a spook, like your old Very-scary girl told +it." + +"Ted Brandon! Nothing about spooks! We never even mentioned them, that I +remember. But they said that Mr. Sanders lived somewhere around here but +no one knew where, that he went right up the hill to the stone house and +never went in the house nor in the barn nor anyplace but just +disappeared," rattled off Nancy. + +"Why daughter!" protested Mrs. Brandon, "how perfectly absurd. I'm +surprised that you should listen to such truck." + +"But of course I don't believe it, Mother, it's just funny, that's all," +explained Nancy, who had begun to carry the dishes to the kitchen quite +as if she just loved to do it. + +According to their new schedule, both Ted and Nancy were expected to do +their part in the clearing of the table, and washing the dishes, and as +this was a beautiful summer evening, the children "fell to" very +promptly. + +"It's too lovely to stay inside," remarked Nancy. "You'll come out with +us, won't you Mother? There's heaps of things you haven't yet had a +chance to see around here," she pleaded. + +"But we really must get things in order," declared the mother. "You and +Ted hurry along with your work--Ted will dry and you wash tonight, +Nancy, and meanwhile I'll sort of dig in--" + +"Mother! You can't. You have just got to have your evenings free," +protested Nancy. "You need lots of fresh air out here--" + +"I know, dear, but after all we are just ordinary mortals and we must +live as such. That means--civilization, around here," laughed Mrs. +Brandon, who was already "digging in." + +"I'll put these pans away first." She paused. "Whatever is this? I do +declare, children, here are your lost potatoes, packed away in among the +empty pans. Now, who could have done that?" + +"Ted did," replied Nancy. "He was sorting the tins. But Mother," she +said, in a grieved tone, "I know I did waste a lot of time today." + +Nancy was carrying out a tray but she had stopped abruptly. No +punishment could be greater to her than the loss of a summer evening out +of doors, except it was her mother's loss of that self-same evening. + +"I'm so sorry," she sighed. "I know I did idle my time today, Mother +dear, but I can't bear to have you--pay for it." + +"Nonsense, dear, I don't mind. Really the exercise will do me good," +insisted Mrs. Brandon. "Just attend to the dishes and you won't know +these quarters presently. I'm glad we found the potatoes," she said, but +Nancy was now too serious to joke. + +A call from the side porch checked their argument. It was Ruth calling +to Nancy. + +"Come along!" she shrilled through the screen door. "There's going to be +a band concert--" + +"Oh, I can't, Ruth," Nancy called back. "I must do--" + +"You _must_ go, dear," interrupted her mother. + +At this Ruth came in to wait. Ted was already off--he did not need to be +coaxed to give up his task, and when dishes were not being washed surely +they could not be dried. + +But Nancy felt guilty. In fact the band concert, novelty though it was, +with firemen and a baseball team making up the "scrambled" programme, +was not loud enough to still the voice of regret. + +"I can't bear to think of mother doing, now on this beautiful evening, +what I should have done today," she confided to Ruth, as they waited +between numbers. + +"I'll help you tomorrow," offered Ruth kindly. "And I won't bring Vera. +She's rather critical--" + +"I'll be up at daybreak," resolved Nancy, really determined now to get +the little country home in order. + +A band concert in Long Leigh was plainly an important event, and the +numbers of persons crowding about the band-stand on the village green +attested hearty appreciation for the musical efforts. The firemen, +however, seemed to draw out the heaviest applause, but that was because +old Jake Jacobs, the best piccolo player around, had been training them. +Still, there was Pete Van Riper, the drummer on the baseball side of the +platform. He certainly could drum, and the small boys around kept +calling to him in baseball parlance such encouragements as "Make it a +homer, Pete! Hug the mat! Hit her hard!" and such outfield coaching. + +Ruth had met a number of her friends and some she introduced to Nancy, +but the concert was spoiled for Nancy. She could see and actually feel +her mother working in that little country place to which she had come, +just to give Ted and Nancy a happy vacation. + +When her worry was becoming so keen that she felt she must ask Ruth to +go home with her, there pushed into the crowd an old man in a +broad-brimmed straw hat, although the sun was well out of all mischief. + +"Look!" whispered Ruth. "There's Mr. Townsend! And that's Mr. +Sanders--with him!" + +Just then the two men stepped over to the little mound where the girls +were. They did not see the girls, but Mr. Sanders drew Mr. Townsend to a +sudden stop in a space directly in front of Nancy and Ruth. + +"I tell you, Sanders," Mr. Townsend said, in a voice not at all suitable +for his surroundings, "the whole town is talkin'. They say all kinds of +things and you had better out with the whole thing." + +Mr. Sanders laughed as if he enjoyed the joke. + +"Keep cool, keep cool, friend," he said. + +But Mr. Townsend was by no means keeping cool, and he said so, sharply. + +"And I've left my home, got my sister on her ear, made a poor man's name +for myself--" + +Mr. Sanders grasped his arm with a sudden movement, perfectly evident to +the astounded girls. + +"When you are tired of your bargain, Elmer Townsend," he said, "just let +me know." + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE SPECIAL SALE + + +They had worked like slaves, according to Nancy, while Ted insisted he +was too tired even to eat. + +"But it's going to be a grand success," promised Ruth. "I can hardly +wait until morning for the doors to open." + +"Sale now going on!" chanted Isabel, a friend of Ruth's, who had come in +to help. "Ladies and gentlemen! Step this way for your fish lines!" she +called out, testing the possibilities of the next day's special sale. +"Here's where you get your fish-hooks that never slip, and your tackle +that always tacks, and as for sinkers--" + +"You'll sink, first shot," Ruth interrupted, from her perch on the +stepladder, where she was waving a Japanese lantern as if that flimsy +article had anything to do with fishing tackle. + +"Oh say! Look here! Who took my best reel?" cried Ted. "I want that for +myself. It was in a dollar box--" + +"Then it's got to be sold," called back Nancy. She was sitting on the +counter counting fish lines, a dozen to each box. + +"Sold nothing!" retorted Ted. "I'd like to know why I can't have the +best--" + +"You can, Teddy dear," Ruth told him. "You have been a perfect lamb to +help us all afternoon, and I never did see two legs do more trotting +than yours have done since Nancy locked the front doors and put us all +to work like prisoners. You may certainly have the reel, and there's a +wonderful pole back of the empty cigar boxes--there on that first shelf. +See it? It's in a gray case--" + +"Ruth Ashley! Whose store is this?" Nancy pretended to be very severe +but her jolly little laugh filtered through the words in giggles and +titters. "If you are going to give things away, why not start in with +the perishables? There's a basket of apples, Ted himself bought out of +the general fund, and unless they can be sold as bait, I don't see what +we're going to do with them." She had counted out all the fish lines and +was resting against the old-time candy glass case, now neatly filled +with post cards and stationery supplies. + +They had had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready for the first +special sale, and girl-like, had expended a lot of energy upon pretty +effects in the arrangements of articles. Mrs. Brandon "chipped in" as +Ted expressed it, and Nancy was able to supplement her stock +considerably. She had also made a very attractive poster for the big +front window, in fact, it was so attractive that Ruth put another sign +right alongside of it which stated: + + This poster, handmade, for sale + Price $2.00 + +"We always sell our charity posters," she insisted, "and they are never +as pretty as this. Just look at that fish. What is he, Nancy? A cat-fish +or a pickerel?" + +"I'm totally ignorant of the varieties," replied Nancy grandly. "But I +like the flecks on his back so I made him up flecked." + +"The fellows will be here awfully early," Ted warned the girls, "so you +better be ready to sell, quick as the door's opened." + +"We'll be here," sang out Ruth. "And Ted, be sure to tell them this is a +strictly cash sale. No charging and no refunds. If you buy a fish pole +and find it's a curtain rod you've got to go fishing with the curtain +rod. Nancy, here's those fancy little colored bags to fool the poor fish +with. Where do you want them put? Some place very safe, for they're +easily broken, you know," Ruth cautioned. + +"Right here in the show case," Nancy directed. "They're too cute to be +stuck away on a shelf. Ted, you better run off and have some fun. I +don't want mother to think we've been stunting your growth. You know how +particular she is about exercise." + +"Exercise!" repeated Isabel. "As if the poor child hasn't been +stretching every muscle to its utmost all afternoon. Take my advice, +Ted, and lie down. I'll make an ice bag out of an old bathing cap--" + +But Ted was not waiting to hear Isabel's kind, if foolish, offer. His +merry shout as he rounded the corner, however, spoke decidedly against +ice bags as well as couches. + +"Let's quit," suggested Nancy. "Honestly girls, I thought housework was +tedious, but I can't see much difference. I believe I'll be winding fish +lines all night, I've got them tangled in my brain." + +"Then you're the one for the ice bags," pronounced Isabel. "I love to +make them and I love to put them on pretty heads. Here Ruth, let's put +her on the couch. I think she looks a bit feverish." + +Kicking and protesting Nancy was forced to get down from "her perch," +and stretch out on the little leather couch in a favorite corner of the +sun porch. Then, while Ruth literally held her there, Isabel cracked +ice, put it in a green rubber bathing cap, that leaked like a sieve, +tied it up most imperfectly, and presently clapped it on Nancy's head. + +"Oh, please! It's leaking! I'm all wet. Isabel, you're freezing my--my +thinker!" yelled Nancy, as she struggled to free herself from her +playful companions. + +"That's the idea," replied Isabel. "We've got to freeze your thinker to +make you forget your fish lines. Here now, dearie," she mocked "lie +perfectly still--" + +"You're spoiling my pretty new gown," yelled Nancy, referring to the +oldest and most faded gown she could find that morning, in preparation +for the extra work. + +But Isabel held the bag in the general direction of Nancy's forehead, +while little icy cold streams tinkled down her neck and into her ears. +Ruth served as body guard, and almost kept Nancy on the couch, her feet, +arms, and other "loose ends" hanging over untidily. + +The store bell was jerked suddenly and violently. + +"Oh me, oh my!" groaned Nancy, jumping up so as to smash the ice bag to +the floor, cut its string loose and send the remaining chunks of ice +flying. "I can't go. Ruth, will you--" + +"Love to," chanted Ruth, starting off promptly. + +"Look at the puddle," bewailed Isabel, but Nancy interrupted her. + +"No one, simply no one can come in to-day. Do run out, Belle and +restrain Ruth. Just listen to her sweetest tones--" + +Isabel went. She liked to "'tend store" and each possible customer +represented to her, as well as to Ruth, a possible adventure. + +"No, I'm not the proprietor," Nancy heard Ruth saying. + +"No, she really can't see you," was Isabel's contribution. + +A man's voice, full, rich, persuasive, was speaking in so low a tone +that his words did not convey meaning to the listening Nancy. + +She listened! She crept nearer, and finally realizing that both Ruth and +Isabel were not being able to dismiss the stranger, she attempted to +right her rumpled self, to pat the unruly hair into place, and not +knowing that her forehead looked like a beefsteak from the ice freeze, +she sauntered out into the store. + +"This is Miss Brandon," announced Ruth as she entered. "She is the +proprietor." + +Nancy found herself in the presence of a very important looking young +man. His Panama hat was on the counter, his suitcase was on the floor, +and he stood in the most attentive, courteous attitude, bowing as if she +were meeting him in a reception room. + +"I've heard of your store, Miss Brandon," he said. "In fact, its fame +has travelled far and wide, and I'm here representing a Boston firm of +sporting goods. I would like you to see--" + +"Really," faltered Nancy, "this is only sort of a play store. We are +doing it for a vacation experience." + +"Exactly the thing," insisted the young man, who was not polite to the +point of affectation but simply polite as a gentleman. "I know this +territory pretty well, and you will possibly be surprised at the class +of customers who will, doubtless, seek you out. The motor people come +along here from Gretna Lake. There's good fishing on that lake, and +fishing supplies have a way of giving out suddenly when the +inexperienced handle them. If you will let me--" he was tackling the +suitcase. + +"But you see," protested Nancy, much embarrassed, "I really have no +authority to--buy. Mother is not here--" + +"You assume no obligation," insisted the man. "As this is your store we +are glad, in fact anxious, to leave you a sample line. If you sell them +you make a very fair commission, if you do not I pick them up and try +something else on my next trip." + +He opened the case, and presently was displaying a bewildering line of +such fishing tackle and general sport supplies as Nancy had never +dreamed of. Ruth and Isabel were fascinated. They suggested, in spite of +their better judgment, that Nancy stock up with the pretty little trout +flies, the feathery kind tied to fish hooks. Then Ruth thought they +ought to have at least one box of the dry flies, the sort that floats +without the hook, and before they knew it the salesman had deposited +upon the counter, goods worth so much money, that Nancy could only gasp +at the transaction. + +"But I haven't any place--" + +"This little case, if I may suggest," said the salesman, "is admirably +suited. You could move your cards to the far end, couldn't you?" + +"Oh, yes," chimed in Ruth, "and Nancy, just see the lovely window card!" +She was holding up a big folder that had been neatly packed in, folded +in sections, within the suitcase. "Why, it will be wonderful to have +such goods, and I'm sure the summer folks from Breakneck Hill will just +buy us out as soon as they hear we have such splendid stuff." + +"I think you are right," replied the salesman. "But as you seem +doubtful, Miss Brandon, I'll return later and talk with your mother, if +you wish." + +Nancy considered quickly. Her mother should not be annoyed with such +details; also, the special sale was to be a matter left entirely with +the girls and Ted. He was claiming and entitled to a share in certain +articles. So she answered: + +"I don't think that will be necessary. Mother won't object, I guess, if +I don't have to sign anything--" + +"Nothing whatever," she was assured. + +"But how did you find out about us?" asked Isabel. "This is such a tiny +store and it is on the back road, really." + +"The tiny store on the back road with the quaint name Whatnot Shop is +more attractive than a big public place," replied the salesman. He had +handed Nancy his card and she saw that his name was W. S. Webster. "As a +matter of fact, one of our firm was passing here in his car, and he left +me the memorandum. But I've heard of the special sale of fishing tackle +out on the Long Leigh road from perhaps a half dozen persons." + +The girls gasped, simultaneously. They were overwhelmed. If their fame +had thus travelled afar, what would the day of the sale bring them? + +"Very well," stammered Nancy, trying once again to keep her wet dress +out from her neck while she worried over the effect of that besprinkled +garment. "I'll be glad to do what I can with the goods, but really, I +had no idea of going in for such, such important articles." + +"If you will let me say so," remarked Mr. Webster in a gentlemanly way, +"I think you girls have the right idea. So many putter around with art +stuff these days, that they don't realize the big chances they are +missing in business. Some of America's brainiest women are heads of our +wholesale firms, and they make more money than movie queens," he +finished pleasantly. + +When he was finally gone and the door well bolted this time, the three +girls joined hands and danced around like a kindergarten class. + +"Me for the movie queen!" sang out Isabel. "You, Nance and Ruthie, can +sell fish hooks. Just watch this pose and see if I couldn't pass in a +beauty contest--" + +There was a racket, a very noisy one, at the side door. + +"It's Ted!" exclaimed Nancy, apprehensively. + +"And he's got a crowd with him." + +"They can't come in," Nancy declared. "We are not going to show goods or +take any advance orders." + +"Oh me, oh my!" cried Ruth. "No wonder the fine looking drummer said +that the brainiest girls in America were in business." + +"He didn't," contradicted Nancy. "He said women." + +"Very well, Nancy. Just you wait. Go sit down on a big stump in the +woods and wait. By and by you'll be a woman." + +Then, in spite of all their eloquence, in marched Ted heading a parade +of the "fellers." And what could Nancy do but show them the +arrangements. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS + + +"Mother! Are you awake?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"There's someone knocking--" + +"I'm getting up." + +The knocking continued. + +"Hey there, Nan!" called out Ted. "Get up and answer that noise. See +what your old sale did! Wake us all up--" + +"Ted, hush! Be quiet, Mother's going down--" + +"You ought to go. It's your bargain day." + +As usual Ted was charging Nancy with delinquency. He wasn't really +quarreling, but just talking, as Nancy defined it. Mrs. Brandon had been +dressing when the early knock first sounded, so that she was able to get +down stairs almost directly afterward. + +A dread, a sort of feeling that something might happen in regard to that +expensive outlay of goods left by the travelling salesman, seized Nancy. +She crept to the top of the stairs to listen, but all she could hear was +a man's voice; his words were lost behind the closed doors. + +She ventured down to the second landing. Her mother was chatting +pleasantly with whoever the early visitor might be, and at the sound +Nancy's spirits rose. + +"He's no collector," she decided, turning quickly back to her room and +starting at once to dress. She must be ready early. All signs pointed to +an early patronage, and although Ted had declared he would be up at +daybreak, it was all right, Nancy concluded, for him to sleep until +seven o'clock. + +Her mother was calling in a subdued voice. + +"Nancy, I'll get breakfast now, as I hear you stirring," she said. "I +want to leave things ready for your lunch today, so I came down early." + +"All right, Mother," Nancy replied over the balustrade. "I'll be down +soon. Who called?" + +"Is Ted awake?" Mrs. Brandon was still restraining her voice. + +"He was, but he isn't," half whispered Nancy. "Wait, I'll run down and +help, then come up and dress later--" + +Curiosity was too much for Nancy's patience, so she merely tucked her +hair tidily into a cap, and in slippers and robe joined her mother who +was preparing breakfast. + +"Who was it?" she asked breathlessly. + +"Why, your famous Mr. Sanders," replied Mrs. Brandon, indifferently. "He +wanted a little model of some sort, a windmill, it looked like. I +happened to spy it--" + +"The funny little windmill!" Nancy exclaimed. "Why, we were wondering +what that was. Did he say it was a model?" + +"Not exactly, but I judged it was. At any rate, dear, you mustn't always +be looking for mystery in Mr. Sanders' doings. I would call him a very +pleasant gentleman. Here, dear, stir this cereal. I want you and Ted to +make sure you get enough proper food." + +Nancy stirred the meal, which was receiving a preliminary start before +being put over the hot water in the double-cooker. + +"But you see, Mum," she remarked very quietly, "he is queer. Whatever +could he want a thing like that for? And why did he come for it so +early?" Nancy asked. + +"He wanted it because it has something to do with his line, is the way +he expressed it, and he came early because he has been away and just +heard of your sale. If he waited later, he explained, the little +windmill might have been swept away in the tumult," Mrs. Brandon +replied. This seemed to satisfy Nancy's inquiries, but secretly Mrs. +Brandon herself was just a little puzzled about Mr. Sanders. For +instance, it had been very clear to her that he just laughed off, rather +than explained, the purpose of the possible model. Something "in his +line," which he had forgotten to take away when the Townsends moved, +seemed vague, to say the least. + +Nancy was now eating her breakfast with her mother. She confessed to +having waked more than once during the night, in anticipation of the big +day. + +"And I'm going to send you a little surprise treat for lunch," her +mother confided. "I want you and the girls to enjoy yourselves in spite +of your self-imposed business tasks, so I'm sending out some--ice +cream!" + +"Oh, Mumsey--love!" exclaimed Nancy, jumping up and in giving her mother +a bear hug almost spilling the last spoonful of grape fruit. "Aren't you +too ducky! We'll have a regular party, and I'll ask--How many have you +ordered for?" she demanded abruptly. + +"Two quart bricks. That's counted twelve servings," replied her mother. +"Of course, one brick is for Ted, and you must help him a little." + +"Of course, Mumsey-love," promised Nancy. "We'll get every body out and +close up shop from one until two, and have a regular party!" + +From that time until Nancy was almost, but not quite, ready "for the +fray," as she expressed it, she kept herself in a flutter of excitement. +Her mother went into town as usual on the seven forty-five trolley, and +even then there was a waiting list at the front door of the shop, +children peering in the two broad windows which looked out onto the +old-fashioned long porch. + +"Come on, Ted, hurry-up," begged Nancy as her brother tarried over his +breakfast. "The girls won't be here until eight, and you've got to go +outside and try to keep those boys quiet. They'll be coming through the +window if you don't." + +"Oh, that's Buster, making all that racket," declared Ted, getting +another look at the paper which he was not supposed to read at the +table. "I'll go out and talk to them, in a minute," he promised +laconically. + +"Please do, then," begged his sister. "You take it as easy as if we +didn't have a big responsibility." + +"What responsibility?" he asked, actually deciding to move his plump +little self from the table. "I can't see what you're all so excited +about." + +"Of course you can't. But I'll tell you. Everybody, for miles and miles, +knows about this sale, and we've got to get busy." Nancy was peering +anxiously out of the side window. "I do hope," she said again, "that the +girls will get here soon." + +"Is that Very-scary girl coming?" asked Ted. He was trying to set his +blouse straight around his sun-burned neck. + +"You mean Vera. She's gone away for a while--" + +"I hope she stays away," snapped Ted. "I can't seem to like her--" + +"I'm sure that's too bad," mocked Nancy. "She would feel dreadfully bad +to hear that." + +"Oh, don't be funny. Listen! They're hammering on the door. You had +better open it or they'll break the glass," cautioned the boy. + +"Dear me, Ted," exclaimed the excited Nancy, "I can't go; perhaps you +had better open it. Why didn't you fix up a little," she argued, looking +critically at the usual vacation boy. "You might at least have put on a +white blouse." + +"To sell fish hooks?" roared Ted. "That's a grand idea. Why, Nan, the +fellows would think I was giving a party--" + +The noise at the front of the store was now becoming so insistent that +both brother and sister found it imperative to respond. + +"Come on," said Nancy, sighing rather miserably. "We may as well face +it. But don't let them back of the rope. We can't wait on more than a +few at a time." + +At that Nancy and Ted entered the store. + +"Look--at--them!" gasped Ted. + +Faces were pressed against the windows, the door, against every inch of +outside space that could command a view of inside the store, and they +looked so funny, the flat noses, the white spots on cheeks, the opened +mouths, humping against the glass! + +"Hello! Hello!" shouted Ted as Nancy fumbled with the door lock. "What +do you think this is? A circus?" + +Then, as Nancy opened the door, there was the unavoidable falling in! + +"Please!" she begged. But the boys seemed actually massed as for some +game. + +"Hey there!" urged Ted. "Whoever doesn't behave can't get waited on +a-tall!" + +But his words had no effect upon the eager urchins. + +"I want that rod over there!" shouted Rory Jennings. He was tall, big +and noisy. + +"That's mine--that beaut in the window," insisted another. Ted called +him Shedder, or something that sounded like that. + +"Hey, please, missus please," begged a lad so freckled Nancy couldn't +see anything else but freckles. "Please missus," he entreated, "couldn't +you just hand me over that crab net? That's all I want." + +"Hey there! Stop crowdin'," ordered a boy who was using all his strength +to make matters worse. "She can't wait on us if you don't give her a +chanst." + +There were easily twenty-five or thirty youngsters in the crowd, and +Nancy felt quite helpless to supply all their wants at once. The fact +that goods were offered at the very lowest figure possible, that a +twenty-five cent ball of fish line was marked ten cents, of course, +accounted for the rush. Many boys could get hold of a dime, but a +quarter was not so easy to pick up, it seemed. + +Then, too, the advertising, one boy telling the other, had done much to +make the sale known; hence the early morning rush. + +"Now don't muss everything up!" ordered Ted, for a group of boys had +laid hold of the fish-hook box, and it was impossible for Nancy to get +it back. + +"You must not take things away from the counter," she protested, for at +that moment the box of sinkers was being carted off to the door, by Jud +Morgan and Than Beach. They said they only wanted to pick out a couple +where there was more room, but it was plainly a risky way to make their +selection. + +"Dear me!" sighed Nancy to Ted. "Please look out and see if the girls +are coming. These boys will have everything upset--" + +But the girls were coming, in fact they were just then elbowing their +way in from the front door. + +"Hello--hello--hello!" called out Ruth joyfully. "Isn't this grand! +Going to buy us out first thing--" + +"Oh, land sakes!" wailed Nancy. "I've been in here fifteen minutes and I +haven't sold a stick. We should have charged admission." + +Isabel looked on rather importantly. Evidently she knew or thought she +knew how to handle a crowd of boys. + +"You've got to get in line!" she announced. + +A laugh, a whole series of laughs was her answer. + +"Do you hear me?" she insisted, raising her voice to suit the occasion. + +"Sure, we hear you. Want us to clap?" answered impudent Sammy Larkins. + +"Now see here," Ruth attempted to order. "If you boys really want to buy +anything you have got to stand back and take turns--" + +No sooner had that order been given than everybody made a dash for the +first place in line, and the tumult that followed all but drove Nancy +under the counter. + +"Say, look here! Want us to put you all out?" demanded Ted, in unassumed +indignation. + +"Try it!" tempted Buster, pretending to roll up sleeves he didn't have. + +"But don't you want to see the things?" cried out Ruth in desperation, +for those boys were tumbling around the floor and actually fighting, at +least they made that kind of noise, it seemed to the girls. + +"Su-ure!" came a chorus. + +Then Nancy had an inspiration. She got up on the high stool that stood +by what used to be Miss Townsend's desk and she immediately commanded +attention. + +"I'll tell you," she began, "if you all sit down on the floor just where +you are, the window sills or any place, I'll tell you about some of the +most interesting things we've got here. They are not for sale, but they +belonged to a sea captain--" + +The magic word had the desired effect. At the word "sea captain" that +crowd of boys, dropped "in their traces," and it was then Nancy's duty +to unfold to them some wondrous tale. + +For boys like a story--when it's about a sea captain even if they are +out to buy bargain fishing tackle. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE BIG DAY + + +As Ted said afterwards: "It was some story!" + +Nancy stood there on the stool, dangling an old rusty knife which she +had just spied among the box of unclassified articles, and she told +those boys a yarn, a regular old salt-yarn, which she frankly admitted +was pure fiction. + +But how they listened! As Ruth expressed it: "How _hard_ they listened!" + +No more jostling, nor pushing nor underhand squabbling. Every boy among +them wanted to hear all that story, and consequently he was taking no +chances on missing any of it. + +"And when the old sea captain looked into the poor half-frozen face of +that baby he had picked up, lashed to an icy--an icy plank," Nancy +trilled, becoming so interested in her subject she almost forgot the +make up of it, "then he remembered," she went on, "the big Newfoundland +dog, Jack, who had fallen back into the sea exhausted from his long +swim." + +She stopped. The boys said "Gosh," and "Gee Whiz." Buster said "Jingo!" +and there were probably many other subdued and impulsive exclamations of +the crisp boyish variety. + +One little fellow who was sniffing audibly, piped up a question over +Than's shoulder. + +"Say miss," he said. "Say Miss--Nancy," he corrected himself, "could a +feller buy that there knife?" + +"Why," flushed Nancy, "the knife hasn't anything to do with the story--" + +"Naw!" came a chorus. "'Course not!" + +"It was a corkin' good story," applauded Nort Duncan, clapping grimy +hands. + +"But you said the ole captain cut the ropes with a rusty knife--" the +little fellow insisted. + +"Now look here, boys," called out Ruth suddenly. "You are all settled +down, nice, quiet and orderly. Suppose we begin to see what you want to +buy. There are three of us to serve you, and if we divide you up in +three groups, I'm sure we can give every single one of you the biggest +bargain you ever got in fishing tackle." + +After that, something like order prevailed, for most boys are not devoid +of a sense of honor, not by any means, and surely after Nancy's story +they owed her attention and politeness. + +Ted helped. He was able to hand out the poles and took pride in doing +so. They were, most of them, nice shiny, new bamboo canes, and it didn't +matter how long it took him to please a customer. In one hour, however, +he had sold ten at fifty cents, five at seventy-five cents and two at a +dollar each. Ted was delighted, and secretly agreed with Nancy that +"business was the thing." + +Meanwhile the girls were busy, and happy. Ruth had taken charge of the +sinkers and hooks. Isabel was having a fine time with the crab nets and +fancy reels, the nickel kind with the stem winders, while Nancy acted as +general supervisor and director of the entire stock. + +Things were going merrily and few disagreements marred the proceedings +(not to count the scooping up of fellows' caps in trying out crab nets, +or the occasional protest from someone who would resent being poked with +new fish poles), when there appeared at the door a very pleasant +looking, in fact a very "good-looking" young girl. + +"That's Sanders' girl," said a boy into Nancy's ear. "You know the +feller that--disappears," he hurried to explain. + +Nancy had neither time nor opportunity to ask questions so she turned to +meet the very blue eyes of the young girl in question. + +"Don't let me interrupt you," said the stranger. "I can wait," and she +stepped aside to let Tom Preston get change from a precious one dollar +bill. + +Nancy noticed that the young lady had all the known signs of college +life. She wore a worsted tam o' shanter (in summer), she also wore a +sweater to match, with a tan golf skirt and--heavy stockings, ending in +good, strong, walking Oxfords. If these signs were not collegian, +thought Nancy, then the girl must be an actress which she obviously was +not. + +But she had so much personality, that was it, Nancy promptly decided +while still counting out change for eager boys. Also, Nancy reasoned, +she had such pronounced individuality, that one did not observe +separately her brown hair, her blue eyes and her lustrous, fine healthy +skin. She just looked perfect, at least to Nancy, who always loved the +athletic type. + +"Sanders' girl!" Nancy was thinking. She didn't know he had a daughter, +but the girl looked like him, especially around her firm, determined +mouth. + +Ruth left her boys and was now offering to wait on Miss Sanders. + +"I'm Sibyl Sanders, you know," she told Ruth, "and I just dropped in to +see if I couldn't pick up something for dad." + +"We're having quite a sale," replied Ruth pleasantly. "When things thin +out a little I should like to introduce you to Nancy Brandon. This is +her idea of a vacation," Ruth added quizzically. + +"Isn't it splendid?" replied Sibyl, brightening with enthusiasm. "I just +ran up to Long Leigh to see dad. He insists upon spending a lot of time +up here," she continued, "and I feel I must look after him a little. I +wonder if you have any pieces of wire or light springs, around? He has +use for that sort of material." + +"Wire, springs!" Nancy heard the request and a joke, that the +disappearing man might slide away on wires and springs, flashed +humorously through her mind. But again she found no chance even to +whisper the joke to Isabel, for there were still boys demanding change. + +In the course of an hour, however, the youngsters were all "cleared +out." Their wants had been supplied, and the girls, with Sibyl, were +chatting away about the first results of the sale. + +"If they don't go trying things out and then want us to change them," +worried Nancy. "I told them positively we would exchange just absolutely +not--a--thing," she declared, most emphatically. + +"Let's see how much we took in," suggested Isabel. "I had no idea that a +lot of small money could be so fascinating." + +"Indeed it is," Sibyl rejoined. "I've had experience at college sales, +and it always seemed to me the peanut money was the most interesting to +handle." + +This brought on some talk of her college, for just as Nancy had guessed, +she was a college girl. Finally, when the receipts were all counted and +it was found that the boys, they who came in the first squad, had +actually bought seventeen dollars worth of goods. + +"It doesn't seem possible!" Ruth exclaimed, "and just look at the +bushels of pennies!" + +"And we had better prepare for the next arrivals," suggested Isabel. +"The lake folks will be along presently on their morning drives." + +"And the early golfers returning from the links," added Ruth. "Guess we +better tidy things up a little. Those boys certainly can upset a place." + +Isabel had found a roll of picture wire and three small screen door +springs. These Sibyl bought without giving the slightest hint of the +possible use her father was apt to put them to. Neither Isabel nor Ruth, +however, paid as much attention to the odd purchase as did Nancy. + +"I do wonder," Nancy remarked as Isabel tied up the goods for Sibyl, +"what has become of Miss Townsend?" + +"Oh, haven't you heard?" exclaimed Sibyl. "She's been quite ill." + +"No, I hadn't," said Nancy, considerately. "I'm so sorry. What has been +the trouble?" + +"Worry, chiefly, I guess," and a sort of sigh seemed to accompany +Sibyl's words. "It was too bad she had such a dispute with her brother," +she continued, "and yet, they really didn't seem to dispute, just to +disagree, but they have both such old-fashioned, gentle natures that +they consider it disgraceful to dissent from the views of loved ones. +Oh, well!" this time the sigh was unmistakable, "I suppose even the most +gentle can hardly expect to go through life without differences. I only +hope they do not hold my daddy in any way responsible," she said +seriously. + +"Why, how could they?" faltered Nancy, in honest bewilderment. + +"Oh, of course they couldn't," replied Sibyl hastily, as if regretting +her remark. "But you see, daddy and the old gentleman have been such +close friends that Miss Townsend might fancy daddy influenced her +brother. But I must be running along," she added a little hurriedly. +"I'm so glad to have met you, Nancy, and I hope your sale will be a +tremendous success." + +"It surely will be," chimed in Ruth, while Isabel and Nancy joined in +the good-byes. + +"Hasn't she wonderful eyes!" was Nancy's first remark following Sibyl's +departure. + +"I got the surprise of my life," declared Ruth, "when I saw Sibyl +Sanders saunter in. There, that sounds like a new song, doesn't it? But +you know, girls, she is almost as mysterious as her dad, the way she +comes and goes--" + +"But doesn't anyone up and ask them where they live?" asked Nancy in +evident astonishment. + +"Never get a chance," chimed in Isabel. "If we were to go out now and +follow her up the hill, I'll venture to say we would get a good sample +of the disappearing stunt--" + +"But we haven't time, dears," chirped Nancy. "Look! Here come three +autos. Now, ladies, step lively," and the way they stepped was lively +enough to be called trotting. + +"Yes, sure enough," Ruth agreed, "they _are_ coming here, and they're +here!" + + + + + CHAPTER X + + STILL THEY CAME + + +Before the girls could pull their faces straight a young man dashed up +the steps and was in the store. + +"Well, this is great!" he declared heartily. "I see by your window card +you carry Mackinaw's goods and I haven't been able to get them nearer +than the city." He was addressing all three who stood together back of +the counter like a trio in a comedy. The young man looked critically at +the show goods in the show counter--the supply left by the travelling +salesman. + +"Here they are, sure enough!" he exclaimed. "Just give me a half dozen +of those plugs, and of those dry flies, and a dozen of those bobbers--" + +Nancy set out the boxes and the customer helped himself. He knew exactly +what he wanted, and the girls marvelled at his quick selection of the +fancy colored artificial minnows, the little feather flies, used to +decoy the poor fish, and the bobbers, of which article Nancy had as +pretty a selection as might have been in a really large shop. + +"You don't know what an accommodation this is," went on the young man, +putting down a twenty dollar bill to pay for his purchases. "No, don't +bother to put paper on the boxes," he objected, as all three attempted +to wrap the goods. "I'll put them right in the car. You see, I'm at the +fishing club over on the lake, and when we want supplies there we _want_ +them instantly," he concluded. + +And he was gone before the surprised clerks had time to realize that the +sale had almost cleared out all the fancy tackle, and there were coming +in at the door two elderly gentlemen, who looked exactly as if they +would want fancy flies. + +One of the gentlemen poked his head in the door so comically, the girls +all giggled. + +"Well!" he exclaimed. "So it _is_ a shop. Thought it might be a Sunday +School fair and I'd get roped in," he chuckled, stepping inside +cautiously. "Sorry, but I didn't come to buy. Can you direct me to +Professor Sanders' office?" he asked, while politely removing his hat. + +"His office? Why, he hasn't any office that I know of," faltered Nancy, +surprised at the question. + +"He has messages sent to the ticket office at the station," volunteered +Ruth. + +"Oh, I see," replied the man, seeming to "see" more than the girls did. +"Then, we'll go over to the station--" + +So saying the man backed out of the door smiling pleasantly as he +departed. + +"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Nancy. "Our Disappearing Dick is going to +have callers. I wonder if he'll perform for them?" + +"Those are important looking men," Isabel commented. "Did you see their +car?" + +"Wasn't it fancy?" agreed Ruth. "Perhaps Sibyl will get a ride home." + +"I don't think you folks can be very good detectives around here," Nancy +criticized, "or you would have found out what so many people mean by +saying that Mr. Sanders disappears." + +"Now, listen," quoth Ruth, in a most confidential tone, "I don't call +myself sensational, and in fact, people at Long Leigh generally have the +name of minding their own business; but there is something mighty queer +about Mr. Sanders." She paused while Nancy waited for further +explanation. "He does _not_ live in the old gray house, for father's men +went through the entire place the other day, he's in real-estate you +know," she explained, "and there wasn't a thing to show that the old +house had been opened since they inspected it last." + +"Couldn't he camp in the barn or somewhere outside the house?" queried +Nancy. + +"No; the barn was locked up tight as tuppence," insisted Ruth. "But he +seems to hang out somewhere on that hill, just the same," she added. + +"I know!" exclaimed Nancy. "He goes up in a tree with the wires and +springs," and she sprang up and down without either. "Some day I'm going +up there and I bet _I'll_ solve the mystery," she promised gaily. + +"Let us know when you're going, Nan," suggested Ruth. "We wouldn't want +to have you swallowed up by--the fairies." + +"Say," whispered Isabel, her eyes set in what looked like alarm, "do you +know, I saw a little woman come up and down our side steps a half dozen +times this morning--" + +"Oh!" and Nancy laughed merrily. "That would be little Miss Manners, the +dressmaker who lives in the tiny bungalow under our window. You see, +Mother wouldn't really let us keep store without some supervision. She's +pretty particular, and declares there is no telling who might pop in--" + +"And hold us up for our cash box--!" Ruth added so mirthfully as to +suggest a good time in the danger. + +"Well, any how," continued Nancy, "Mother insists that Miss Manners look +in quite often to see that everything is all right. She's as quiet as a +mouse--" + +"I should say she is," Isabel confirmed. "In fact, I didn't want to +frighten you or I should have told you someone was sneaking in," she +added, folding up a tape line as she spoke. + +"Oh, Miss Manners is so quaint, as Vera would say," Ruth contributed, +"that I think she ought to be a partner, if a silent partner, in the +Whatnot Shop." + +"Yes," agreed Nancy, "it does seem as if this shop should belong to +little old people like Miss Townsend, and I guess that's why Miss +Manners is so interested. You see, girls, I'm still a very poor +housekeeper, and our maid, Anna, won't be back until fall. After I get +tired playing store, I suppose," and she sighed heavily, "I'll be +expected to start in playing house." + +"But if you run the shop as you have done this morning," Isabel +interposed, "don't you suppose your mother will think you're a real +genius at business?" she inquired. + +"You can't fool my mother on geniuses," replied Nancy, who like her +companions was putting away the odds and ends of things that had been +scattered in the morning's adventure. "Mother is an expert, and she sort +of knows--me." This last was said in a way implying a very doubtful +compliment for Nancy. "I've been almost a genius at art, for instance. +When I was five years old I could draw a goose with my eyes shut." + +"How about it when your eyes were open?" asked Ruth, quizzically. + +"It was usually a little fat pig, then," Nancy admitted, amid an +outburst of girlish laughter. + +"Nancy," interrupted Isabel, "here's the ice cream man." + +"Ours," declared Nancy. "Now we'll whistle for Ted and his boys and shut +up shop for lunch. Isabel, will you please open the side door? We'll +take a tray over to Miss Manners and then sit down and enjoy ourselves." + +"Here's Ted and his friends now," announced Ruth. "They seem to know it +is ice cream time." + +"That will save trouble," Nancy remarked. And presently the big sale was +all but forgotten in preparations for the feast of ice cream, with other +suitable summer lunch supplies. + +Isabel took an attractive tray over to solicitous and attentive Miss Ada +Manners, while Nancy and Ruth attempted to satisfy the demands of Ted +and his ice cream loving friends. The noon day was much warmer than the +morning had indicated, and this coupled with the sale excitement, went +far to make the little party a tremendous success, just as Mrs. Brandon +had planned it to be. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE FAILURE + + +The days were slipping by, and Nancy found herself entangled in a rather +confused vacation. True, she had already reaped real benefit from the +big sale and from the subsequent days' sales in her shop, but was it +really being a vacation? + +It must be admitted that Nancy had a tendency to stubbornness, but since +that peculiarity very often marks the first stages of a strong +character, her mother wisely allowed her to continue to try things out +for herself. The Whatnot Shop was not proving in any way a +disappointment, but it was most certainly giving Nancy work, so that she +was not free to come and go with the other girls, in spite of Miss +Manners frequent and generous offers to "'tend store" for her. + +A bright spot on her calendar not very far off, was the coming of Mrs. +Brandon's vacation. Soon she would be at home, free to do all the +precious things a devoted mother plans to do in the little interval of +freedom so long looked forward to and so quickly spent. + +"When you are home," Nancy would continually plan, "I'm going to do +that," referring to any one of a number of things being postponed. + +Today it was raining; a sudden summer shower was drenching everything as +if rain had never had such a good time before, and a charity sale, in +which all the girls were interested, was to be held that afternoon. +Everyone, including Nancy, expected to attend, and she with others had +promised to donate a cake. + +But how it rained! And Nancy had planned to go into town to the fancy +bakers to get her cake. Hour after hour she hoped the rain would cease, +until it became too late for a telephone delivery, and still Nancy could +not go out in the downpour. + +"If I could only bake it," she reflected, as she once more gazed +gloomily out of the windows at the dripping world. "It's easy enough to +bake a cake," she told herself, "and, of course, I could follow the +recipe in mother's cook book." + +Still Nancy had misgivings concerning such an experiment. A cake for a +sale should be good, of that she was certain, and for that very reason +she had previously decided to buy one at the French Pastry Shop. + +"Well," she sighed, "I may as well try it. It is sure to clear up just +when the girls are due to call for me, and I simply couldn't go without +a cake." + +First locking the store, and making up her mind that no call, however +insistent, would tempt her to leave her task, Nancy promptly set about +baking her cake. It was no trouble to find the cook book, Mrs. Brandon +had found a small shelf suitable for that in the open pantry. Also, the +required ingredients were all at hand, and the creaming of the butter +and sugar, according to the first rule, Nancy executed with something +like skill, for she had strong young hands and the spoon in her grasp +quickly beat the butter and sugar together in a perfectly smooth paste. + +[Illustration: Nancy promptly set about baking her cake.] + +Then she put the flour in the sieve. In doing this she made a slight +mistake, for no pan nor plate had been placed under the sieve and +consequently a pretty little layer of the sifted flour showered out upon +her table before she could get a receptacle under the utensil. + +"I had better measure over again," Nancy decided, feeling that the +uncertainty of guessing at the lost flour might spoil her cake. So this +time she put in her baking powder, salt and flour, and sifted all into a +little pudding pan. Separating the eggs, yolks from whites, was not +quite so easily accomplished, but even that was finally managed, and now +Nancy knew it was time to light the gas oven. + +Next, three-fourths of a cup of milk was added to the creamed butter and +sugar, the egg yolks added to that and all well beaten. Then the flour +was carefully turned in, while beating all together Nancy felt really +elated at the prospect in sight. + +"I'm sure this will be fine," she was congratulating herself, "perhaps +even better than a store cake. And I know how to make the maple +icing--I'm glad I have done that much before, at any rate," she admitted +ruefully. + +The soft yellow mixture did indeed look promising, but now came the time +to fold in the whites of the eggs. + +"Fold in," repeated Nancy, somewhat puzzled. "How shall I fold it in?" + +She looked at the batter and she looked at the frothy egg whites. To +fold that in would surely mean to spoil all the nice, white, snowy mound +of froth. Nancy hated to do it, but she finally spilled it into the bowl +full, and started to beat it all over again. The batter seemed rather +thin and Nancy decided to add a little more flour. Just here was where +her inexperience threatened disaster, but the trial so fascinated the +little cook that she did a few other things not proposed by the recipe, +but all of which seemed reasonable to her. + +The oven was now sizzling hot, and Nancy quickly turned her mixture into +two tins, which she neglected to grease, and slipped them into the oven. +With a sense of satisfaction she turned to and really cleared up all the +utensils--something very commendable indeed in Nancy Brandon. With +watching the clock and getting Ted's lunch set out on the little porch +table, while she also managed somehow to start her own personal +preparations for the afternoon, Nancy was, as she would say, kept on the +jump. + +But the cake didn't burn, and she took it from the oven on the dot of +thirty minutes. + +"It will have to cool, I suppose," Nancy guessed, "and while it's +cooling I'll make the icing. It looks pretty good but it has got a lot +of holes in it," was her rather skeptical criticism, as she inspected +the two layers of golden pastry. But the cake, even after a thorough +cooling which consumed more time than could be spared, would not leave +the tins! + +Nancy tried a knife--that broke a great rough corner off. Then she got +the pancake turner and slipped it under as well as she could, but alas! +The thing actually splashed up in a regular explosion of crumbs! + +"Ruined!" groaned Nancy. "I can never fix that!" + +Her disappointment was cruel. To see a perfectly good and such a +fragrant cake go to pieces when finished, after all the work of getting +it that far was nothing short of a tragedy. + +Tears blinded Nancy Brandon. + +"I might have known," she sighed, "I just couldn't have such good luck +with cooking." + +The rain was almost over. Ted would soon be in, but Nancy just couldn't +help crying. It was so hard not to succeed when she had been counting so +especially on that afternoon's fun. Perhaps she could get Ted to go to +town for her after all. But upon serious consideration she decided +against that plan. She simply wouldn't go now under any circumstances. +Her eyes were red and she wanted a good cry even more than the fun of +the sale. In fact, she couldn't help crying and she wasn't going to try. + +When an hour later the girls called, Ted told them what was strictly +true. Nancy was in bed with a sick headache and she couldn't go. +Carrying their messages of sympathy upstairs to Nancy, along with a +plate full of broken cake and a glass of ice cold lemonade, Ted tried to +cheer his disconsolate sister, but even then she had not discovered that +the whole trouble was merely her neglect of greasing those cake tins. +The cook book didn't direct so simple a thing as that and, of course, +poor Nancy just hadn't noticed that her mother did it. She was usually +too concerned about the remnants of cake dough being left in the bowl, +to observe how the batter was being put in the pans. + +"Does it ache hard?" asked Ted, sitting beside his sister and referring +to her head. + +"Yes, it does, Ted, but this lemonade is splendid." + +"I can make good lemonade," Ted admitted. "And your cake is swell, only +it sticks awful. I got it out with the pie server," he told Nancy +simply. + +"Yes. I couldn't get it to come off the pan at all. Well," and Nancy +moved to get up, "I suppose I won't feel any worse down stairs. What +color dress did Ruth have on?" + +To the best of his limited ability Ted described the girls' costumes and +then, determined to drive away Nancy's blues, he started in to recite in +detail his great experience of that morning. + +"Now Nan," he began, "you can say all you like, but Mr. Sanders does +disappear. _I saw him!_" + +"_You_ saw him disappear!" + +"Yes, sure as shootin'. We were all running down the hill, trying to get +to the station before that big shower, when I said to Tom, 'there's Mr. +Sanders, comin' up.' He said he saw him too, and we kept on runnin', +when I was just goin' to shout hello, and true as I tell you, Nan, there +wasn't any Mr. Sanders anywhere in sight!" + +"Ted Brandon!" + +"Yep, that's just what I'm telling you. We all saw him go, but no one +saw where to." + +And presently even the lost pleasure and the spoiled cake were soon +forgotten in their discussion of Ted's remarkable story. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE + + +But something had happened to Nancy. The cake failure represented to her +much more than a simple episode, for it had suddenly summed up all the +awful possibilities of untrained hands. It was well enough to make +excuses, to claim business and even artistic talent, for Nancy could +draw and color, and was among the best in her class as an art student, +but the fact now bore down upon her with undisguised horror! She could +not do what other girls could do. She could not even bake a cake. + +"And just as mother so often told me," she reflected bitterly, "it is +not at all a question of preference but of simple, civilized living. +What _I_ don't do and should do someone else _must_ do, and that's +anything but fair play on my part," Nancy sadly admitted. + +"Aren't you going to open the store, Nan?" Ted asked her. "There's been +someone knocking a long time and now they're going away--" + +"Oh, never mind," she answered indifferently, "I'm going to get tea +ready so mother won't have to bother. She does it like an angel when I +plead store business, but I guess, Ted, the old store--" + +"Isn't all it's cracked up to be," Ted helped her out rather willingly, +for he had not, at any time, shared her enthusiasm in the little +business venture. + +Nancy sighed dramatically. She was feeling rather sorry for herself and +that is always a symptom of wounded pride. It was the same day, in early +evening, of the picnic and cake experience, and her crying spell still +stirred its little moisture of hurt emotions. Ted couldn't bear to see +his sister cry, ever, and he was now all attention and sympathetic +interest. + +"I wish, Nan, you'd just sell out. The store would make a swell gym, and +we scouts need a place just like that--" + +"Ted Brandon! Do you think _I_ would quit just because a thing is hard! +Why, I should think you would remember how hard mother works," she +declared, in a sudden outburst of virtue. "And the harder it is the more +reason to--to do it," she floundered. + +"Oh, yeah, sure," agreed Ted amicably. "Of course that's so. Want me to +set table?" + +"Thanks, Ted, I wish you would. I'm going to try a cooked custard, I +mean a top of the stove custard. If I can cool it by putting the dishes +flat on the ice," Nancy reasoned aloud. + +"But they'll melt right through, if they're hot," Ted reminded her. "I +know my taffy pan did--" + +"Well, perhaps I'd better not try it then, as it's so late," Nancy +decided, relieved to find a genuine excuse. "Suppose we have toasted +crackers with cheese on top? Mother always likes that and _that_ can't +go wrong." + +Fortified with a new determination, Nancy went at her task, and in less +time, much less time than she usually required, succeeded in preparing +not only an appetizing but a really tempting meal. Ted arranged the +crisp lettuce leaves while Nancy cut the tomatoes, which she "nested" in +the lettuce, prettily. The toasted cheese-crackers were in the oven and +as this was not only a favorite dish with the Brandons, but is also a +favorite with many others, it might be well to know how Nancy prepared +it. + +She buttered saltines, enough to cover the bottom of a flat pan, the pan +usually used for "Johnnie Cake," then, on top of the cracker layer, she +showered, plentifully thick, grated cheese; another layer of crackers +and another shower of cheese. Next, she wet the layers with just enough +milk to moisten the crackers. The pan was then allowed to stand long +enough for the crackers to absorb the milk, after which the preparation +was baked in a quick oven. A delicious brown cheese-cake was the result, +and it "didn't go wrong." + +"I'm glad I can do that much, at any rate," Nancy half-complained, +half-praised. "And Ted, you have made the table look lovely. I shall be +so sorry when the roses are gone--" + +"Say Sis," broke in Ted abruptly, "you know I was telling you about how +Mr. Sanders disappeared." + +"Were you?" Nancy was polishing her water glasses. + +"Sure, I was. When you had the headache and was crying. Don't you know?" + +"Oh, yes, I do remember," admitted Nancy. "But it's too foolish, Ted--" + +"Foolish nothing! I tell you I saw him go," Ted declared in a voice that +admitted of no argument. + +"How funny!" cried Nancy. "Do _you_ really believe in that stuff, Ted?" +she asked quizzically. + +"Oh, say!" Ted was too disgusted to attempt explanation. That any one +should doubt _his_ eyes was beyond his understanding. + +"Well, I'll tell you," Nancy condescended. "I'm going to call on Miss +Townsend soon, that is, mother and I are, because Miss Townsend has been +sick, you know," she elucidated. "Then, I'm just going to ask her +straight all about that weird story." + +"As if she'd tell," scoffed the boy. "Why, her own dog never left her +house since she's been sick, if you want to know. What do you make out +of that?" + +"Cute doggie," replied Nancy, now shutting off the gas stove to await +her mother's coming. "And another thing, Ted, I wish you could see how +that dog acts around this place." + +"I'm just thinking that maybe Miss Townsend is acting sick just to get +back here," hazarded Ted. "I hope mother won't give in, if she is, for I +like it here, don't you, Nan?" + +"Love it! Here's mother! Quick Ted, the ice water. There, let's hide!" + +The joy of a thing well done was Nancy's reward for her extra efforts. +The little meal was indeed a credit to her, and that it gave her mother +unmistakable pleasure was Nancy's greatest satisfaction. + +"I am always sure that you can do it, little girl," her mother told her, +as they all three turned in to clear away the table things, "but I also +know you have to find things out for yourself. How did you manage it all +so nicely?" + +"Well, I didn't mean to tell you," Nancy sighed, "but I might just as +well." + +"Better," chimed in Ted mischievously, as he scurried around to do his +part in the clearing up ceremony. + +"All right," Nancy agreed affably. "I had better tell you, Mother. You +see, it was the day of the sale--the church sale the girls were all +going to. And I expected to get my cake at the French Bakery." + +"And you couldn't on account of the rain," Mrs. Brandon helped the +recital along. + +"It never stopped for one half hour," Nancy added. "So I tried, that is +I just _tried to make_ a cake." + +She drew in her lips and puckered her pretty face into a wry misgiving +expression. Nancy was looking very pretty in her rose colored linen +dress (the one her mother had finished off with peasant embroidery), and +her dark eyes were agleam now with enthusiasm and interest. + +Frankly she told her mother the story of her spoiled cake, and how they +all three laughed when the mother explained why it had failed--just +because Nancy didn't know enough to grease the tins! + +Ted, all this time, was casting suspicious glances first at Nancy then +at his mother. He seemed to be enjoying a secret that even his glances +were not imparting to the others. + +"You may run along, Ted," his mother told him, as she always excused him +just a little earlier than she and Nancy were prepared to finish. "I +guess you can call your part complete. Here dear. I'll put the sweeper +away. You run, I hear some code whistling at the side window." + +"All right, Mother, but I can chase the sweeper in the pantry as I go," +Ted offered. "But I wanted to tell you." He sidled up to his mother very +confidentially, "I think Nancy's good and sick of the store." + +"Why Ted!" His mother showed complete surprise at the frank declaration. +Nancy was not within hearing so Ted ventured further. + +"Yep," he continued. "I'll bet she chucks it up pretty soon, and if she +does, Mother, could we fellers have it?" he pleaded. + +"You boys have it?" + +"Yeah; for a gym. Fine and dandy. We've got a lot of things to exercise +with--" Nancy was back from the ice box now so Ted could say no more. +The next moment he darted off to the boys who were calling, his own +vociferous answer shrilling the path he made as he rushed out. + +Nancy remained silent for some minutes and neither did her mother seem +inclined to talk. Mrs. Brandon put the center piece on the table and +Nancy straightened the window shades, replaced the fruit dish on the +little table near the cool window, and suddenly remembered to wind the +clock. + +"That's Ted's business, dear," her mother reminded her. "You see, even a +boy must get some training in these little household matters. He too +lives in a house." + +"Oh, yes," agreed Nancy. "And isn't it strange that I always remember +his part while I so often forget my own?" + +"No, not strange," her mother said gently. "Ted's little schedule is new +and novel to you, therefore interesting; yours is old and monotonous to +you, therefore irksome." Mrs. Brandon managed to get her arm +affectionately over her daughter's shoulder. "But don't be discouraged, +dear. You may make a star housekeeper in the end," she prophesied. + +"Oh dear. I'm afraid not, Mother," and Nancy sighed heavily. "It seems +to me I get tired of everything. I thought it would be wonderful to earn +money," she faltered, "and I suppose because I always liked to play +store I thought it would be just as much fun to have a real store. But +Mother," and she snuggled against the sympathetic breast, "Mother, I do +want to help you--" + +"And you have," brightened Mrs. Brandon. "You have no idea what miracles +I have worked with your extra dollars, earned in that little store." + +"Really, Mother?" + +"Yes, indeed. In fact I am thinking of taking a real vacation when my +little two weeks come around. I had expected to do some extra work--" + +"In your vacation?" exclaimed Nancy. She had squatted her mother down in +the arm chair and was herself resting on the side cushion. "Indeed, I +should say not," she scoffed, pouting prettily. + +"But if we buy this little summer place, dear, we must do a lot of +certain things," explained her mother vaguely. + +"Then I'm not going to get tired of the store," determined Nancy, +suddenly. + +"Yet Nannie, we might do very well to rent it," suggested Mrs. Brandon. +"A business place is worth something, you know." + +"Rent it? To whom?" + +"I think it would cure Miss Townsend of her imaginary ills, to have a +chance to come back--" + +"Oh, Mother, somehow I shouldn't like to have her around," faltered +Nancy. "She's sweet and quaint and all that," conceded Nancy, "but she +gives one the creeps. She sort of brings ghosts along with her when she +comes here. And her dog! Why, he'd bark us all to death if we ever let +him in to fight with the chimney place." + +Mrs. Brandon laughed good-naturedly. "I've felt rather against +considering the plan myself," she admitted, "for as you say, dear, we +would feel like intruders with Miss Townsend established in the store. +Well, we don't have to think about it now, at any rate," she decided. +"Come along for a walk. I'm afraid you haven't been out much today and +that's one thing that would really worry me, dear. I don't want you to +stay indoors to take care of the store," her mother admonished. "We +don't pretend to carry real necessities that people might expect to buy +from us, and such stock as we do keep can be had at our convenience, as +well as at theirs," she finished definitely. + +"You are perfectly right, Mother," Nancy answered emphatically. "And +that's one thing I don't like about business. Everybody just thinks _we_ +are their servants, and they even become rude when I tell them I haven't +got something they happen to want." + +"Oh, yes, I know. But I wouldn't worry about that. It all adds to the +value of the lesson, you know. Just be sure you are right, keep a cool +head and a steady hand," her mother laughed, "then, let the other folks +lose their patience if they are foolish enough to do so. But listen," +she paused attentively. "Here comes Miss Manners. And she seems to be in +trouble. I'll let her in." + +The little lady was indeed in trouble for her face, small and somewhat +pinched with threatening years, showed, as she entered the room, the +unmistakable signs of weeping. + +"Oh dear," she sighed brokenly, as Nancy pulled out the rocker for her, +"I don't know why I should come to you folks, for I'm sure," she gulped +back her interrupting sobs, "you must have troubles enough of your own. +But I just had to talk to somebody--" + +"Talk away," replied Nancy's mother cheerily. "You know that is the best +way to conquer one's own troubles--to attack them with the troubles of +someone else." + +"Maybe that's so," replied Miss Manners, brushing back a stray strand of +her graying hair, "but I don't just see how that is going to help me," +she faltered. + +"Tell us yours," urged Nancy, "and then we will be better able to +judge." Nancy sat back in her own chair, quite prepared now for a new +chapter in the current events of Long Leigh. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + BEHIND THE CLOUD + + +Poor little Miss Manners! Hers had been a brave struggle, and as Nancy +and her mother listened to the brokenly told story, they were easily +ready to pardon the little lady's show of emotion. + +"So you were worried about your rent, principally?" Mrs. Brandon +prompted her, kindly. + +"Yes. You see when I had to give up teaching on account of my health, I +naturally turned to sewing," she explained. "If I had only been a +teacher in a public school, instead of a private school, I shouldn't +have been left without some means," she complained, sorrowfully. + +Nancy was watching her in silent contemplation. What a "sweet" little +woman she was. The type always called little and sometimes referred to +as "sweet" because of that indefinable quality usually associated with +flowers. + +"You should not have worried so," Mrs. Brandon assured her. "You have +done a great deal for us--I never could have left the children here +alone without feeling sure of your watchful kindness, you know." + +"Now Mrs. Brandon," said Miss Manners, in a rather dictatorial tone, "I +have done nothing at all for you, and I want to assure you that Nancy +and Ted require very--little--watching." + +"And I want to say," spoke up Nancy, "that Miss Manners is the very +nicest kind of a watch--a watch-woman," she laughed. "We never hear or +see her when, perhaps, we are noisy and--and rackety." + +"I was afraid," continued Miss Manners, without apparently heeding +Nancy's intended compliment, "that you might have been alarmed about the +silly stories current around here. I mean, that especially about Mr. +Sanders." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Brandon encouragingly. "We have heard queer tales of +his remarkable powers, but I can't say they have alarmed us, Miss +Manners." + +"You have too much sense, I'm sure, for that," she conceded. "But when +one comes into a strange place and hears such stories, especially, when +they have something to do with this little place--" + +"What could they have to do with _this_ place?" Nancy questioned +sharply. "Surely, he doesn't do any disappearing around here." + +Both the older folks laughed at that. + +"No, not exactly," replied Miss Manners, "but you see, they say he +influenced old Mr. Townsend until he spent his own and his sister's +money. But for my part," she hurried to add, "I could never believe that +Mr. Sanders is anything but a perfectly upright gentleman, and in no way +responsible for the sad state of the Townsends' business affairs." + +"Then _you_ don't believe any of the stories about him, do you?" pressed +Nancy. "Even Ted insists he saw him--fade away." + +The little woman, who seemed for the moment to have forgotten her +troubles, looked from mother to daughter. It was so easy to interpret +her thoughts. She was measuring Nancy's courage. + +"Oh, you don't need to be afraid of frightening me, Miss Manners," Nancy +assured her, "I'm only waiting for a chance to investigate the +disappearing story. I've been so sure _I_ could solve the mystery, that +the girls will soon be calling me a boaster if I don't start out to do +something. What do you think, really, Miss Manners?" she pressed +further. + +"Well, I hate to say so, but I can't deny there is something curious +about Mr. Sanders. I have often watched him around this house, when he +and Mr. Townsend were such friends, and really," she paused as if the +admission were most distasteful to her, "I must say, the way those two +men ran around the house--" + +"Ran around! Those two old men!" cried Nancy, sitting up very straight +in sudden interest. + +"Yes, actually. I mean out of doors, of course," Miss Manners explained. +"But they would first fuss around the outside chimney--you know the +mason work runs to the ground on my side of this house, I mean the side +next to my bungalow," she emphasized, "and there is an old-fashioned +opening there. I suppose they used to take ashes out that way when they +used the old grate fires." + +"Oh, I know!" cried Nancy excitedly. "That's why Miss Townsend's dog +made such a fuss over the fireplace in the store!" + +"Yes. They always had Tiny with them and the dog seemed as--crazy as the +men," Miss Manners remarked. + +"Don't you suppose they were working at something?" Mrs. Brandon +suggested, sensibly. + +"I did think so, of course; but Miss Townsend seemed to fear all sorts +of things; yet she never would put her fears into sensible words," Miss +Manners told them curiously. + +"But how could that be connected with the foolish story of Mr. Sander's +disappearing trick?" Mrs. Brandon wanted to know. + +"You see, it was all so unusual--I mean Mr. Sanders coming in here a +stranger, and not living any place that folks could find out. Then, when +he came down to Mr. Townsend here, got him all excited over some secret, +got him to draw his money from the bank, and finally worked poor Miss +Townsend into a state of nervous breakdown, why, naturally the people +around suspected almost everything--even to calling him a magician," +Miss Manners said, with a timid little smile. + +"I couldn't give credence to any of it," replied Mrs. Brandon decidedly. +"I have met Mr. Sanders and share your opinion; that he is a perfect +gentleman." + +"Well, I've talked a long way from my own story haven't I?" Miss Manners +sighed again, as she blinked against impelling thoughts. "You see, I +have no friends at hand, and when I did so large an order of hand-made +handkerchiefs--it took me months to do them--I depended upon that money +for the summer. But the lady I made them for was called hurriedly +abroad, on account of the sudden illness of her husband, and she never +gave a thought to my precious twenty-five dollars," the little lady +sighed ruefully. + +"She went away and owed you all that money!" Nancy exclaimed. "However +could she have forgotten?" + +"My dear child, we are all selfish when in trouble I suppose," said Miss +Manners charitably. "But I did fully expect to hear from her before +this, and my next rent will be due in three days. I just came in to +consult with you, not to borrow. I wondered if you knew of anything I +could do--" + +"Certainly I do," Nancy almost shouted. "You can start a little private +school, a class in domestic science right in my--in our store," she +exclaimed. "I know at least a half dozen girls who will be glad to take +a month's course, and we'll all pay you in advance. They always do in +private schools!" + +The women both appeared speechless as Nancy rattled on. The idea was +plainly fascinating. A domestic science class for the girls who hated +housework, as Nancy did! How much better than idling an entire vacation! + +"Why, I just wonder--" + +"You needn't wonder, Mother," Nancy interrupted, "I tell you, it's just +perfectly wonderful, the idea, I mean. I'll learn, I'll learn, I'll +learn," she chanted, "and then maybe I'll find out a pleasant way--" + +"You are right, daughter," spoke up Mrs. Brandon. "When you learn to do +things as they should be done, you will find the work interesting. I +have been sorry, Miss Manners, that my home has had to get along without +a great deal of my time," she turned to her visitor, "as you know I have +had to attend business and leave things to my maid. For, after all," she +said evenly, "only a mother can teach a daughter, and I have not been +with Nancy long enough--" + +"You have too, Mumsey, and it's all my very own fault," Nancy confessed. +"You often showed me how to do things, and you always told me I would +have to pick things up when I threw them down, but I just didn't care. I +didn't think it made any difference." Nancy was actually joyous in her +confession, showing the positive relief one is apt to experience when +the mind is suddenly freed from a heavy weight. + +"I really think Nancy's idea is a good one," said Mrs. Brandon. "There +is no real reason why you should be tucked away next door to us when we +need you in here, and we've got more room than we know what to do with." + +"Oh, joy!" Nancy was positively dancing now. "We can have Manny in here +with us all the time? May I call you Manny?" she asked. "It's the cutest +name." + +"That's queer," replied the little lady, a soft color showing through +her pale skin. "My girls at Raleigh always called me--Manny--" + +Then the plans were unfolded, and such plans as they were! + +"I feel like a fairy with a magic wand" declared Nancy. "My little store +is just like--a magic carpet or something." + +"But I don't want to impose--" Miss Manners began. + +"You're a positive blessing," Nancy insisted. "The only trouble is--we +can't learn sleuthing in your class and I've just got to find out Mr. +Sanders' secret before I'm many days older. I honestly think, Mother, +the idea of that foolish story going around without anyone--running it +down, as Ted would say, is getting on my nerves." + +And every one enjoyed a good laugh at the idea of Nancy Brandon having +nerves. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + A PLEASANT SURPRISE + + +It was all very exciting, but Nancy didn't want to think that she was +really glad to get rid of her precious Whatnot Shop. Ted openly declared +"he told her so," as boys will, but she politely drew his attention to +the fact that she had fulfilled her contract, that she had earned money, +quite a lot of money, in fact, and in now turning the shop over to Miss +Manners she was following her mother's advice. + +It was a few days later than that evening when she and her mother +offered the use of the shop to the little seamstress, and now they were +preparing to call on Miss Townsend. + +"Suppose she says _she_ wants it back," faltered Nancy, just patting her +dark hair back into the desired soft little bumps. "What would we say, +Mother, if she just begged us to let her have it?" + +"Why dear, we could let her have a part of it, perhaps. She could come +in and sell out what little stock you have, while Miss Manners is +getting ready for her class." + +"Oh, but," pouted Nancy, "I would just hate to have her do that. If you +ever saw the way she snooped around, Mother. And the way that dog +acted!" Nancy's manner was very decidedly one of opposition to Miss +Townsend and her dog. + +"Well, come along, dear," her mother urged, "we must not stay late. I +have some notes to write up and I don't want to lose sleep over them." + +Whatever else bothered Nancy Brandon, an evening's walk through the +country roads of Long Leigh, in a beautiful summer twilight with her arm +locked tightly in her mother's, was balm enough to soothe and heal every +slightest hurt and anxiety. + +"Mother-love," she actually cooed, in the softest little voice she could +command, "I just love it tonight, don't you?" + +"Perfect," replied the happy mother, pressing lovingly upon the +imprisoned arm. "And I am so glad, daughter-love, that you want to give +up your business." There was a humorous little twist given to that last +word, for Nancy's business was and had been something of a practical +joke among the Brandons. + +"Let's walk around the old house," suggested Nancy, for they were at a +fork in the road and needed to choose a way to Miss Townsend's. "Then, +maybe we will discover something about Mr. Sanders' quarters." + +But just as they were about to turn into the lane that led past the old +stone house, Ted hailed them from the hilltop. + +He wanted to know where they were going. He wanted to know if he could +go along, and as they managed to make signs that gave at least a +negative answer to this last request, they found themselves on the open +road, walking directly away from the old stone house. + +"We won't be long, Ted," his mother assured him, as he reached them, +"and you can, if you want to, go over to Norton Duncan's. We will give +you a call as we come back, and then we will all go home together. The +side door key is in the regular place though, if you would rather go +home--" + +"Oh, no I wouldn't. I'll stay out 'til nine, and Nort and I'll practice +drill," proclaimed Ted. "We're going to have a regular test drill soon, +and he's my partner." + +This being a satisfactory arrangement, Ted went to Nort's while Nancy +and her mother continued on to the little country hotel, where the +Townsends had taken up their abode. + +"I do hope," murmured Nancy, "that she won't upset our plans. I just +can't see, Mother, why you bother about her at all," she complained. + +"The place is ours for this summer to do as we please with it, Nancy," +her mother replied, "but just the same, it is a little business courtesy +to show to Miss Townsend. We have the option on the place, and I fully +intend to buy it, but the shop was so dear to Miss Townsend's heart, +that I feel we ought to, at least, tell her what we plan to do for the +month." + +"You're so, generous, Mother," sighed Nancy. "I wish _I_ were more like +you." + +Her mother smiled and squeezed the young hand that rested so confidently +upon her own arm. + +"Don't worry, dear," she answered. "You know what dear grandma always +said when you got into little troubles?" + +"Yes," replied Nancy, "that my heart was in the right place if my head +was a little shaky." + +"Yes, that's it. And don't we miss grandma? She might just as well come +out here with us, but I was afraid of bringing her to the old-fashioned +little house. Well, here we are at our hotel," Mrs. Brandon broke off, +as they came in sight of the long white building, with its unmistakable +hotel piazza. + +In the row of rockers on the porch sat a row of men on one side and +almost a row of women, or "ladies" on the other. Country folks, with a +few city interlopers, composed the patronage of the Waterfall House, it +was quite evident. + +Nancy and her mother smiled at the faces and half-greeted them, as they +passed into the office, and after asking for Miss Townsend's rooms, +followed the boy along the red carpeted hall, and up a stairs carpeted +with what once had been red. They journeyed on until they reached a +little turn in the second hall. Before this their guide halted and +pointed out a door that bore the number twenty-seven. + +Nancy's heart would have jumped a little apprehensively had it been a +less healthy young heart, but as it was, she merely kept very close to +her mother until the boy turned on his heel and whistled a returning +tune. + +"Maybe she's sick in bed," Nancy was thinking, just as the door was +opened in response to her mother's knock. + +"Why! Mrs. Brandon!" she heard a voice exclaim. "And Nancy!" as Miss +Townsend bowed them in. "How glad I am to see you! Do come right in. +Here, take this chair, it's so comfortable. Nancy, sit by the window," +she was pushing a chair over to the girl, "and you can see the people +passing. Well, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you both." + +Nancy was so surprised she almost exclaimed aloud. There was the "sick" +Miss Townsend fairly beaming, in, what surely looked like, very good +health. The little dog was frisking around and Nancy had scarcely seated +herself in the chair by the window when he pounced up on her lap, and +after "kissing her" several times, finally subsided into a small, brown, +woolly ball, cuddled into a little nest formed from the soft folds of +Nancy's blue voile skirt. + +"I'm so glad to see you are better, Miss Townsend," Mrs. Brandon +presently said. "You have been ill, we heard." + +"Yes indeed, but I'm better now, really a new woman, you might say," and +Miss Townsend now seated herself comfortably on the small green sofa +near them. "But it was just worry. Worry is a pretty bad ailment, isn't +it?" she asked, smiling a contradiction to anything like worry affecting +her just then. + +"You are real cozy here," Mrs. Brandon ventured. + +"Yes, it's quite pleasant, but I've just come back from a trip to the +sea shore. I guess that is what helped me most," conceded Miss Townsend. + +Like Nancy, Mrs. Brandon also, was much surprised at Miss Townsend's +exuberant spirits. It was perfectly plain that some good fortune had +befallen the lady since she had paid that mournful visit to Nancy. + +"You see," she began, as if in answer to their unmasked questions, "our +business affairs are being all straightened out and Brother Elmer is +getting back the money he loaned. Of course I didn't understand, and it +is one of those affairs a woman isn't supposed to understand." This was +said in that sort of tone that conveys deep and mysterious meaning. + +"I'm awfully glad of that," Mrs. Brandon assured the woman in her brand +new heliotrope one piece dress. It was quite modish, indeed, and without +question, very becoming to Miss Townsend. + +"Oh, yes," went on the hostess, "I was so worried for a long time. You +see, I really couldn't have faith in a business deal that I was not +privileged to know the details of. I have been a business woman all my +life," she insisted, "and I'm not afraid to tackle any business deal," +at this she dangled her amethyst beads self-consciously. "But Elmer and +Mr. Sanders!" Her hands went up protestingly. "They just used every +dollar. Well--" she broke off suddenly, "it's all right now, so why +should I fuss about it. You didn't come to hear of my troubles, I'm +sure." + +At this point Mrs. Brandon divulged the real purpose of her visit. Nancy +was having a great time with Tiny. He was awake now and evidently eager +to show off. He stood up and begged, jumped down and "prayed" and +otherwise disported himself most wonderfully. The distraction afforded +Nancy a welcome chance to sit aside and take little or no part in the +elder's conversation, but she was, as Ted would have said, "all ears to +it." + +"Why, I think that's a perfectly splendid idea," she heard Miss Townsend +say, in reference to the plan of giving the store over to Miss Manners. +"And I must say you are very generous, Mrs. Brandon," she complimented. +"As a matter of fact, fancy-store business is not what it used to be. +More folks now take to the mail order plan, especially in winter. Why, +there were months when I didn't see the color of a 'green back' in that +place," she admitted. "Yet, I couldn't help loving the old place. I had +been in it so long," she concluded earnestly. + +"I met Mr. Sanders' daughter, Miss Townsend," Nancy spoke up, determined +to bring up that subject, "and I think she's a perfectly splendid girl." + +"Isn't she though! But she couldn't help but be smart with such a +father." This last little speech was indeed a compliment to the absent +Mr. Sanders. + +"But where does he live?" demanded Nancy, without any attempt to cloak +her question with indifference. + +"Live? Why, my dear child, he lives here! Just moved in, and I do +declare, the man needs some comfort after all he's been through. If +Elmer comes in before you go I'll have him bring Mr. Sanders in. We are +all the best of friends now," declared the incomprehensible little woman +on the green velour sofa. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + TALKING IT OVER + + +"You haven't really sold out?" Ruth demanded incredulously. + +"Going, going, going, gone!" sang back Nancy. "Manny is a wonder. She +just sells and goes on with her preparations, and girls, when my store +is all cleaned out I wouldn't wonder but we'll have a model class room, +instead of the Whatnot Shop." Nancy was flitting around like some full +grown elf. The three girls, Isabel was with them, were out on the broad +sloping grounds surrounding Ruth's home, and it was perfectly plain that +Nancy was already enjoying her freedom from business. + +"I think it's splendid," Isabel joined in. "We took millinery last +August, you know, so we don't want any more hat making. Mother is simply +thrilled, as Vera would say, and you know, Nan, Vera is due back +Tuesday. I guess the stores ran out of post cards and she couldn't live +at Beverly without cards. I've got enough of mine to paper our attic +room." + +"And you'd never guess," enthused Nancy, "that salesman who came in with +the fishing tackle for our big sale, you know, is going to send Manny a +gas range! Just think of it, a gas range for us to use, to practice +cooking on." + +"For nothing?" Ruth inquired. + +"For the advertising. It seems, a demonstrator for a special line of gas +ranges used to go to Raleigh, that's Manny's old school, and, of course, +when the salesman came in to sell and _we_ weren't buying," she was +drawling her words to assume an imposing air, "of course," she +continued, "he became deeply interested in our plans, and at once +offered to send his friend, the lady demonstrator, out to make plans +with Manny." + +"And we're to be demonstrated," chimed in Isabel, imitating Nancy's +twang. "I choose pie. I want my picture 'took' curling the edge of a +lemon meringue," and she executed a few very 'curly' steps to +illustrate. + +There was no denying it. Nancy was happy on these the first days of her +real vacation. It had been splendid, of course, to have twenty-five +dollars of her very own to offer to advance Miss Manners, to clear up +the rent worry, but the store had not been all fun, she was willing to +admit that. + +"And do you know, girls," Nancy confided, "we, mother and I, had some +doubts about the way Miss Townsend would take the news? Do sit down, +Belle," she broke off. "How can I tell a story while you're doing +hand-springs?" + +"These are flip-flaps," insisted Isabel. "Just watch this one." + +She was leaning with both hands on a long low bench, and the "flip" +consisted of a violent spring of both feet from the ground. After +bringing the feet down again with the unavoidable jerk, she performed +the "flop" by pivoting around until she sat on the bench and stuck both +her feet out straight in front of her. + +"It's very pretty," commented Nancy. "But if you want to hear my story +you have got to flop. I insist upon a sitting audience." + +This demand restored comparative quiet and Nancy continued with her +narrative. + +"I was telling you about Miss Townsend," she went on. "You just should +see that lady. She's all 'set up.' We understood she was a nervous +wreck--" + +"She was," interrupted Ruth, "but I heard mother say her brother's +business affairs are being mysteriously adjusted. Maybe that's why she +has become rejuvenated." + +"Yes, that's exactly it," snapped Nancy. "And how the great, grand trick +worked is one of the stories we have missed. I never saw such a place as +Long Leigh for floating stories that no one can explain. Miss Townsend +talked all around her good luck, but never touched it. Of course, I +couldn't be so rude--" + +"Of course _you_ couldn't," mocked Isabel. + +"Just the same," retorted Nancy, "I did ask right out straight, without +hint or apology, where--Mr. Sanders lived." + +"And you got snubbed for your pains," flung in Ruth. + +"Nothing of the kind, I became informed for my pains," asserted Nancy. + +"Land sakes tell us!" pleaded Isabel. "First thing you know I'll hear +our car, and miss the--mystery." + +"Well," began Nancy, deliberately and provokingly, "I asked her: 'Where +does Mr. Sanders live?' And just as I was gulping hard to control my +emoting emotions, Miss Townsend shook her necklace like a dinner bell, +and said softly--" + +Nancy paused. The girls were threatening to throw her over the bench +into the flower bed but she seemed about ready to divulge the secret, so +presently they desisted. + +"Well," she said, "Miss Townsend answered, 'Mr. Sanders lives right here +in this hotel. He moved in yesterday and the poor man needed the change +after all he's been through.' Now girls," pouted Nancy, "did you ever +see anything as mean as that? Just when I'm free to dig up the wild and +woolly mystery, our hero goes and rents a room in the Waterfall House," +and she affected a pose intended to excite pity, but in reality causing +mirth. + +"I see it all!" cried Isabel, jumping up on the bench and laying a +sprawled hand over the heart location. "All, girls, all." Her voice was +droning like a school boy reciting the Charge of the Light Brigade. +"What happened was this!" + +"This!" interrupted Ruth, pinching Isabel's ankles until she literally +fell from her perch. + +"Whow!" yelled Isabel. "Can't one elocute without being plucked by cruel +hands? I tell you, girls, we have lost a lot of fun in not keeping up +with our little brothers." This was said in a very different and quite +serious tone. "If you were to ask Ted, Nancy, very confidentially, what +is or was the secret of the hidden treasure place, I'm almost sure he +would tell you. He _knows_!" she declared loudly, "and so does my +brother Gerard know, but _he_ won't tell me." + +"Then it is or was a question of hiding a treasure," reflected Nancy. +"I'm so sorry it is only that. I perfectly hate treasure mysteries, +they're so horribly common. I had in mind some sort of great, grand, +spooky, now-you-see-me and now-you-don't trick. That would have been +heaps more fun than just the old hidden treasure business. Well, at any +rate, _we_ seem to have missed it, for Mr. Sanders is really living at +the hotel," she wound up finally. + +"Is that any reason why we shouldn't find out the secret?" demanded +Ruth. "It seems to me we would be better able to do so, now that every +one else has suddenly grown rich, and there's no more danger of getting +folks into trouble by prying into their business. I just wish Sibyl +Sanders would come up again. I fancy she would be just tickled to tell +us the whole thing," declared Ruth. + +"I must trot along," Nancy suddenly announced. "And girls, please don't +forget about the first lesson in domestic science, to be held at the +residence of--" + +A loud and insistent honking of a motor horn interrupted Nancy's +flattering announcement, and presently all three girls were scampering +down to the roadside to pile into Gerard's Duryea car, for Isabel's +brother was taking them for a ride into town, ostensibly to do some +important family errands, but really to have one of those unplanned +jolly times that go to make up the happy summer time. + +"I must be back by five," warned Nancy. But her companions only pushed +her back further in the over crowded car-seat as they sailed along. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + JUST FISHING + + +Some days later the Whatnot Shop was being dismantled, that is the +shelves were being treated to a great clearing off, and the +old-fashioned glass cases were being lined with white oilcloth, +preparatory to Miss Manners' Domestic Science Class storing their +samples of food therein. + +Gradually Nancy's sense of honor was coming back into its own, for not +only her mother but also her girl friends were constantly reassuring +her. + +"There's nothing small nor frivolous about changing one's mind for the +better," they told her. "In fact," said the mother, "that one is willing +to do so, is very often a mark of progress. If we didn't change our +minds how could we grow wiser?" + +"But I thought I'd just love business," Nancy complained. "I was crazy +to keep store and now I'm crazy to start something else." + +"Which is perfectly normal and entirely reasonable for any healthy young +girl," her mother insisted. "Can you imagine girls being as staid and as +old fashioned as their mothers?" + +"Moth-thur!" Nancy sort of moaned, "If ever I could be as _new_ +fashioned as my mother I shouldn't mind how old nor how young I might +be. And you are a love not to scold me. I know you are glad to see Manny +so happy setting-up her school, and I know you will be better satisfied +to have her there, facing the fierce public, than allowing me to do so. +Not that I had any trouble with the dear public," Nancy mocked. "And not +that Brother Ted wasn't always within a few miles call if I needed him. +But, at any rate, Mums, I did make some real money, didn't I?" she +cooed, quite birdlike for Nancy. + +A clean little, yellow bankbook was offered for evidence by Mrs. Brandon +at this question, for being a business woman, she knew the value of +personal interest in every part of a business undertaking, and so, early +in the experiment, she had brought Nancy into the City Bank and there +attended to the formalities of opening her bank account. + +"Mother, you keep the book, please," Nancy begged just now, as Mrs. +Brandon offered it to her. "I know I ought to be very careful and not +forget where I put things, but somehow I do. And I would hate to lose +that precious book," she murmured, touching her mother's cheek with her +lips as she made the appeal. + +"Very well, daughter," Mrs. Brandon conceded, "but you simply must learn +to remember, and the way to do that is think of a thing as you do it," +she advised. + +Nancy was, however, already improving in such matters. Being obliged to +find things for herself, instead of calling out to Anna, the maid, as +she had been in the habit of doing, was teaching a lesson that words had +never been able to convey to her. + +It now lacked but three days of the opening of the class, and in these +days Nancy and Ted were planning to have a great time fishing, +exploring, and hunting. By "hunting" they meant looking for Indian +relics along the river bank, for Ted insisted there really were such +articles to be found there, if one were only patient enough in the +search. + +This was the day set for fishing, and Ted was just now coming up to the +back door with a tin can slung on a string, and that, in turn, was slung +over his shoulder on a pole. + +"Got lots of them!" he called out. "Nice fat ones, too. We can catch big +fish with such worms as these," and he set down the outfit to display +his freshly dug bait. + +"Well, I'm not going to put them on the hook," protested Nancy. "I don't +mind handling the slippery little things, but I can't murder them. +You'll have to bait my hook, Ted, if you want me to go," she insisted. + +"Oh, all right," growled Ted, merely pretending to protest, but really +just showing his boyish contempt for such girlish whims. "I'll put them +on for you. But do hurry, Nan," he urged. "This is a dandy morning to +fish. Hardly any sun at all." + +Calling good-bye to Miss Manners, who, even, this early, was at work in +the store, Nancy was soon ready to start off with her brother on the +fishing trip. She was clad in her oldest gingham, and wore her most +battered big straw hat, nevertheless she looked quite picturesque, if +not really pretty even in this rough attire; for Nancy was ever a +striking looking girl. + +"Think we ought to take your old express wagon, Ted?" she asked, +jokingly. + +"What for?" demanded the boy in surprise. + +"To carry them home in," laughed Nancy. But even then Ted didn't see the +joke. + +Presently they were trudging along the heavily shaded road that wound in +and out around Bird's Woods until it would stretch along side Oak's +Pond, where the fishing was to be done. + +"It's fine to have you come, Nan," remarked the boy, wagging his bare +head and slapping his fish bag against his bare legs. Ted was wearing +old clothes himself, and his trousers had not been trimmed any too +evenly, for one leg ended above the knee and the other leg ended below +the other knee. But he looked about right as a fisher-boy, his cheeks +well tanned, his brown eyes sparkling and his browner hair doing pretty +much as it pleased all over his head. + +"I'm mighty glad to come, Ted," Nancy was saying in reply to his gentle +little compliment. "It is great to be off all by ourselves, although, of +course, I have good enough times with the girls," she amended, loyally. + +"Me too," added Ted, "I have lots of sport with the fellows but this is +better," he concluded, as Ted would. + +Arrived at a spot where the pond dug into a soft green bank, rounding +into a beautiful semi-circular basin, brother and sister there camped. +Ted insisted that Nancy take the choicest seat, a smooth spot on the big +tree that must have been felled years before, and which had found +comfortable quarters on the edge of the jolly little stream. Sympathetic +ferns stretched their soft green fronds along the sides of the naked +wood, as if they wanted to supply the fallen tree with some of the +verdure of which it had been cruelly bereft, and even a gay, flowering +swamp lily, that wonderful flaming flower that holds its chalice above +all other wood blooms, bent just a little toward the one branch of that +tree that still clung to the parent trunk. + +Nancy squatted down expectantly. Ted had baited her hook and she was now +casting out her line in the smooth, mysterious stream, clear enough on +the surface, but darker than night beneath. She had removed her "sneaks" +and stockings, so that she might enjoy the freedom of dipping her toes +into the little ripples that played around the log. + +"I don't care whether I catch anything or not," she remarked, "it's +lovely just to sit here and fish." + +"We'll catch, all right," Ted assured her. "This is a great place for +fish--regular nest of them in under these rocks." He shifted a little on +his perch, which was on a live tree that leaned out of the stream. + +Presently Nancy developed a song from the tune she had been humming: + +"Singing eyly-eely-ho! Eyly-eely-ho!" + +"Got to keep quiet when you fish," Ted interrupted her. + +"All right," agreed Nancy affably. "But that tune has been simmering all +day and I just had to let it light up. Say Ted," she began all over +again, "did you hear about your friend, Mr. Sanders, getting rich?" + +"Rich? I'm glad of it. He's all right," the boy declared, flipping his +line to a new spot. + +"Yep-py, rich," Nancy repeated. "He's living at the hotel." + +"Oh, I knew that," scoffed the boy, airily. + +"Did you? Then why didn't you tell me?" + +"Secret," snapped Ted, shutting his lips with a snap that even a +venturesome fish might have heard. + +"And the Townsends--they are quite prosperous too," Nancy pressed +further. + +"Ye-ah." Ted was not encouraging the confidence. + +For a few moments neither of them spoke again. Then Nancy's line began +to draw, to pull out into a straight line. + +"Easy!" whispered Ted. "You've got a bite! Don't yank it. Wait until +he's on, good and tight!" + +They waited, breathless. Then Ted, the experienced, gave the signal, and +Nancy, the amateur, drew very gently on her pole. Up, up, but still +under water, until suddenly the water surface freed the capture, and +something black, shiny, snaky, dangled violently from the upheld line! + +"Oh, Ted, quick! It's a snake! Look a snake!" cried Nancy, getting to +her feet finally, after slipping several times on the smooth log. + +"Look out," yelled Ted, for the black slimy thing dangling on Nancy's +line seemed to be making directly for her face, as it swung back and +forth and darted violently toward the shore. + +"Oh-h-h-h-h!" Nancy screamed. "He's going for--" But she was taking no +further chances, instead, she flung her pole, line and hook and catch, +as far from her as a single fling could send it. The pole floated +contentedly but the slimy thing was again hidden in its beloved waters, +although it must have still been impaled upon the tortuous hook. + +Ted looked a moment at the lost outfit. + +"Nancy," he said gloomily. "You're crazy. That was a fine, fat eel, and +they're hard to catch that way. And look at--your--pole." + +"I'll get it," decided the surprised girl, instantly slipping down from +the log and leaning out over the stream. + +"Don't!" yelled Ted. But the warning was given too late, for as Nancy +stepped on what seemed to be grass, she found herself thrust into the +water, deep enough to frighten her of something worse than a snake. + +"Oh!" she yelled again. "I've got to swim out, I'll smother in the bog +if--I--don't." And so saying she flung her body free from the deep +marsh-grass, and struck out in an emergency stroke toward the open +stream. + +"Go up to the cove!" Ted yelled. "Just around that pine tree! I'll meet +you there!" + +The light clothing she wore was not much more cumbersome than some +bathing suits are often found to be, so that Nancy, a capable swimmer, +was now pulling surely toward the cove, while Ted was racing, as best he +could in the heavy undergrowth to meet her as she would land. + +But just as Nancy turned in to a clear little corner to make her +landing, she heard a muffled call. + +"Help! Help!" came the indistinct cry. + +Ted was abreast of her and he too heard the call. + +"It's over in the sand dunes," he yelled, as Nancy stepped ashore and +shook some of the heavy water from her clothing. "Quick, Nancy, the +fellows went to play Indian there!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE CAVE-IN + + +There was no time to think of wet garments as Nancy raced after Ted +toward the sand dunes. + +"Quick," he urged. "They're the little fellows, Billy and Jack, and they +must be under the sand." + +Just beyond the trees and undergrowth that surrounds Oak's Pond, a +stretch of sand hills offered the youngsters an ideal playground. A few +scrubby pines managed to draw from the dry soil enough vitality for a +very much impoverished growth, and it was from the direction of the +trees that the feeble call was now heard, at protracted intervals. + +"There!" pointed out Ted. "There's the shack. They must be in a cave-in +near it." + +His surmise proved correct, for quickly as brother and sister could +reach the spot, they found every evidence of a cave-in and a sand +deluge. + +"We're here," Ted called. "That you Billy?" + +"Oh, yeah," came a pitiful little squeak. "We're smoth-rin' to death. +Quick--please--quick." + +"There's a board," Ted ordered, at once taking charge of the rescue. +"You can dig with that, Nan. I'll dig with my hands." + +Exactly like a very eager dog that digs with all fours when he wants to +get in or out of a pit, Ted went to work. The light sand flew in clouds +as he pawed and kicked, so that compared with his efforts Nancy's +board-shovelling seemed provokingly slow. + +"Oh, this is no good!" she finally burst out. "I can do that, too," and +without a thought but for the rescue, Nancy dropped to the position Ted +was working in, and was soon digging and kicking until her clouds of +sand rivalled his. + +"Oh! Oh!" came repeated calls and groans. "We--can't--breathe. Move the +board! It's pressing--" + +"We're coming. We're coming," Nancy called back. "Don't get frightened; +you can't smother now." + +But it was not easy to reach the imprisoned youngsters, for a collapsed +sand hill is as slippery to control as a rushing water fall. Every time +the rescuers thought themselves within reach of a board, an avalanche of +sand would tumble upon it and bury the end they tried to grasp. + +At last Nancy grabbed hold of a big stick that protruded from the hill. + +"Here Ted," she called. "Get this! It's under a board--" + +Raising the stick carefully they did, at last, lay hold of one of the +collapsed boards, the "roof" under which the youngsters had been caught. + +"Care-ful," warned Ted. "Raise it! Don't pull it out!" + +It was heavy, for sand pressed itself into great weight, in spite of its +infinitesimal atoms. At last the rescuers were able, with care and +skill, to raise the board, then another, until finally the bare feet of +two small badly frightened boys, led directly to the entire persons of +the same little victims. + +"Oh my! Mercy me!" gasped Nancy. "They do look awful, Ted! Quick let's +get them water!" + +"Jack is the worst," replied her brother. "Nan, see if your skirt is wet +yet. You could squeeze a little water on his face--" + +The garment that had been dripping a few minutes before was still damp +enough to permit of being "squeezed," and standing over the pale face of +little Jack Baker, Nancy managed to extract some drops at least, to coax +back life into the almost unconscious boy. + +Billy dragged himself out, although he was barely able to do so, and as +quickly as little Jack showed signs of life, Ted and Nancy between them +carried him down to the water's edge. + +They were just about to bathe his face and hands when a canoe drifted +into sight around the cove. + +"Mr. Sanders!" called Ted. "There's Mr. Sanders," he repeated, and his +voice was reaching the occupant of the canoe, for the bark was now +headed directly for land. + +First aid and other common sense treatment was soon being administered +to both Billy and Jack by Mr. Sanders, Ted and Nancy, and when the +cave-in victims were finally entirely resuscitated, it was decided that +Mr. Sanders should carry them up stream in his boat, and so enable them +to easily reach their homes, at the head of the pond. + +"You've been having some experience this morning," the man remarked to +Nancy as he waited for the boys to climb in the big long boat. "Can't I +give you and Ted a lift too? There's room enough if everybody obeys +canoe rules," he said pleasantly. + +"Oh, that would be fine," Ted replied, while Nancy was thinking of what +to say. "Sis fell in the pond after her fishing tackle," Ted added. +"That was our first adventure." + +"That must be what I picked up," interrupted Mr. Sanders pointing out +Nancy's pole with the cord wound around it, lying in the bottom of the +boat. + +"Yes, that's mine," admitted Nancy, "and I'm glad to get it back for it +was a special pole--one I got for a premium from a Boston store," she +explained. + +"Well, pile in," ordered Mr. Sanders, "and you little 'uns' had best not +frighten your folks with the cave-in story," he warned. "Better to be +careful next time," he finished laughingly. + +When all were securely ensconced in the long, graceful bark, Nancy was +given the extra paddle and allowed to ply it alongside Mr. Sanders. In +the joy of that unusual privilege, (for she was seldom allowed in a +canoe,) the accidents were quickly lost thought of, even Jack and Billy +venturing to trail their fingers in the stream, while Ted sitting in the +stern took chances on throwing out his line now and then just for the +fun of feeling it pull through the quiet waters. + +As they sailed along, conversation was rather scattered, consisting +mainly of snatches of questions and answers between Nancy and Mr. +Sanders. The two little boys had scarcely spoken since their rescue, and +now within sight of home, they were just beginning to assume normal +courage. + +Suddenly Nancy started to titter. There was no apparent cause for her +change of mood, but the more she bit her lip, looked out toward shore, +bent her head toward her paddle and otherwise strove to divert herself, +the more the titter gathered and broke into a laugh, over her helpless +features. + +"Funny, isn't it?" remarked Mr. Sanders drolly. + +"Silly, but I just can't help laughing," she admitted. "It's at the +idea--" + +"I wonder if I couldn't guess," interrupted the man with the strong +brown arms. "It's about me, isn't it?" + +"Yes," admitted Nancy, slowly. + +"And about--about my supposed magic powers." He stopped and enjoyed a +light laugh himself. "Wouldn't it be tragic if I should disappear just +now?" he said so suddenly, that Nancy jerked her paddle out of the water +and stared at him with a sort of guilty flush. + +"The idea--" she faltered. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" roared the big man swinging toward the shore where Jack +and Billy were to land. "That's a great story, isn't it? But I'll tell +you," he lowered his voice in a tone of confidence, "I am altogether to +blame for that fantastic yarn, but sometimes we have to let folks guess +even if they do make--spooks out of us." He laughed again and even the +little boys were now being tempted to join in. "But I want to promise +you and your brother this, Nancy," he said seriously. "You shall be +among the first to know the answer to the riddle of my magic +disappearance around the gray stone house." + +"Thank you," Nancy managed to say, as Ted caught a strong little branch +on shore, and helped land the canoe. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + INTRODUCING NERO + + +It did not seem possible that Manny's school had been successfully +opened two weeks ago! That the girls in her class, at first numbering +eight now counted fourteen, each paying five dollars for the month's +training in domestic science, with lessons three mornings a week. +Fourteen pupils at five dollars each and every single one paid in +advance, while Nancy was acting as class president and Ruth as class +secretary; these were, indeed, auspicious arrangements. + +And besides the seventy dollars paid Miss Manners for tuition, the class +members brought their own supplies and were privileged to take them home +with them, in the form of various tempting dishes, "the like of which" +as Nancy expressed it, "never had been seen in Long Leigh before nor +since." + +"Maybe you don't know you're a wonder," Ruth remarked very casually to +Nancy, while she, as secretary, was consulting with Nancy as president. +"I can cook better _now_ than I ever expected to in my whole life. And +as for Isabel! She's so enthusiastic, her mother says she has to +restrain her from going into the boarding house business. You should +just taste Belle's 'Cherry Moss.' Um-m-m! It was de-lic-ious!" and Ruth +smacked her lips to the echo. "Her brother Tom wanted to know why we +didn't make up a class for boys. He was in the army, you know, and so +thinks himself very efficiently trained." + +"Isn't it great?" Nancy remarked, referring, of course, to the success +of the class. "And for a laggard, an idler and one who positively hated +the very letters that spelled cooking, I think I'm doing pretty well +myself. I made a fudge cake yesterday and mother carried it out to set +before the library ladies, can you imagine that? A cake that _I_ made! +After my heartbreaking experience with the ungreased pans!" + +It was very early in the afternoon and Ruth, with Nancy, was putting the +class room in order. She had remained over to lunch as she often did, +and the two chums found pleasure in arranging the white covered tables, +the shining pans, the numbered spoons and other utensils. It was all so +much pleasanter than doing anything in an ordinary kitchen. + +The gas range, that was sent in to Miss Manners as a demonstrator's +sample, was majestically white and really quite attractive, if such an +article can be called attractive, and just how Nancy hovered rather +lovingly over it, polishing with the very softest, whitest cloth the +impeccable, enameled surface. + +Ruth had been finishing a little memorandum in her oilcloth covered +book. She laid the book down now and strolled over to Nancy. In their +white aprons and white caps, Nancy and Ruth looked too picturesque to be +passed by without compliment. + +Ruth wound her arm around Nancy's shoulder. "I wonder," she said, "why +we sometimes think that all play is more fun?" + +"I never did," replied Nancy, innocently. "My trouble always has been in +finding enough different things to do." She looked rather pathetically +into the soft gray eyes that were caressing her own darker orbs. There +was no impulsive hugging, nor other ordinary demonstrations of +affections dear to the average emotional girls, for Nancy was not given +to extremes, nor was Ruth addicted to such flagrant sentiment. + +The two girls were especially happy just now. Nancy was accomplishing +more, much more, than she had ever hoped to do, with her little shop +that first brought real financial help to her mother, and was now doing +as much for Miss Manners. Besides all this, it was giving the girls +themselves a very useful, as well as enjoyable, summer diversion. Ruth, +although a new friend of Nancy's, had become a very fond friend indeed, +for the frank, original and genuine qualities of Nancy were unmistakable +in their sincerity, and it was easy enough for any girl to love her--if +she could but get near enough to her to know her. + +"And you don't think it shows a weakness to be so changeable?" Nancy +asked Ruth. "I just can't seem to be happy unless I'm planning something +new." + +"Why, that's--that's a sign of originality," replied Ruth, smoothing +Nancy's cap on her dark hair. "Some day you'll do something wonderful--" + +"About the girls," Nancy interrupted. "Don't you think we were fortunate +to get the Riker girls to join the class? They seem to represent the +smart set at Upper Crust Hill, and they brought at least five others +along." + +"Nancy, our school is the talk of Long Leigh. Lots of mothers think +their girls should do something useful during the month of August, and +I'd just like to see any mother find a study more useful than +cooking--according to her ideas," said Ruth. + +"And Vera is going to take an extra hour for desserts," Nancy went on. +"I can see Vera the pride of her family some day. Such home talent may +be inherited. We haven't any of it in our family, I'm afraid," said +Nancy, regretfully. + +"But you've got something more precious," Ruth assured her. "I never saw +three folks so like one person as you three are, and yet you are all +individually different; if you know what I mean." + +"I do," said Nancy. "And you're a dear, Ruth. What would I have done out +here without you?" + +"Taken the stylish Vivian Riker to your heart," teased Ruth. "She's a +beauty." + +There was a stir outside. + +"Look who's here!" interrupted Nancy, jumping up and hurrying toward the +door. "Ted! And he's got the threatened new dog with him. Come and see!" + +The threatened new dog was indeed being coaxed along by Ted, but he +didn't look exactly new. In fact, his coat was matted and shaggy, his +tail hung down without a bit of "pep" in it, and even his long, +long-haired ears seemed too discouraged to pick up the kindest words Ted +was trying to pour into them. + +"Nero!" announced Ted simply, as Nancy opened the door and Ted tried to +push the melancholy Nero in. + +"What ails him?" Nancy asked, looking the strange animal over, +critically. + +"Just nothin' but lonesome," replied the small boy cryptically. + +"He looks pretty--blue," Ruth commented, giving the dog a friendly but +unappreciated pat on his shaggy head. + +"Guess you'd be blue too, if you lived where he did," Ted told Ruth. +"That poor dog hadn't a friend in the world until I found him. Here, +Nero, come along and eat," ordered Ted, while Nero followed him toward +the back door through the erstwhile Whatnot Shop and present-time +classroom. "He's a fine dog," the little fellow continued to praise, +"and when I get him all fixed up he'll be a beauty too," he insisted +stoutly. + +"Maybe," Nancy almost giggled as she looked after Ted and his dog. "But +when you take him to the beauty shop, Ted, you better get him a real +Russian bob, his hair is long enough to braid," she commented gaily. + +"You can laugh," Ted retorted, "but he's a thoroughbred--a one-man dog. +He won't notice you girls. Come on Nero, attaboy," chanted Ted, +importantly. + +But being cooks, Nancy and Ruth could do no less than offer to provide +Nero's meal. Each thought he would like something else best, and each +tried the other dish, pushing it under his indifferent nose and coaxing +him with: + +"Here Nero! Good! Eat! Eat-er-up!" etc. + +But Nero merely sniffed disdainfully, snuggled his nose deeper into his +flattened paws, and turned two big, brown adoring eyes up at his young +master. + +"Pity about him!" quoth Nancy. "Maybe he wants some of Isabel's Cherry +Moss. Just stew or beefsteak or even fried potatoes are not, it seems, +on his diet bill." + +They were all out on the back porch, Ted squatted squarely beside the +new dog, while the girls floated around Nero, like little tugs +surrounding a big steamer. + +"He doesn't _have_ to eat," Ted remarked indifferently, "he had a free +lunch on the way over." + +"He did!" screeched Nancy. "And you let us go to all this trouble!" She +kicked the tin pan of water over in sheer disgust. + +"Well, I thought he might like something else," murmured the small boy, +provokingly. "He only had a big soup bone and loaf of bread." + +Taking off their cooking-school caps and unbuttoning their aprons as +they went, the girls wended their way back to the deserted class room. + +"Can anyone beat that?" remarked Nancy, inelegantly. "Ted and his dog +and the big--soup--bone! I could put a tune to that; a sad mournful +dirgy tune." + +"Wherever do you suppose he picked up the brute?" Ruth asked. "I don't +remember having seen him around town." + +"Oh, trust Ted," replied Nancy. "When we first came here, mother +answered him once, in a most casual, unthinking way: 'Yes.' It seemed +his question was could he have a dog, and mother hadn't been paying +strict attention. Since then he's been on a hunt for a dog. He brought +home a poor half-dead little tatters one day, but some boy followed him +up and claimed the beauty. I wonder if this one will be left to him? He +seems pretty particular about his food, doesn't he?" + +"Yes," replied Ruth, who was just glancing out the door. Suddenly she +exclaimed: + +"Here's a taxi coming, and it's the one mother always uses. I guess +she's sending for me, I'll go out and see." + +Nancy looked out and saw Ruth talking earnestly to the driver. She +seemed to be disagreeing with the message he was giving her, and she +turned abruptly to come back to Nancy. + +"Imagine that!" she panted, "Mother wants me to meet a train and take an +old lady to see the Hilton house. As if I could show a house to one of +father's customers!" Ruth's voice betrayed actual antipathy to the very +idea. + +"But why not?" queried Nancy. "If she is just an old lady--" + +"A rich old lady who has come a distance without notifying father's +office, and there isn't a man within call to take her out," Ruth sighed +miserably. The thought of showing a house seemed absolutely beyond her. + +"I'll go with you," Nancy offered. "Why couldn't we show a house? We +know how to call out rooms, don't we?" + +Ruth jerked back her pretty head and stared at Nancy. + +"All right," she exclaimed, brightening perceptibly. "I'll go if you +promise to do the talking. I'm sure you can call off rooms and do more +than that in the business line, Nancy. Let's hurry. The train is almost +due." + +So the two young "real estate ladies" were presently seated most +circumspectly in the taxi, on the way to "meet a wealthy lady who wanted +to look at the Hilton house." + +And Nancy was fairly aglow with the prospect of a new and interesting +business adventure. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + A DISCOVERY + + +"Isn't she lovely? Looks like a cameo." That was Nancy's remark to Ruth +when Mrs. Mortimer Cullen tarried in the sun parlor of the Hilton house, +through which the girls were conducting her. + +But Ruth only sighed. Her task was too obnoxious to permit of +compliments even to the handsome, elderly woman, who indeed did look +like an animated cameo, set in a frame of gray veils, thrown over a +small summer hat. + +"Isn't the garden beautiful from this porch?" Nancy enthused, joining +Mrs. Cullen there. "Just look at that hedge! It's literally screened in +with fine white clematis! And look! Mrs. Cullen! Just see that bower of +Golden Blows! Oh, I don't believe I have ever seen such a beautiful +place," and Nancy flitted around like a big butterfly herself, her +yellow and white tissue dress escaping in little clouds about her, as +she raced from room to room. + +"My grand-daughter Naomi, is quite like you," smiled the amused lady. +"If you see so much beauty here I am sure it would please her. And it is +for her, principally, that I am considering coming to Long Leigh." + +"Oh, I'm sure she'd love it," chirped Nancy. "But do come upstairs and +see all the wonderful bay-windows. Why, this house is made just like a +lot of flower bowls. Every single room opens out in--Just see these +windows." + +So Ruth and Mrs. Cullen followed Nancy upstairs to see the windows. From +that point of vantage she dragged them to the alcove over the stairs and +pointed out the "glorious garden," from that view. And she was being +perfectly sincere in her enthusiasm. None of it was assumed, in fact, +one would have imagined Nancy was considering buying the fine old +homestead for her own use. + +They spent more than an hour looking over the place and even then Nancy +hated to leave. + +"Imagine having a home like that," she tried to whisper to Ruth. "I +think I'd be satisfied even to do housework if I could look out that +kitchen window as I did it," she added, while Mrs. Cullen smiled her +satisfaction into Nancy's eager face. + +They drove back to the train with the prospective customer, who, when +taking her leave, glanced significantly at Nancy. + +"My dear," she said, "you gave me a very pleasant little visit to your +pretty Long Leigh, and I hope if my grand-daughter, Naomi, comes +here--ever, she will meet you." She then touched Ruth's hand gently, +saying something about having her father's office get in touch with her. + +When the train had cleared the station the two girls broke into a much +relieved giggle. Ruth declared that Nancy had won the heart of "Lady +Cullen who is as rich as they come," she explained, inelegantly. + +"And I had such a good time--" + +"Whoa there! No, you don't, Antoinette Brandon," Ruth warned Nancy. "You +are _not_ going in the real-estate business, so you needn't get all set +for it. My father has a family to feed--" + +But the very gentleman spoken of was at that moment hurrying across the +platform, to meet the two uproarious girls. + +He was most anxious to know about their mission. Mrs. Cullen, it +appeared, was a very important personage, and he regretted genuinely the +absence from his office of a suitable escort for the lady. + +"Oh, you needn't worry, Daddy," Ruth assured him, taking the city +newspaper from one of his pockets and feeling for candy in the other. +"Nancy took such good care of her that she almost stayed over to buy +more houses. You'll have to look out for Nancy, Dad." Ruth continued to +joke. "She's an expert business man, you know, and might take a notion +to try real-estate." + +"The more the merrier," replied the genial gentleman, who, like Ruth, +had great gray eyes and a clear florid complexion, "I've been wanting to +see your mother, Nancy," he said next. "Maybe, I could suit her better +in a house than you are being suited in the Townsend place," he +ventured. + +"Oh, we love it over there," Nancy hurried to state. "And besides, Mr. +Ashley, we're just poor folks," she added laughingly. + +"So are we all of us," joined in Mr. Ashley. "But I supposed, now that +Sanders has struck his gold mine, he might want to buy the little place +himself, sort of souvenir, you know." As they talked, they were walking +back to the waiting taxi, in which the girls had fetched Mrs. Cullen to +the station. + +"Now Daddy," objected Ruth, "we've had enough business for one +afternoon. Nancy must get back home and I've got a music lesson, if Miss +Dudley has waited for me, and I hope she hasn't." + +Nancy felt rather important stepping out of the taxi at her door, it +seemed, somehow, much more business-like than just riding in someone's +private car, and she dashed up the store steps, still thrilled with +enthusiasm from her experience. + +Inside the door she found Ted, crouched before the fireplace urging Nero +to "sic" something. + +"Get him, boy!" he was coaxing. "Go-get-him!" + +"Get whom?" Nancy asked, in surprise at the spectacle. + +"What ever is in that chimney," the boy replied. "Do you think Nero +couldn't get it as good as that puny little dog of Miss Townsend's?" + +"But how do you know anything is in there?" + +"Heard it--it whistles. Besides you said so." Ted was not a waster of +words. + +"I never said there was anything there," Nancy argued. "But what +whistled? What did you hear?" + +"Just whistlin'. Sic him Nero!" and Ted tried to push the big shaggy +head against the old-fashioned fireplace board, that was papered with a +very brilliant and hideous set paper piece, the center representing a +terrible time among birds that looked like freak chickens. + +But Nero was absolutely deaf to Ted's entreaties. No more would he "go +for" the chimney than he went for the food offered him by the solicitous +young domestic science students, Nancy and Ruth. + +"I don't think you should keep that big--untidy dog in here, Ted," +remonstrated Nancy, who hesitated over calling Nero "dirty" and felt +foolish at calling him "untidy." She crossed to the corner of the store +and raised a window. "You know," she continued, "this is a cooking +school and everything has to be strictly sanitary." + +"He's strictly sanitary," Ted declared, pressing his own curly head down +to Nero's. "I'm glad I've got him, I needed a chum around home," he +finished, affectionately. + +"How about me?" teased Nancy. + +"Oh you!" Ted was caressing Nero, and Nero was thudding his tail in +response. + +"Yes, what about me, Ted? Don't you like me any more?" + +"Like you! But you ought to hear folks talk. They say you'll be starting +a--butcher shop next." + +Nancy drew her breath in sharply. Were they criticising her like that? + +"Who's talking about me?" she demanded of her brother. + +"Don't have to get mad," drawled Ted. "What do we care? We know, I +guess," he placated, tactfully. + +"But who's talking?" she insisted. + +"It's all jealousy," the boy evaded. "They're disappointed because the +Townsends and Mr. Sanders are getting along so well. First, they tried +to make Mr. Sanders out foolish, and now they say this place is spooky. +Guess I've been here long enough to know," he retorted, as if answering +the unknown foes. + +But Nancy was stricken with that painful self-consciousness that so +often lately had taken possession of her. The changeable girl, even her +friends were calling her; why did she so love--to change? + +"Look!" whispered Ted, directing her attention to the dog. +"He--hears--it!" + +Nero was now alert, head cocked to one side, ears pricked up, and every +dog-feature of him ready to pounce. + +Ted and Nancy watched him, breathless. + +A little snapping bark, a growl, long and threatening; then a wild, +fierce howl, and the big creature dashed against the fireboard! + +"There!" exclaimed Ted. "I told you so!" + +"What is it?" gasped Nancy. + +But the barking of Nero shut out even the sound of their voices, and as +brother and sister looked on, the big dog pawed the fireboard, +scratching away the paper, birds, flowers, impossible sky and all. + +Presently he turned from that attack and dashed to the back door. Ted +and Nancy were quick to follow him. + +"Let him out," Nancy directed. "He may know there's someone around." + +Unhooking the screen door Ted let his dog out. With a bounding leap Nero +cleared the steps and dashed around the house to the chimney corner. + +"Look!" screamed Nancy, "there--goes--a--man!" + +As she pointed to the farthest corner of the lot, where the fence was +broken down to admit a short cut to the avenue, they saw a man, just +stepping through the brush. + +"Mr. Sanders!" exclaimed Ted. "I see his bald head!" + +"Mr. Sanders," Nancy repeated. "What can he have been doing here?" + +"That's what Nero is trying to find out," replied Ted, dryly. "Let's see +how he's making out. He's stopped barking. Maybe--he's--got--it." + +It took but a few moments to reach the side of the house, where the +old-fashioned stone foundation was broken by a place, through which the +ashes from the fireplace had once been cleaned out. Here sat Nero. He +wagged his tail happily as Ted came up, and he now seemed perfectly +satisfied and contented. + +"What is it Nero?" Nancy coaxed patting the dog in a most friendly way. +He was evidently winning her affection as well as Ted's. + +But Ted knew best how to follow the animal's lead. He was down on his +knees in front of the mossy stones and had his ear cocked to the small +iron door. + +[Illustration: Ted had his ear cocked to the small iron door.] + +"Yep," he sort of gasped. "It's there! It's kinda-tickin'." + +"Let me listen," Nancy asked, dropping down beside him. + +For some time brother, sister and the big dog were all crouched there, +attentive, eager and somewhat excited. + +"Just a little sound--like an egg-beater," Nancy suggested. "And look, +Ted, those broken weeds! Mr. Sanders must have been in here just now." + +"Sure, it's his," said Ted, in a manner as matter of fact as if an +egg-beater "whistling" in the old fireplace was the most ordinary thing +in the world to expect being put there by Mr. Sanders. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE MIDNIGHT ALARM + + +It was a very exciting story, indeed, that Ted and Nancy poured into +their mother's ears that evening. Had she any possible objections to +adopting Nero as the fourth member of the family, they must have been +quickly dispelled with the graphic account of that animal's uncanny +intelligence. + +"He seemed to know just where to find the outlet to the chimney," Nancy +said, "for he ran directly to the little furnace place, and we didn't +really know it was there ourselves." + +"Of course, he knew," said Ted importantly. "Dogs know lots of things +that we don't. And he's going to sleep in the store, isn't he, Mother?" + +"Oh, not in the store, Ted," objected Nancy. "Do you think that would be +just right, Manny?" + +"Well, a big dog like that," demurred Miss Manners, who, now being a +real resident of the Brandon home, shared their table with them. + +"But he's had a swim and he's as clean as--as anything," floundered the +boy, quite unable to summon an appropriate comparison for his great +friend. "And Mother, he can watch the whole house for us. How do we know +someone wouldn't try to steal--the secret of the chimney place?" + +"It isn't our secret," retorted Nancy, "and for my part I can't see what +right Mr. Sanders has around our place at all." + +"You can depend, dear," said Mrs. Brandon gently, "that whatever he has +put in the chimney, if anything, it is something that could in no way +bother us. Mr. Sanders is a professor, and the old-fashioned stone oven +may have some special interest for him." + +"But couldn't he ask us about it, if he wanted to--to plant a bomb +there?" Nancy remarked, superciliously. + +"He's no gabber," said Ted, with more wisdom than elegance. "And anyway, +maybe he didn't. But Mother, may I have the old steamer rug to make a +bed for Nero? He's so big he needs a big bed." + +It was finally agreed that Nero should be allowed to sleep in the store +before the fireboard, and after much work making the rug into a bed for +him, Ted eventually got him to try it. + +Very slowly the big shaggy creature sprawled himself out on the soft +wool, but he only stayed sprawled for a few moments. The next, he got +up, took a corner of the rug between his teeth, dragged it over to the +show gas-range and, in a dog's way, proceeded to make his own bed. + +Every one was watching him and every one laughed. + +"He can do tricks," Ted declared proudly. "I'm goin' to train him for a +lot of things. He could almost do anything," the boy added, whereat even +Miss Manners laughed softly. + +But Nero was settled at last, and so far as he was concerned, gave no +further trouble to the Brandon family for that evening. The subject of +the buzzing, egg-beater noise in the chimney, coupled with Mr. Sanders +leaving the grounds so suspiciously that afternoon was, however, +discussed most thoroughly. + +Even to the children Mrs. Brandon's confidence in Mr. Sanders, agreeing +as it did with the confidence of so many other grown folks, gave cause +for much curious speculation. Nancy pretended that she disagreed with +this general sentiment, but that was only because she felt there was a +certain injustice in the manner of Mr. Sanders assuming rights over +their personal property. + +Ted, on the contrary, was ready to vote for Mr. Sanders at every +opportunity, and while he didn't exactly say that Nero had at one time +belonged to the people who had lived in the big stone house, he _did_ +say that Lou Peters, who gave him Nero, said that the Giffords, who +belonged on the hill, used to feed Nero regularly at their back door. +That was as near to proprietorship as Ted could bring Nero. Lou Peters +had been keeping him among the old boxes, so he gave him to Ted. All of +which followed a natural sequence, for Ted himself had been feeding Nero +dog biscuits and soup bones for a long time previously. + +"Isn't it queer how jolly it seems to have a dog in the house," remarked +the boy, who was curled up on the couch and hugging a big story book +from which, tonight at least, he read very little. + +"It does seem as if we have pleasant company," Miss Manners conceded +agreeably. She was, as usual, at her fancy work--some exquisitely fine +linen drawn work, being done for a city customer. + +"But I thought we all agreed never again to become attached to a dog," +recalled the mother. She was making notes and reading a book--a +librarian's method of reviewing. + +"We all felt so dreadfully when Grumpy died," Nancy recalled. She sighed +effectively at the recollection. "Grumpy was the loveliest dog--" + +"So is Nero," affirmed the fickle Ted. "In some ways he's a lot smarter. +You should have seen him do tricks for Lou Peters. He'll do them for me, +too," professed the youngster, "as soon as we get better acquainted." + +"Oh, Ted," digressed Nancy. "I've been wanting to ask you. Did Billy and +Jack make out all right at home after their cave-in scare? Their folks +weren't angry, were they?" + +"Angry!" scoffed Ted. "They each got a quarter for ice cream cones; +that's how angry their mothers were. Jack and Bill are two--pets," he +finished, rather contemptuously. "If they hadn't been so soft they'd +have known how to dig themselves out. Guess I'll go to bed," Ted then +announced suddenly and surprisingly, for he usually wanted to remain up +even longer than the others. + +"Now, that Nero is asleep," teased Nancy. "But never mind, Ted," she +amended. "I'll give you credit for picking a fine dog. He's handsomer +than a collie, and not so awkward as a St. Bernard," Nancy commented, +rather critically. + +"Sure," agreed Ted. "He's a thoroughbred," and with that all-meaning +compliment, Ted put his book upon the shelf, looked very carefully in +the store so as not to disturb the distinguished occupant, and almost +whispered good-night, kissing his mother fondly as he took his actual +leave. + +"Ted does love that dog," Nancy remarked indulgently. "And I'm glad you +let him keep him, Mother, for Ted likes to wander off alone and a dog is +good company for him." + +"The dear little fellow!" murmured his mother. "I can hardly believe he +is growing up and becoming able to look after himself. So often during +the day, I stop and wonder--" + +"Oh, you needn't, Mums," interrupted Nancy, "for Manny barely lets him +out of her sight without all kinds of cautions. It's lovely since Manny +came," Nancy concluded, a little shyly. + +Following all this each of the three applied herself to her task, (Nancy +was reading,) until the clock struck ten, then it appeared time to +follow Ted's example and retire, which they did. + +It had to happen, it always does. The dog barked wildly in the very +blackest part of the night, and before they realized what had disturbed +them, the Brandon household was awake and on its feet! + +"What can--it--be?" breathed little Miss Manners, wrapping her neat robe +closely around her. + +"Why, it's Nero," answered Ted foolishly, although he was not trying to +be funny. "He's after someone. We're safe." + +But Ted's unlimited confidence in his dog's power to protect, did not +lessen the uncanny feeling produced by the midnight howling, growling +bark. + +Mrs. Brandon did what she could to assure Nancy and Miss Manners that +dogs often bark at almost nothing, but when she heard Nero's paws +scratching against the door that led from the hall into the little group +of sleeping rooms, her own courage sagged somewhat. + +"Let him in!" ordered Ted. "Here, let me!" he corrected, going to the +door and meeting bravely the wild greeting of Nero. "What is it, boy?" +he asked. "What's the matter?" + +To which question Nero threw his two great paws against Ted's chest, +barked not fiercely, but in that talking way dogs have, and then turned +to race back down the stairs. + +"It's no one he's after," explained Ted, "or he wouldn't leave them to +come up and tell me. He wants to show me something--" + +"Ted Brandon!" cried Nancy. "Don't you dare go down--" + +"I'll go along," volunteered Mrs. Brandon. "As Ted says, the dog would +have stood guard if any one were trying to get in." + +There was no use in further arguing, for Ted was already close on Nero's +heels, following him to the store whence he was leading. Mrs. Brandon +may have been timid, but small Ted's confidence in his dog was very +fortifying, and she, too, fell in with the small midnight procession. + +Nancy did not remain upstairs, neither did Miss Manners, for somehow it +always does seem safer to "stick together" in that sort of trouble. + +No one spoke as they followed the dog. With great dignity he led them +on, until, upon reaching the store, he made a pounce over to the corner +near the chimney. + +"Oh," screamed Nancy. "It's that old chimney--" + +"It's something else," exclaimed Ted. "Just look here! A 'busted' water +pipe. That's what it is! Look--at--the--flood!" + +They all looked, and saw, issuing from a pipe that was connected near +the fireplace, a very positive and very menacing stream of water. + +"Oh, my! Our things!" groaned Nancy. "I've got to turn the water off." + +"But where? How?" asked Mrs. Brandon in confusion, fully realizing the +damage water could do. + +"I know," replied Nancy, in her best business-like manner. "I was +'monkeying' with it the other day. It won't take me a jiffy," and while +the others patted the intelligent Nero for his alarm, Nancy flew to the +kitchen, got a wrench from Ted's tool chest in the little corner closet, +and then with one sure, swift turn, reversed the handle on the water +pipe that led from the boiler to the pipes from the cellar. + +"It's off," yelled Ted. "That's all right, Nan, it's stopped." + +"Why, daughter," exclaimed Mrs. Brandon, still breathless, "how did you +know how to do--that?" + +"Because--she's a good plumber," declared Ted. "Hurrah! Nan! Let's start +a plumbing shop! That's something you--haven't tried yet." + +"Ted!" said Nancy sharply. "I don't like being made fun of. Anybody +ought to know how to turn off a water pipe. We all know how to turn off +the gas, don't we?" + +"Ted didn't mean to be rude, dear," Mrs. Brandon assured the injured +one, "but we were so surprised." + +"And Nancy does seem to have such a talent for business," ventured Miss +Manners. "I tell you, dear," and she gathered her robe around her as she +followed the others out of the store, "it is something to be proud of. +Any of us can be just housekeepers, but it takes a different sort of +ability to be--the man of the house," she said, which was an unusual +figure of speech for prim Miss Manners to make use of. + +"She can't be that," objected Ted. + +"Very well, then," said Nancy. "Let's see you mop up that floor, Ted," +she challenged. "That's a plumber's job, too," she pointed out. But it +was Mrs. Brandon who found the mop and Ted who used it. Nancy felt +perhaps, that the executive part, in turning off the water, was enough +for her to have done. + +She was hurt, unwillingly, at Ted's joking remark. + +"A plumber shop," she reflected mentally. "Well, one could do worse, for +plumbers are necessary and needle-work fiends aren't. Maybe I will take +up something practical before I find what would be best for me," she +continued to reason. + +But none of them knew, nor was it possible for them to guess, what Nero +had saved in his timely midnight alarm. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + FOR VALUE RECEIVED + + +It seemed but a very short time later that Nancy was again awakened. But +now the sunshine was streaming into her room, and she heard Miss Manners +talking down in the hall, in a suppressed voice. + +"The children are not up yet," she was saying. "But come in, Ruth. You +see we were somewhat disturbed--" + +"Come on up, Ruth!" called out Nancy. "Come up and hear about our +par-tee!" + +Ruth came up promptly, and the story of the broken water pipe was +presently being told her, brokenly. + +"How perfectly--thrill-ing!" she commented in her well known +characterization of the affected Vera. "But you should have had Nero +turn off the water--" + +"I'll bet he could too," shouted Ted from his room. Ted never lost a +chance to praise Nero. + +"But just listen to _my_ story," Ruth begged. "I've got a thrilling +yarn, too." + +"Then, wait until I get propped up for it," ordered Nancy. "I can't hear +comfortably when I'm down." She put her two pillows under her shoulders +and assumed a most affected air of the tired society girl after her +dance. Even a cap was improvised from a twisted stocking, a lacy robe +was concocted from her thin, soft slip, and the luxurious effect was +completed by Ruth piling upon the bed a bunch of mussed up store +paper--the morning mail! + +"There now," said Ruth, "I hope you can hear. Although I must say you +are not well cast. The character for you, Nan, is that of a short haired +lady at a big desk, her eyes bulging out of goggles and her waist line +strapped into a belt. You know--" + +"Yes, I know," admitted Nancy, "but I like this better--it's more +becoming, isn't it?" Another pose and a shift of the lacy robe. Then +Nancy appeared ready to hear Ruth's story. + +"You sold the place!" Ruth blurted out without a hint of its coming. + +"The place?" + +"Yes. To Lady Cullen. And she said positively over the long distance +last night to Dad, that she never would have bought it but for you." + +"Of course, she would," scoffed Nancy. + +"Nope. Dad said that place just wouldn't sell. He and his men have shown +it to so many. But dear Mrs. Cullen!" Ruth sighed foolishly. "She told +Dad that the young lady was so enthusiastic over the place that she was +positive her granddaughter, Naomi, would react in the same way. Notice +that Nan, re-act." + +"Yeah," drawled Nancy. "That's what this is--I'm--re-acting," and she +fell further back among her pillows. + +"But really, Nan, it is true," insisted Ruth, laying hold of one of +Nancy's long, slender hands. "And you needn't blush about it, either. I +think the way you blush under that olive skin of yours--" But a pillow, +vigorously applied to Ruth's face, checked further compliments. + +"If you don't want to hear," Ruth presently continued. + +"Of course I do. I'm just as glad as glad, Ruth, that your dad has sold +the place, but I know very well Mrs. Cullen would have bought it +anyhow." + +"She wouldn't. Dad says so, she says so--I say--says--so," declared +Ruth. "And if you don't believe it just listen to this." She changed her +position sitting up very straight and facing Nancy very positively to +make the statement most emphatic. "Mrs. Cullen very tactfully suggested +that your interest and your success be--remunerated." + +"Ruth!" + +"Now, don't let me hurt your feelings, Nan, but Dad would honestly love +to have you accept." + +"I won't," declared Nancy, blushing furiously now. "The idea--" + +"Then, he will talk to your mother about it. Do you know, little girl, +what a lot of money a big sale like that brings to Dad's firm? And how +much he would have to pay out in commission to the man who succeeded in +making the sale?" + +"I know one thing," said Nancy, shifting herself out of the bed and +planting two bare feet firmly upon the floor, "I'm being made a business +woman, a store-keeper, a cooking school director, a plumber and now a +real-estate agent. I don't mind being a few things but that's quite +a--lot!" + +"You haven't said Enthusiast," Ruth reminded her, "that is what counts +most. But Nancy, you really ought to consider," pressed Ruth. "The money +would mean so much to your mother, and you have a perfect right to it. I +knew the way you were tearing around that big place, that you would +flim-flam Cullen," joked Ruth. "And Dad says, a hundred dollars isn't +anything on a fifteen thousand dollar deal--" + +"Fifteen thousand!" + +"Yes, all of that. And here's the little one hundred check," Ruth was +pressing a slip of paper into Nancy's unwilling hand. "Dad will be +dreadfully disappointed if you refuse--you're not too proud, are you?" + +"Too proud!" and the black eyes snapped little pin points of sparks. +"No, indeed, I mean to be a business woman, like mother, and I don't +care how soon I start," proclaimed Nancy, firmly. + +"Spoken like--Nancy Brandon!" hailed Ruth, gleefully, for she had known +all along what a task it would be to get Nancy to take the check. And +just as she had honestly stated, the amount given Nancy was but a small +fraction of that which a man from Mr. Ashley's office would have had to +receive for the same service. + +Unbelieving, Nancy stared at the check. + +"One hundred dollars!" she murmured, her eyes now beaming with +anticipation. "And mother's vacation only three days off!" + +"But please, Nan," Ruth hurried to change the subject, "don't go away to +parts unknown and leave me pining here. Of course, there are lots of +girls--hanging around," she smiled very prettily and looked very dimply +as she said this, "but since you came to Long Leigh, Nan, the other +girls don't count as much as they did." + +"I suppose," said Nancy in her "twinkling" way, "that may be because I'm +such a freak. I'm a lot of fun--" + +"Nan--cee!" + +"Ruth--ee!" + +And they finished the argument with a very pardonable show of affection, +if it was only a sound slap on Nancy's not fully clothed shoulders and a +pretty good whack on Ruth's plump little thigh. + +When Nancy was alone again, (for Ruth was to meet the girls at Isabel's +and they were all going for a swim before their ten o'clock cooking +lesson,) she smoothed out the little blue check lovingly. It was so +strange to think that money was acquired through mere enthusiasm. That +Mrs. Cullen would have decided to buy that enormous place merely upon +Nancy's--enthusiasm. That the cooking school had been started and was +successfully running because of her--enthusiasm! + +"Perhaps," she told the reflection in her glass, "it's a good thing to +despise some kinds of work if it makes one enthusiastic for other kinds. +But even now," she was insisting to that same mocking smile, "_I can_ +make a very good cake." + +To meet the girls at the lake, Nancy took a short cut up, over the hill +that would lead her past the old stone house. She had hurried her +breakfast and made sure that Miss Manners did not need her help to get +ready for the class, then, gowned in the easiest thing to put on--and +off, her lavender gingham, she raced off up the hill. + +But she never could hurry past the stone house; everything around it +held fascination for Nancy, even the half-formed dread that someone or +something would drop down from the sky, or spring up out of the earth, +as Mr. Sanders had formerly been accused of doing. So, instead of +crossing the fence where the old cedar tree had broken through and had +thus made an opening, Nancy continued on up through the stone path that +would bring her out at the apple orchard. + +"As if there could be anything weird in this open place," she was +saying. "Why, the old cistern over there looks as spic-span as when +folks used to draw water from it, and I'm sure," she was thinking, "a +turned upside-down rain-barrel shows care and attention--no mosquitoes +can breed in that." + +She stood a few moments to enjoy the soft summer scene, for it was not +yet quite time to meet the girls, when from the direction of the +rain-barrel she head a whine, a cat's cry, surely. + +"Some poor cat maybe caught in briars," Nancy decided promptly, as again +came a piteous meaow of a kitten or a cat. + +Following the call Nancy hurried in its direction. + +"Here puss?" she called. "Kitty-kitty-kitty!" + +The cry stopped as her voice called to it. It was not near the rain +barrel, Nancy now decided, but over by the cistern. Quickly she turned +in that direction, but when within a few feet of the square little box +that covered the artificial well, she was suddenly startled by a +noise--a queer noise. + +"What's that?" was her unspoken question. + +She listened. It was a man's voice, singing! + +"Where, where--can that be!" she murmured half aloud, meanwhile +unconsciously walking toward the cistern. + +Then a hammering! A buzzing! + +"Oh!" screamed Nancy in alarm, now realizing that she had been hearing +something very strange indeed. "Oh, I must--get--away!" was her wild +determination, as she turned and dashed down the hill, making her way +this time through the opening in the fence where the cedar tree had +fallen. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + TARTS AND LADY FINGERS + + +No one would believe her. They all came out of the water as Nancy +arrived at the beach, and declined positively, to go in. + +"I'm too--flustered," she insisted. "My head is swimming now and it +doesn't matter about my heels." + +"But Nancy," protested Marion Mason, one of the Upper Crust Hill girls, +"how could you have heard anybody or anything in that open field? No +bushes nor trees big enough to hide behind, just there." + +"It was the cat," insisted Christine Berg, a friend of Marion's. "There +are queer cats--always have been--around the old stone house. First, the +cat meaowed, just to entice you," said Christine, wringing out the scant +skirt of her black satin bathing suit. "And then, when she got you over +there, she did the rest," finished the very blonde girl with the lovely +hazel eyes. + +"Sort of ventriloquist," added Isabel. "Well, at any rate, Nan, you have +had a thrill. Vera, wouldn't that constitute a thrill, don't you think?" + +"I'll tell you what _I_ think," chimed in Ruth. "I think we had better +hurry to dress or we shall be late for our lesson, and mine is +cream-puffs today. Our family can eat cream-puffs until the puff--" But +the girls, running up to the little bath houses, deprived Ruth of her +audience, and also of the necessity of finishing her simile. + +Nancy sat on the little board-walk edge of the row of houses, while the +girls dressed. Ruth finished first and joined her there. + +"Really, Nan?" she quizzed, in an under tone. + +"Most certainly--really," replied Nancy, seriously. "Do you suppose I +would make that up for fun?" + +"No, I don't. It isn't your brand of fun. But it's mighty curious. Do +you suppose we should all go up there right now, and go over every inch +of the place--" + +"Oh, no. We must go back to Manny and be good cooks," Nancy answered. +"Besides Ruth, she has my check and I'm anxious to see if it is still +there, not just a dream check you know," she smiled understandingly at +Ruth. + +Rather towsled from their bath, and the lack of time and tools for hair +arrangements, the party of girls presently started off to take their +domestic science lesson. Along the way they met and hailed a number of +friends, for at bathing hour the lake drew folks from all parts of the +village and its suburbs, but there was no time for tarrying as Miss +Manners insisted upon promptness, and no one willingly ever disregarded +her rule. + +It was a merry little group that, all aproned and capped, listened first +to Miss Manners explanation of rules and reasons, and then they +themselves undertook the practical art of applying this knowledge. + +But Nancy could not forget her experience. It had been so weird, so +wild, in fact, to hear those noises coming from nowhere. + +Ruth was beating the eggs light as air for her cherished cream puffs; +Isabel was carefully creaming an equally dainty concoction in her +middle-sized yellow bowl, and the other girls were being similarly and +as practically engaged, when a shadow, a large manly shadow, darkened +the glass that formed the upper part of the store door. + +"A visitor!" exclaimed Marion, smoothing her cap at the risk of spoiling +her batter. + +Miss Manners stepped to the door to answer the knock. + +"Mr. Sanders!" the girls whispered one to another, as they saw Miss +Manners greet the caller. + +"Maybe he's going to inspect--" Christine began, but was stopped by Miss +Manners speaking. + +"Girls," she said, in her best teacher voice, "Mr. Sanders has called to +see if we can fill an order for him." + +"An order!" chorused the surprised pupils. + +"Yes," spoke up the one man among them. "The fact is, young ladies, I'm +giving a little party up at Waterfall House, and I felt convinced that +my attractions would be greatly increased if I could procure some--some +confections from this famous little class," he said. + +Miss Manners was all but protesting. That her class could be called +"famous" seemed to her rather too extravagant a statement. + +"Yes, indeed," went on the caller, while it must be admitted some of the +girls were stifling giggles. "My daughter is coming up, and she thinks +her college excels in this sort of thing." His sweeping gesture seemed +to include everything, even the girls. "And I would be mighty glad to +show her what we can do in our little Long Leigh." + +Followed suggestions and questions, so heaped up that the mere wording +of all the excitement amounted to little compared with its general +effect. Finally, Mr. Sanders and Miss Manners went into a secret +session, to outline the order, and the girls, who were supposed to go on +with the lesson, in reality went on with the fun. + +"Imagine!" chuckled Eleanor Dixon, "getting an order for fancy cakes! +I'm going to make kisses--" + +"Lady fingers would be more appropriate," Isabel remarked sagely, +"although, El, I have heard Miss Manners say, your biscuits +are--splendid." + +"Tarts!" whispered Christine, shaking her long handled spoon, and making +a comical face. + +"Mac-a-roons!" came from Dorothy's corner. + +But Mr. Sanders was now preparing to leave, and Miss Manners was +conducting him to the door, her face alight with the pleasant +excitement. As the caller walked past Nancy he said to her in an +undertone: + +"Can I speak to you, just a minute, Nancy?" + +Without answering Nancy followed him outside to the porch. + +"I'm coming up to see your mother this evening," he said, when their +voices were beyond reach of the others. "I've been expecting to for some +time, but now I _must_. Will you tell her, please? And be sure to be on +hand yourself, you and Ted, for I'm about ready to disclose the long +promised secret," he finished, his eyes twinkling merrily as he spoke. + +"Oh, all right, certainly," faltered Nancy, not quite sure just what she +was saying. + +"Yes," continued Mr. Sanders, "the summer, is going fast and I'm glad +things have shaped themselves before we were, any of us, forced to +separate." He was patting his brown hands together gleefully. + +"Would you mind if Isabel and Ruth came over? They're my best friends +and you can trust them," ventured Nancy, surprised at herself for doing +so. + +"Certainly, by all means, have them come," replied Mr. Sanders. "I see +you anticipate a surprise, and you are generous enough to want to share +it with your friends. That's the spirit I like to see. Tonight it will +be a sort of private performance," he smiled as he said this, "but +to-morrow night at the hotel I'm going to tell all who come. That's what +I want your cakes for," he finished, moving down the low steps. "We're +going to have a celebration and--well, I'll see you this evening," he +promised, hurrying off like a happy school boy. + +There was little work done in the cooking lesson after that. Everybody +was so excited at the prospect of filling a real order, that the entire +class immediately set to planning just how it was to be filled. + +It was Christine, however, who had what Ruth called "the inspiration." +After the class was dismissed she got the girls together, out of Miss +Manner's hearing, and made her suggestion. + +"Let's all come early," she began, "_very_ early. We'll do our very +best, of course, we can make wonderful cakes." + +"_You_ can," corrected Nancy. + +"So can you, Nan," Christine took time to say, "I'd like to see any one +make a better sponge cake--" + +"Oh, sponge cake," scoffed Nancy. + +"The very thing most needed to go with ice cream," Christine hurried to +say. "But listen--" + +"We are," said Ruth. + +"We will take whatever money we get for the entire order, (we donate the +materials, of course,) and with the money we'll buy a gift for--Manny!" +said Christine. + +"Hurrah!" came a hushed hail, for there was danger of the plans being +overheard. + +However, Christine's idea was enthusiastically received, and there was +no possible doubt of the entire plan being successfully carried out. + +Ruth remained with Nancy and so did Isabel, so that she readily found an +opportunity to tell them of Mr. Sander's message. They were as usual, +putting things away, Miss Manners being obliged to leave early to give a +private lesson to an invalid girl. + +"And we are actually going to hear the secret," gasped Nancy. "Girls, +you don't know how excited I am--" + +"You don't know how _crazy_ I am," added Ruth. + +"And how _wild_ I am," put in Isabel. "Think we should have a doctor +within call? Will it be overwhelming?" she joked. + +"Better have a policeman," suggested Ruth. "He may disclose some gems, +or other valuables." + +"Here comes Ted," Nancy interrupted, "and I know by his walk that he's +worried." + +Ted strode in, Nero close beside him, and as Nancy had intimated he did +act worried. + +"What's the matter, Ted?" Ruth asked first. + +"Matter? I've got to hide this dog. Folks want to take him away from me. +Say he's theirs," Ted's words fairly hissed his indignation. + +"Who says so?" demanded Nancy belligerently. + +"A man who came up to the old stone house," answered Ted. "But Nero was +Lou Peter's dog and Lou gave him to me, and not all the money there is, +is going to get my dog away from me." + +Ted's voice was not very positive, and the girls, all three, assisted +him in coaxing Nero out to the small door under the back porch, where he +was finally made a prisoner, with several plates of food set before him +to lighten the misery. + +It surely would be disastrous for Ted to lose his dog. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE STORY TOLD + + +The Whatnot Shop was quite powerless to prevent the invasion. + +"We'll push all the tables back and set the chairs around in a +half-circle," suggested the fluttered Nancy. "Then, it will be just +like--" + +"A play," finished Isabel. "Too bad we can't turn on a spot light." + +"I think it would be nice to let Mr. Townsend sit behind the counter on +his old high stool," Nancy further suggested. "It might make him feel at +home. I wonder where we put that stool." + +"Away back in the corner under the three-cornered shelf," Ruth informed +her. "I rammed it in there myself." + +It was dragged out--the stool, and set just where it had been found when +Nancy first took possession of the shop. + +"A regular par-tee!" chanted Isabel. "Glad I happened to wear a white +dress; being a deb and all that." + +"You may carry the white paper fan, little deb," mocked Nancy. "We +couldn't sell it so I'd be delighted to donate it to your coming out +party." + +"Oh, it isn't mine, it's yours," chirped Isabel, "and I hope you are not +going to wear that howling yellow gingham--" + +"I am. Yellow's my color," and Nancy flipped the skirt of her dress +around gaily. + +They were preparing, as might easily be guessed, for the "private +performance" promised by Mr. Sanders. Nancy had talked with him over the +phone, after his visit to the class that morning, and arrangements were +then made to invite the Townsends over, besides permission having been +granted Ted to bring in his chum, Buster Clayton. Just now Ted was +upstairs dressing; also singing and telling stories to Nero, most of +which racket could be heard down in the store. + +Mrs. Brandon's cheeks became soft as damask when Nancy showed her the +big check for one hundred dollars, which Nancy explained was in no sense +a gift, but purely part of a business transaction between her and Mr. +Ashley's real-estate office. The mother did not try to hide her delight, +that Nancy should have become such "a splendid little business woman," +and she predicted her own retirement from the office at an early date, +if such wonderful achievements were to be kept up. + +"And your bank account, my dear," she told Nancy when they were in +confidence over the developments, "aren't you proud of it?" + +"A little, Mother-mine," faltered the happy girl, "but there's something +better than that," she said shyly, for Nancy was not given to boasting. + +"I know," and the mother arms went around her. "Besides, you know now +that even despised housework is not so bad when it has an interesting +motive. That's why we mothers tolerate it; because we are working for +our darling children." + +"I know, Mums, but I really only thought 'dishes' before, now I think--" + +"The joy of helping _us_," Mrs. Brandon supplied. "And I'm so proud of +your cooking, and how much it has benefited Miss Manners, as well as +your friends. Why, my dear, I would make you vain were I to tell you +one-half of what I hear--" + +"Not vain, Mums. I'm not silly enough for that, for I've got to admit +I've been rather selfish all the way through--it has been such a lot of +fun." + +And Nancy meant it. She was not posing, nor was she playing at being +humble, for her mind was of that quality that reasons and analyzes one's +own motives as well as looking for motives in others. In that way she +had acquired what is called "common sense," perhaps because every one +should try, at least, to possess a measure of it. + +Now Mrs. Brandon, as well as Ted, was dressing. To please Nancy she had +promised to wear her geranium georgette, a soft dress that toned so well +with her dark hair and dark eyes, for Mrs. Brandon was still young, and +a handsome woman. + +And the girls were fairly dancing around the store, arranging chairs +brought in from the porch, dining room and even from the kitchen. + +"Let's make a little platform for Mr. Sanders," Ruth proposed. "This top +step of the back stairs will do. We don't have to open that door." + +"And have a stand and a glass of water--" Isabel added. + +"And flowers," insisted Nancy. "I must have flowers, they're so silly +for a man's speech, they'll make every body laugh." + +"Maybe hollyhocks would," Ruth said, "but I doubt if your audience would +see the joke if you put a bunch of roses there." + +So they progressed, until very soon, too soon for the girls, the company +began to arrive. + +Mr. and Miss Townsend, and little, brown, woolly Tiny came first. + +"I'm afraid we're early," said the lady in her best silver silk dress +and her very pretty new black-satin-trimmed-with-silver grapes, hat. She +carried a little flat cushion for Tiny, out of respect for the silver +silk dress. + +"Mother will be down directly," Nancy greeted Miss Townsend, in her very +best manner. "Sit over here. We've fixed this corner for you." + +"Oh my!" exclaimed the lady in genuine admiration. "How lovely +everything looks! However did you paint this old wood work white?" + +"For our cooking class, you know," replied Nancy, gaily. "Doesn't it +look--hygienic?" + +"I--should--say--so!" Miss Townsend was aghast. "And I suppose, those +spotless tables--" + +"Are the old ones from around the porches and every place," Nancy +informed her. "We just daubed the legs white and covered the tops with +oil cloth." + +"And I want to see that gas range. I've heard so much about it. Oh! +there's Miss Manners," exclaimed Miss Townsend, "she'll explain it to +me, and you may run along, dear." This was a release, not a dismissal +for Nancy. + +"She'll buy one and that will be a good big discount for Manny," Nancy +told the girls who had heard most of the conversation. + +"Yes. They've bought a new house--a brand spic-span new one," Ruth +whispered. "Father said Miss Townsend wanted the shiniest one he had for +sale," and there was a pardonable titter in response to that. + +But guests were now arriving in pairs. There were Mr. and Mrs. Ashley, +Ruth's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Duryee, Isabel's parents, besides Ted, +Buster and Nero, the latter three being promptly assigned by Ruth to the +corner nearest the side door. + +"So you can watch for prowlers," she joked. "Some other folks might +sneak up on the porch and listen in." + +"I'm all but stage struck," panted Nancy, trying to force the little +kicked-up curls around her ears back into place. "And girls, take your +places!" she admonished. "Here comes--the--talent! Mr. Sanders and +Sibyl!" + +It really was taking on the look of some sort of entertainment,--for as +Mr. Sanders and his daughter arrived there was a general presentation +all around by Mrs. Brandon, while the girls, feeling very much like +ushers at a school entertainment, stood with backs to the windows, just +as they always did at school affairs. + +The preliminary formalities over, Mr. Sanders was rather humorously +conducted to the "platform." This pleased Mr. Townsend "most to death" +and he was heard to chuckle that "the old fire-house as town-hall had +never held a better meeting." + +"I'll not keep you in suspense, my friends," began Mr. Sanders, without +so much as clearing his throat, "but I'll just introduce myself to those +who don't happen to know me. I'm Edwin Sanders of Eastern College, +professor of science there." There was a murmur through the room at that +announcement. + +"Professor!" was the surprised word it conveyed. + +"And I came here to experiment," the gentleman continued in a pleasantly +matter of fact voice. "I found this little house had a direct air shaft, +it runs from this room at that old fireplace down to the cellar, and out +through an old-fashioned flue-door, you know the kind." + +"That's a relic on this place," spoke up Mr. Elmer Townsend. "It was +built in here by a Dutch man from Holland--" + +"Yes, and it's a good one," agreed Mr. Sanders. "Well, you see, my +friends," he continued, "I had to experiment on an extremely delicate +little instrument," he was all professor now, "so, when I found the +exact conditions that I required here, I made an offer to the owner, Mr. +Townsend." + +There was much shifting around and significant scraping of chairs at +this point, but the speaker was in no way disturbed. + +"I thought it only fair to tell him how important my experiment was, and +what it would mean if it worked out as I expected. Well, it did," he +stated emphatically, "but not without the usual trouble that must be +endured if we want to succeed in big things." + +Miss Townsend was whispering, or she thought she was, and her brother +was trying to restrain her. + +"I could not tell the nature of this work because there was a new secret +principle involved in it," Mr. Sanders said, having overheard, likely, +what Miss Townsend was trying to tell her neighbor. "That was why Mr. +Townsend and I had to keep our secret so close." + +Ted and Buster were visibly squirming in their chairs, they were so +interested, but old Nero snoozed contentedly, not even suspecting +apparently, the presence of another dog, Tiny, that was safely hidden in +Miss Townsend's cushion. And as if Mr. Sanders remembered Tiny, he next +said: + +"Even the little dog was so interested as we worked he would insist upon +barking a tune for us. Sometimes we were afraid he might tell," he +finished, quizzically. + +"That was it," Ted privately told Buster. "Nancy said that puny, little +dog barked all the time he was in here." + +"After I got my point worked out in this air shaft," went on Mr. +Sanders, who had actually taken a sip of water from the glass at his +hand, "I was obliged to try it out in a very much more condensed +atmosphere. And just there is where I was forced to excite such wild +suspicions." He was almost laughing at the recollection. + +"It was funny; I'm willing to admit that myself, for like the King of +France in the story, I marched up the hill, but unlike him, I did not +march down again. And I'm surprised that no one seems to have guessed +where I was hidden." + +There was a pause. Nancy's face was betraying her suspicions but she +uttered no word. + + * * * * * + +"Just once I was almost discovered," continued Mr. Sanders. "And that +was the other day when my cat--cried. Just then some one was passing--" + +"I was," blurted out Nancy. "And I heard you singing!" + +Every one laughed. + +"Was I singing, really?" asked the professor. "Well, I might have been +for I was surely very happy. The anemometer was working beautifully down +there, in my--cistern!" + +"Cistern!" Every one seemed to cry out the word. + +"He was in the cistern!" Nancy gasped. "That was where I heard +the--noises coming from!" + +"In the cistern!" + +It took some time for the older folks to realize the significance of the +revelation, but the girls and boys seemed instantly to understand. + +"Yes, and you would be surprised what fine quarters I've had there. I +have that nice, perfectly dry cistern actually furnished, even a rug on +the floor! Chairs and a table, a looking glass--oh, you are all invited +to inspect now," announced the professor cheerily, "for my precious +instrument has been safely shipped to the manufacturers, and I've been +able--" + +"He's paid me more than a thousand dollars," declared Mr. Townsend, +rising from his chair and addressing the house, "and I think it's only +fair that folks around here should know how well I've made out on my +investment." + +"Yes indeed," Miss Townsend chimed in, "if any body in Long Leigh has +heard me say I was worried about Brother Elmer's money affairs," she +sort of hesitated before framing that term, "I just want them to know +now that we've made more money by Mr. Sanders investment in six months, +than we would make in six years in this little store." + +A burst of applause followed this. And presently every one seemed to be +talking at once. The formality of the occasion was lost in a round of +enthusiastic interest; the men demanding to know more about the +invention, while the women and girls were keen to hear all about the +cistern. + +Sibyl was glad to tell them about the curious little work shop under the +ground, and she soon had a group of the young folks listening to her +story. + +"I thought it was awful, at first," she explained, "but, of course, I'm +used to father's peculiar experiments. He has invented some wonderful +instruments," she said this in a properly restrained voice. "They are +being used in the college observatories, where they make weather +predictions, you know," she pointed out. + +"And I did notice some little pipes sticking out of the sides of that +cistern box," Nancy now remembered. "I might have known, but I was too +surprised to investigate," she admitted frankly. + +"Really girls," Sibyl went on, "Dad has that cistern furnished like a +room. You walk down a little ladder, and sit on a regular chair--" + +"But isn't it dark?" Ruth wanted to know. + +"Oh, no. One whole side of the cover is glass, a side that is back away +from the opening," Sibyl told them. "No one would ever notice the glass +there. And besides that, father had cut the concrete away, over on one +side of the bowl, and there he made a little skylight. You would never +notice that either, as there are bushes all around it," she said. + +By this time Ted and Buster were demanding to be heard. They had tried +to get a hearing with the older folks, but according to Ted "the buzzing +there was worse than a bee fight." + +"And say, Nan," he called out now, "I just want to know about--about +what Nero was after down the cellar, you know." + +Mr. Sanders was trying to make his way toward the girls just then, so +Nancy delayed answering Ted. + +"And say, Ted," Mr. Sanders began. "About your dog. You needn't worry +that anyone will take him from you. That man who spoke to you used to be +care-taker at the old stone house. And he was supposed to look after +Nero, whose real name is Jason. That's the fellow who went after the +Golden Fleece you remember." + +"Jason?" repeated Ted. "Sounds like an auto fixer. I like Nero best." + +"All right, son," and Mr. Sanders gave Ted a friendly slap on the +shoulders. "Nero he shall be. But as I was saying, the man who was +expected to care for your dog hadn't done so, and he's got sort of +worried lately and wanted to get him back." + +"He can't have him," Ted defended stoutly. + +"No, that's right; he can't. And I told him so. He knows now that the +dog is in good hands, and that I'll answer any questions the Ellors +family care to ask about him." + +Ted's face was now beaming with joy. He had been so worried about Nero +that he simply wouldn't let the animal out of his protective sight for +days past. + +"And Mr. Sanders," he insisted, "night before last Nero saved us from a +flood. A water pipe broke right over there and Nero--made us all get +up--" + +"Night before last!" exclaimed the professor. + +"Yes; and Nancy turned off the water--" + +"That was the night I had my precious little air-meter right under this +chimney," said Mr. Sanders very slowly, "and if water had trickled +through the floor, down onto that, it would have been ruined." + +"Then, just as Ted says," Nancy spoke, "Nero really did save it, for +there was a regular flood around this hearth." + +"You must have seen me leaving the grounds that afternoon," Mr. Sanders +admitted. "I was sure you did, but I wasn't ready to tell my story--just +then. But Ted, I'll have to get you a fine collar for Nero--" + +The girls were begging Nancy to make an announcement. + +"Go on," urged Ruth. "They're all talking together and no one will +listen unless you get up on the step." + +With this and considerable more urging, Nancy finally mounted the step. +She smiled shyly at her mother as she passed along, for Mrs. Brandon, +like the other "principals," was having a busy time of it. + +"I just want to say," Nancy began with a little quaver in her voice, +"that we've prepared some little cakes and punch as samples of our +cooking class work, and we'll be glad to have you all stay and try +them." + +There was real applause at this, and mentioning the cooking class--was a +signal for another outburst of comment from the ladies. They all +believed in girls doing something during summer, and they did not +believe in girls "wasting" an entire vacation. + +"I think we ought to give a cheer for the girls," Mr. Sanders proposed. +"They have kept things going pretty lively around here this summer, just +lively enough to save me from having been discovered." + +"And I'd like to say a word," ventured timid Miss Manners. But the girls +would not permit her to do so, Nancy, especially being fearful that the +little lady's gratitude, for the domestic science class and for Mrs. +Brandon's hospitality might become embarrassing. + +"Any how," said Buster to Ted, "we can have our dog." + +"And a dandy new collar," appended Ted. + +Nancy was waiting a chance to finish her announcements, and in a little +lull she again called out: + +"Mr. Sanders and Miss Sanders are entertaining tomorrow evening at the +Waterfall House. Every body is invited! And you will be treated there to +some real samples of our cakes!" + +"Now I call that lov-el-lee," declared Miss Townsend, shaking her new +hat at every syllable. "And these cakes," (the girls were passing them) +"are de-lic-ious." + +Nancy was very happy. She tugged at her mother's arm and cuddled her +head against the loving shoulder, just as she had always done in her +great moments. + +"Isn't it lov-ell-lee, Mums," she whispered. + +"A complete--success!" murmured the mother. + +And the next morning half, if not all, of Long Leigh trooped up the hill +to inspect the wonderfully outfitted and "infitted" cistern, that had so +long escaped notice, on the grounds of the old, stone house. + +"I was going to look down that cistern first chance I got," Nancy +confessed. "But being successful is such a busy--business," she joked, +"that I think it will be a delightful change to begin a real vacation +with mother tomorrow." + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nancy Brandon, by Lilian Garis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANCY BRANDON *** + +***** This file should be named 45497-8.txt or 45497-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/4/9/45497/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Nancy Brandon + +Author: Lilian Garis + +Illustrator: Thelma Gooch + +Release Date: April 26, 2014 [EBook #45497] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANCY BRANDON *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic002'> +<a href='images/illus-fpc.jpg'><img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='frontispiece' class='ig002' /></a> +<p>They had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>NANCY BRANDON</span></div> + <div class='c000'>By</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='larger'>LILIAN GARIS</span></div> + <div class='c000'><i>Author of</i></div> + <div>“JOAN’S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE,†“GLORIA AT BOARDING</div> + <div>SCHOOL,†“CONNIE LORING’S AMBITION,â€</div> + <div>“BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER,â€</div> + <div>“CLEO’S MISTY RAINBOW,†ETC.</div> + <div class='c000'>ILLUSTRATED BY</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='larger'>THELMA GOOCH</span></div> + <div class='c001'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> + <div>PUBLISHERS NEW YORK</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><i>Copyright, 1924</i></div> + <div>By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY</div> + <div>Springfield, Massachusetts</div> + <div><i>All Rights Reserved</i></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='smaller'>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='c002'><span class='larger'>CONTENTS</span></div> + +<table class='c003' summary='Table of Contents'> +<tr><td class='c004'>I.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chI'><span class='sc'>The Girl and the Boy</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>II.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chII'><span class='sc'>Dinner Difficulties</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>III.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chIII'><span class='sc'>Belated Haste</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>IV.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chIV'><span class='sc'>New Friends</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>V.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chV'><span class='sc'>Original Plans</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>VI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chVI'><span class='sc'>Fair Play</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>VII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chVII'><span class='sc'>The Special Sale</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>VIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chVIII'><span class='sc'>Fish Hooks and Floaters</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>IX.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chIX'><span class='sc'>The Big Day</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>X.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chX'><span class='sc'>Still They Came</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXI'><span class='sc'>The Failure</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXII'><span class='sc'>The Virtue of Resolve</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXIII'><span class='sc'>Behind the Cloud</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XIV.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXIV'><span class='sc'>A Pleasant Surprise</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XV.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXV'><span class='sc'>Talking it Over</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XVI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXVI'><span class='sc'>Just Fishing</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XVII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXVII'><span class='sc'>The Cave-in</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XVIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXVIII'><span class='sc'>Introducing Nero</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XIX.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXIX'><span class='sc'>A Discovery</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XX.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXX'><span class='sc'>The Midnight Alarm</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XXI.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXXI'><span class='sc'>For Value Deceived</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XXII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXXII'><span class='sc'>Tarts and Lady Fingers</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='c004'>XXIII.</td><td class='c005'><a href='#chXXIII'><span class='sc'>The Story Told</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<div class='pbb'></div> +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div> +<h1 class='c006'>NANCY BRANDON: ENTHUSIAST</h1> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chI' class='c007'>CHAPTER I<br /> <br />THE GIRL AND THE BOY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>The small kitchen was untidy. There +were boxes empty and some crammed with +loose papers, while a big clothes basket was +filled—with a small boy, who took turns rolling +it like a boat and bumping it up and +down like a flivver. Ted Brandon was +about eleven years old, full of boyhood’s importance +and bristling with boyhood’s +pranks.</p> + +<p class='c009'>His sister Nancy, who stood placidly reviewing +the confusion, was, she claimed, in +her teens. She was also just now in her +glory, for after many vicissitudes and uncertainties +they were actually moved into +the old Townsend place at Long Leigh.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re perfectly silly, Ted. You know +it’s simply a wonderful idea,†she proclaimed +loftily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do I.†There was no question in the +boy’s tone.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, you ought to. But, of course, +boys—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, there you go. Boys!!†No mistaking +this tone.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon, you ought to be ashamed +of yourself. To be so—so mean to mother.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mean to mother! Who said anything +about mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This is mother’s pet scheme.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Pretty queer scheme to keep us cooped +up all vacation.†He rocked the basket +vigorously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We won’t have to stay in much at all. +Why, just odd times, and besides—†Nancy +paused to pat her hair. She might have +patted it without pausing but her small +brother Ted would then have been less impressed +by her assumed dignity, “you see, +Teddy, I’m working for a principle. I +don’t believe that girls should do a bit more +housework than boys.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I know you believe that all-righty.†+Ted allowed himself to sigh but did not +pause to do so. He kept right on rocking +and snapping the blade of his pen-knife +open and shut, as if the snap meant something +either useful or amusing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I guess I know what I’m talking +about,†declared Nancy, “and now, even +mother has come around to agree with me. +She’s going right on with her office work +and you and I are to run this lovely little +shop.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You mean <em>you</em> are to run the shop and +<em>I’ll</em> wash the dishes.†Deepest scorn and +seething irony hissed through Teddy’s +words. He even flipped the pen-knife into +the sink board and nicked, but did not break, +the apple-sauce dish.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course you must do your part.†+Nancy lifted up two dishes and set them +down again.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And yours, if you have your say. Oh, +what’s the use of talkin’ to girls?†Ted +tumbled out of the basket, pushed it over +until it banged into a soap box, then +straightening up his firm young shoulders, +he prepared to leave the scene.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s no use talking to girls, Ted,†+replied his sister, “if you don’t talk sense.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sense!†He jammed his cap upon his +head although he didn’t have any idea of +wearing it on this beautiful day. The fact +was, Teddy and Nancy were disagreeing. +But there really wasn’t anything unusual +about that, for their natures were different, +they saw things differently, and if they had +been polite enough to agree they would +simply have been fooling each other.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy smiled lovingly, however, at the +boy, as he banged the door. What a darling +Ted was! So honest and so scrappy! Of +all things hateful to Nancy Brandon a +“sissy†boy, as she described a certain type, +was the worst.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I suppose,†she ruminated serenely, +“the old breakfast dishes have got to be +done.†Another lifting up and setting +down of a couple of china pieces, but further +than that Nancy made not the slightest +headway. A small mirror hung in a small +hall between the long kitchen and the store. +Here Nancy betook herself and proceeded +again to pat her dark hair.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She was the type of girl described as willowy, +because that word is prettier than +some others that might mean tall, lanky, +boneless and agile. Nancy had black hair +that shone with crow-black luster in spite of +its pronounced curl. Her eyes were dark, +snappy and meaningful. They could mean +love, as when Ted slammed the door, or they +could mean danger, as when a boy kicked the +black and white kitten. Then again they +could mean devotion, as when Nancy beheld +her idolized little mother who was a business +woman as well, and in that capacity, +Nancy’s model.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A tingle at the bell that was set for the +store alarm, sent the girl dancing away from +the looking-glass.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Funniest thing about a store,†she told +herself, “there’s always someone to buy +things you haven’t got.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The catch was on the screen door and, as +Nancy approached it, she discerned outside, +the figure of an elderly woman. It was +Miss Sarah Townsend from whom her +mother had bought the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, good morning, Miss Townsend. I +keep the door fastened when I’m alone, as +I might be busy in the kitchen,†apologized +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s right, dear, that’s right. And I +wouldn’t be too much alone if I were you,†+cautioned the woman who was stepping in +with the air of proprietorship, and with her +little brown dog sniffing at her heels. +“Don’t you keep your brother with you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted? Oh yes, sometimes. But he’s a +little boy, you know, Miss Townsend, and +he must enjoy his vacation.†Nancy was +making friends with Tiny, the dog, but after +a polite sniff or two Tiny was off frisking +about happily, as any dog might be expected +to do when returning to his old-time home.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend surveyed Nancy critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course your brother is a little boy,†+she said, “but what about you? You’re +only a little girl.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Little! Why I’m much stronger than +Ted, and years older,†declared Nancy, +pulling herself up to her fullest height.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The woman smiled tolerantly. She wore +glasses so securely fixed before her deep-set +eyes that they seemed like a very feature of +her face. She was a capable looking, elderly +woman, and rather comely, but she +was, as Nancy had quickly observed, “hopelessly +old-fashioned.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t anything fixed up yet,†said +Nancy apologetically. “You see, mother +goes to business and that leaves the store +and the house to me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. She explained in taking our place +that she was doing it to give you a chance to +try business. But for a girl so young—Come +back here, Tiny,†she ordered the +sniffing, snuffing, frisky little dog.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If I’m going to be a business woman +I’ve got to start in,†interrupted Nancy. +“They say it’s never too early to start at +<em>housework</em>.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But that’s different. Every girl has to +know how to keep house,†insisted Miss +Townsend. She was busy straightening a +box of spools that lay upon the little +counter, but from her automatic actions it +was perfectly evident that Miss Townsend +didn’t know she was doing anything.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can’t see why,†retorted Nancy. +“Just look at mother. What would she +have done with us if she hadn’t understood +business?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend sighed. “Being a widow, +my dear—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I may be a widow too,†breezed +Nancy. “In fact I’m sure to, for everyone +says I’m so much like mother. Do let me +fix that box of spools, Miss Townsend. +Someone came in for linen thread last night +and Teddy looked for it. I’m sure he gave +them a ball of cord, for all the cord was +scattered around too.†She put the cover +on the thread box. “Boys are rather poor +at business, I think, especially boys of +Teddy’s age,†orated the important Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend agreed without saying so. +She was looking over the little place in a +fidgety, nervous way. Nancy quickly decided +this was due to regret that she had +given the place up, and therefore sought to +make her feel at ease.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The little brown dog had curled himself +up in front of the fireplace on a piece of rug, +evidently his own personal property. The +fireplace was closed up and the stove set +back against it, out of the way for summer, +and handy-by for winter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy smiled at the woman who was moving +about in a sort of aimless restlessness.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It must seem natural to you to be around +here,†Nancy ventured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, after thirty years—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thirty years!†repeated Nancy, incredulously. +“Did you and your brother live +here all that time?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes.†A prolonged sigh brought Miss +Townsend down on the old hickory chair +that stood by the door, just out of the way +of possible customers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Brother Elmer and I kept on here after +mother died. In fact, so far as I was concerned, +we might have gone on until we died, +but there was a little trouble—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just like me and my brother, I suppose,†+intervened Nancy, kindly. “We +love each other to death, and yet we are +always scrapping.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“In children’s way, but that’s different, +very different,†insisted Miss Townsend. +“With me and Elmer,†she sighed again, +“it became a very, very serious matter.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh,†faltered Nancy. Things were becoming +uncomfortable. That kitchen work +would be growing more formidable, and +Nancy had really wanted to settle the store. +She would love to do that, to put all the +little things in their places, or in new places, +as she would surely find a new method for +their arrangement. She hurried over to +the corner shelves.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hope no one comes in until I get the +place fixed up,†she remarked. “Mother +doesn’t intend to buy much new stock until +she sees how we get along.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s wise,†remarked Miss Townsend. +“I suppose I know every stick in the place,†+she looked about critically, “and yet I could +be just as interested. I wonder if you +wouldn’t like me to help you fix things up? +I’d just love to do it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Now this was exactly what Nancy did +not want. In fact, she was wishing +earnestly that the prim Miss Townsend +would take herself off and leave her to do as +she pleased.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s kind of you, I’m sure,†she said, +“but the idea was that I should be manager +from the start,†Nancy laughed lightly to +justify this claim, “and I’m sure mother +would be better pleased if I put the shop in +order. You can come in and see me again +when I’m all fixed up,†(this gentle hint was +tactful, thought Nancy) “and then you can +tell me what you think of me as the manager +of the Whatnot Shop.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend was actually poking in the +corner near the hearth shelf where matches, +in a tin container, were kept. She heard +Nancy but did not heed her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Looking for something?†the girl asked +a little sharply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Looking?†Yes, that is—“Tiny keep +down there,†she ordered. “I can’t see +what has got into that dog of late. It was +one of the things that Elmer and I were +constantly fussing over. Tiny won’t let +any one touch things near this chimney +without barking his head off. Now just +watch.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>As she went to the shelf back of the stove +the dog sprang alongside of her. He barked +in the happy fashion that goes with rapid +tail wagging, and Nancy quickly decided +that the dog knew a secret of the old +chimney.</p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic003'> +<a href='images/illus-012.jpg'><img src='images/illus-012.jpg' alt='' class='ig003' /></a> +<p>Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Again Miss Townsend pretended to take +things out of the stove, and Tiny all but +jumped into the low, broad door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, isn’t that—uncanny?†asked the +woman, plainly bewildered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no, I don’t think so,†said Nancy. +“All dogs have queer little tricks like +that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do they? I’m glad to hear you say so,†+sighed Miss Townsend, once more picking +up a small box of notions. “You must excuse +me, my dear. You see the habit of a +life time—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that’s all right, Miss Townsend, I +didn’t mean to hurry you,†spoke up Nancy. +“But the morning goes so quickly, and +mother may come home to lunch.†This +possibility brought real anxiety to Nancy. +If she had only slicked up the kitchen instead +of arguing with Teddy. After all the +plagued old housework did take some time, +she secretly admitted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Miss Townsend laid down the unfinished +roll of lace edging, although she had +most carefully rolled all but a very small +end, walked over to Nancy, who was just +attempting to dust out a tray, and in the +most tragic voice said:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy, I think you really have a lot of +sense.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy chuckled. “I hope so, Miss +Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I mean to say, that I think you can be +trusted.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†stammered Nancy, forcing back +another chuckle, “I hope so, to that too, Miss +Townsend.†She was surprised at the +woman’s manner and puzzled to understand +its meaning. The dog was again snoozing +on the rug.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s sit down,†suggested Miss +Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right,†faltered Nancy, in despair +now of ever catching up on the delayed +work.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You see, it’s this way,†began the +woman, making room for herself in the big +chair that was serving as storage quarters +for Teddy’s miscellany. “Some people are +very proud—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was simply choking with +impatience.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I mean to say, they are so proud they +won’t or can’t ever give in to each other.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Stubborn,†suggested Nancy. “I’m +that way sometimes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And brother and sister,†sighed Miss +Townsend. “I never could believe that +Elmer, my own brother, could, be so—unreasonable.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, what’s the matter?†Nancy spoke +up. “You seem so unhappy.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Unhappy is no name for it, I’m +wretched.†The distress shown on Miss +Townsend’s face was now unmistakable. +Nancy forgot even the unwashed breakfast +dishes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can I help you?†she asked kindly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, you can. What I want is to come +in here sometimes—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, if you’re lonely for your old +place,†interrupted Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It isn’t that. In fact I just can’t explain,†+said Miss Townsend, picking up her +hand bag, nervously. “But I’m no silly +woman. We’ve agreed to sell this place to +your mother and I’m the last person in the +world to make a nuisance of myself.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You needn’t worry about that,†again +Nancy intervened, sympathetically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are a kind girl, Nancy Brandon, +and I guess your mother has made no mistake +in buying the Whatnot Shop for you. +You’ll be sure to make friends, and that’s +what counts next to bargains, in business,†+declared the woman, who had risen from the +big chair and was staring at Nancy in the +oddest way.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If I had a chance—†again the woman +paused and bit her thin lip. She seemed to +dread what she evidently must say.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll be busy here tomorrow,†suggested +Nancy briskly, “and then perhaps you +would like to help me. But I really would +like to get the rough dirt out first. Then +we can put things to rights.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The fact is,†continued Miss Townsend, +without appearing to hear Nancy’s suggestion, +“I have a suspicion.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A suspicion? About this—store?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, and about my brother. He’s an old +man and we’ve never had any real trouble +before, but I’m sorry to say, I can’t believe +he’s telling me the truth about an important +matter. That is, it’s a very important matter +to me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh,†said Nancy lamely. She was +beginning to have doubts of Miss Townsend’s +mental balance.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, Elmer is a good man. He’s been +a good brother, but there are some things—†+(a long, low, breathful sigh,) “some things +we have individual opinions about. And, +well, so you won’t think me queer if I ask +you to let me tidy the shop?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why—no, of course not, Miss Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thank you, thank you, Nancy Brandon,†+emotion was choking her words. She +was really going now and Tiny with her. +“And perhaps it would be just as well not to +say anything about it if my brother should +drop in,†concluded the strange woman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, do you suppose he will?†asked bewildered +Nancy. “I mean, will he drop +in?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s apt to. Elmer is a creature of +habit and he’s been around here a long time, +you know.†The dark eyes were glistening +behind the gold framed glasses. Miss Townsend +was still preparing to depart.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy opened the screen door and out +darted Tiny.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good-bye, my dear, for the present,†+murmured Miss Townsend, “and I hope you +and your mother and your brother will—be +happy—here,†she choked on the words +and Nancy had an impression of impending +tears. “We wouldn’t have sold out, we +<em>shouldn’t</em> have sold out, but for Elmer +Townsend’s foolishness.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Back went the proud head until the lace +collar on Sarah Townsend’s neck was jerked +out of place, a rare thing indeed to happen +to that prim lady.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good-bye,†said Nancy gently, “and +come again, Miss Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, yes, dear, I shall.â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chII' class='c010'>CHAPTER II<br /> <br />DINNER DIFFICULTIES</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Nancy jerked her cretonne apron first one +way and then the other. Then she kicked +out a few steps, still pondering. When +Nancy was thinking seriously she had to be +acting. This brought her to the conclusion +that she should hurry out to the porch and +look after Miss Townsend, but she had decided +upon that move too late, for the lady +in the voile dress was just turning the corner +into Bender Street.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy’s face was a bed of smiles. They +were tucked away in the corners of her +mouth, they blinked out through her eyes +and were having lots of fun teasing her two +deep cheek dimples. She was literally all +smiles.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What a lark! Won’t Ted howl? The +dog and the—the chimney secret,†she +chuckled. “And dogs know. You can’t +fool them.†She came back into the store +and gazed ruefully at the squatty stove that +mutely stood guard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t suppose mother will want that +left there all summer,†Nancy further +considered. “It might just as well be put +out in the shed, and the store would look lots +better.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She could not help thinking of Miss Townsend’s +strange visit. The lady was unmistakably +worried, and her worry surely had +to do with the Whatnot Shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I do hope we don’t run into any old +spooky stories about this place,†Nancy +pondered, “for mother hates that sort of +thing and so do I—if they’re the foolish, +silly kind,†she admitted, still staring at the +questionable fireplace.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What-ever can Miss Townsend want to +be around here for? No hidden treasures +surely, or she would say so and start in to +dig them up,†decided the practical Nancy. +The clock struck one!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“One o’clock!†she said this aloud. “Of +course it isn’t,†laughed the girl. “That +clock has been going since the moving and it +hasn’t unpacked its strike carefully. But, +just the same, it must be eleven o’clock, and +as for the morning’s work! However shall +I catch up?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>One hour later Ted was in looking for +lunch. He had been out “exploring†and +had, he explained, met some fine fellows who +were “brigand scouts.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m goin’ to join,†he declared. +“They’re goin’ to let me in and I’m goin’ to +bring a lot of my things over to the den.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Den?†questioned Nancy. “Where’s +that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Secret,†answered Ted. “An’ anyhow, +it isn’t for girls.†This was said in a pay-you-back +manner that Nancy quickly challenged.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right. Very well. Just as you +say, keep it secret if you like,†she taunted, +“but I’ve got a real one.†The potatoes +were burning but neither of the children +seemed to care.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted looked closely at his sister and was +convinced. She really was serious. Then +too, everything was on end, no dinner ready, +nothing done, the place all boxes, just as +they were when he left. Something must +have been going on all morning, reasoned +Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good thing mother didn’t come home, +Sis,†he remarked amicably. “Say, how +about—chow?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Chow?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. Don’t you know that means food +in the military, and I’m as starved as a +bear.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, why don’t you get something to +eat? I understood we were to camp, share +and share alike,†Nancy reminded him, giving +the simmering potatoes a shake that sent +the little pot-cover flying to the floor.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That was your idea. But mother said +you had to be sure we ate our meals,†+contended Ted. “I’ll get the meat. It’s meat +balls, isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It will be, I suppose, when <em>I</em> make them,†+said Nancy, deliberately shoving everything +from one end of the table with a sweep that +rattled together dishes, glasses and various +other breakable articles.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was no doubt about it, Nancy +Brandon did hate housework. Every thing +she did was done with that degree of scorn +absolutely fatal to the result. Perhaps this +was just why her mother was allowing her +to try out the pet summer scheme.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’d go mad if I had to stick in a +kitchen,†Nancy declared theatrically. +“I’m so glad we’ve got the store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we can’t eat the store,†replied Ted. +“Here’s the meat. Do get it going, Sis. +I’ve got to get back to the fellows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! You’ve got to help <em>me</em> +this afternoon. Do you think, for one instant, +I’m going to do everything?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“'Course not, I’ll do my share,†promised +the unsuspecting boy. “But just today +we’ve got something big on. Here’s the +meat.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Big or little you have just got to help +me, Ted. Look at this place! It seems to +me things walk out of the boxes and heap +themselves up all over. Now, we didn’t +take those pans out, did we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t know, don’t think so. But here’s +a good one. It’s the meat kind, isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. Give it here.†Nancy took from +his hand a perfectly flat iron griddle. “I’ll +fix up the cakes if you make place on the +table. We’ll eat out here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right.†Ted flew to the task. “But +you know, Sis, mother said we might eat in +that sun porch. It’s a dandy place to read. +Look at the windows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy had flattened the chopped meat into +four balls and was pressing them on the +griddle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There. What did you do with the +potatoes?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nothing. I didn’t take them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we had potatoes—†She lighted +the gas under the meat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure. I smelled them burning.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, hunt around and see if you can +smell them now,†ordered Ted’s sister. “I +can’t eat meat without potatoes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted dropped his two plates and actually +went sniffing about in search of the lost food. +Meanwhile Nancy was standing at the stove, +a magazine in one hand and the griddle +handle in the other. Her eyes, however, +were not upon the griddle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently the meat was sizzling and its +odor cheered Ted considerably.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t let’s mind the potatoes,†he suggested. +“I can’t find them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can’t find them? And I peeled three! +We’ve <em>got</em> to find them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then you look and I’ll stir the meat.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It doesn’t have to be stirred.†But +Nancy stood over the stove just the same.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then what are you watching it for?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So it won’t burn, like the potatoes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe they all burned up.†Ted didn’t +care much for potatoes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, don’t be silly. Where’s the pan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Which pan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ted Brandon! The potato pan, of +course!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Nancy Brandon! What potato pan, +of course! Has it got a name on it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy dropped her magazine on a littered +chair, in sheer disgust. She realized the +meat was cooking; (it splattered and spluttered +merrily on the shallow griddle,) and +she too was hungry. Ted might be satisfied +to eat just bread and meat, but she simply +had to have freshly cooked potatoes. +Wasn’t housework awful? Especially +cooking?</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a jangle of the store bell, actually +some one coming at that critical moment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, dear!†groaned Nancy. “What a +nuisance! I suppose I’ll have to go—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But the meat?†Ted was getting desperate.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s almost ready.†Nancy wiped her +hands on the dish towel and hurried to the +store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A man!†she announced, as she went to +open the screen door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted left his post and cautiously stole after +her. A customer was a real novelty and +Ted didn’t want to miss the excitement. A +pleasant voice filled in the moment. A +gentleman was talking to Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m glad to find some one in,†he was +saying. “Since my friend, Elmer Townsend, +left here I’ve been rather—that is, I’ve +missed the little place,†explained the man. +Ted could see that he was very tall and +looked, he thought, like a school teacher, +having no hat on and not much hair +either.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ve just been unpacking,†Nancy replied. +She was conscious of the confusion +in the store as well as she had been of things +upset in the kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†drawled the man, stepping behind +the counter. “It will take you some +time to go over everything. But you see, +Mr. Townsend and I are great friends, and +I know where most of the things are kept. +You don’t mind if I take a look for a ball of +twine?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, certainly not,†agreed Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can get you that,†spoke up Ted. “I +had it out last night,†and he jumped behind +the counter to the littered cord and twine +box.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy pulled herself up to that famous +height of hers. She smelled—something +burning!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted!†she screamed. “It’s a-fire! The +kitchen! I see the blaze!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The meat!†yelled Ted, springing over +the low counter and following his sister toward +the smoke filling place.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh-h-h-!†Nancy continued to yell. +“What shall we do!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t get excited,†ordered the stranger. +“And don’t go near that blazing pan. Let +me go in there,†and he brushed Nancy aside +making his way into the untidy place, which +now seemed, to the frightened girl, all in +flames.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The meat—gosh!†moaned poor Ted, for +the stranger had opened the back door, and +having grabbed the flaming pan with that +same towel Nancy had tossed on the chair, +he was now tossing the blazing pan as far out +from the house as his best fling permitted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There!†he exclaimed, brushing one +hand with the other. “I guess we’re safe +now.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, thank you, Mister, Mister—†Nancy +waited for him to supply the name, but he +only smiled broadly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just call me Sam,†he said pleasantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sam?†echoed Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, sonny. Isn’t that all right?†asked +the stranger.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were within the cluttered kitchen +now and, as is usually the case with girls of +Nancy’s temperament, she was much distressed +at the looks of the place. In fact, +she was making frantic but futile efforts to +right things.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What’s the matter with Sam?†again +asked the man, curiously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, nothing,†replied Ted. “Only it +isn’t your name.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No? How do you know?†persisted the +stranger, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You don’t look like a Sam,†said Ted, +kicking one heel against the other to hide +his embarrassment. He hadn’t intended +saying all that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The man laughed heartily, and for the +moment Nancy forgot the upset kitchen. +But the dinner!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hope your dinner isn’t gone,†remarked +the stranger who wanted to be called +Sam.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no,†replied Nancy laconically, +avoiding Ted’s discouraged look. “That +was only some—some meat we were cooking.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can’t keep house and 'tend store without +spoiling something. But I feel it was +somewhat my fault. Suppose we lock up +and trot down to the corner for a dish of ice +cream?†he suggested. “It’s just warm +enough today for cream; don’t you think +so?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, let’s!†chirped Ted. A hungry boy +is ever an object of pity.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You go,†suggested Nancy, “but I think +I had better stay here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no. You’ve got to come along. Let +me see. If you call me Uncle Sam what +shall I call you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m Nancy Brandon and this is my +brother Ted,†replied Nancy. “But I’d +like much better to call you by your real +name.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Real name,†and he laughed again. “I +see we are going to be critical friends. Now +then, since you insist Sam won’t do suppose +we make it Sanders. Mr. Sanders. How +does that name suit?†and he clapped Ted’s +shoulders jovially.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then Mr. Sanders, you and Ted go along +and get your cream. I really must attend to +things here,†insisted Nancy. “We are all +so upset and mother will expect us to have +things in some sort of order.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Sis, come along†begged Ted. +“I’ll help you when we get back. It won’t +take a minute.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Hunger is a poor argument against food, +and presently the back door was locked, the +front door was locked, and the two Brandons +with the man who called himself Mr. +Sanders, because they refused to call him +Uncle Sam, were making tracks for the ice +cream store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Burnt potatoes, burnt meat with ice cream +for dessert, thought Nancy. But she was +still convinced that business was more important +than housekeeping.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Glad we didn’t burn up,†remarked Ted, +as he trotted along beside Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Never want to throw water on burning +grease,†they were advised. “And always +keep a thing at full arm’s length, if you must +pick it up. Of course, if you turned out the +gas and pushed the pan well in on the stove +it would eventually burn out, but think of +the smoke!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You bet!†declared Ted, as they reached +the little country ice cream parlor. Two +girls, whom Nancy had seen several times +since she came to Long Leigh, were just +leaving the place and she thought they +looked at her very curiously as they passed +out. Then, she distinctly heard one of them +say:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Fancy! With him!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy knew she had made some +sort of mistake in accepting the well-intentioned +invitation.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER III<br /> <br />BELATED HASTE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Instinctively Nancy sought a sheltered +corner of the ice cream room. She was +greatly embarrassed to have come along the +road with a stranger whom she knew nothing +about, and now she was determined to +leave him alone with Teddy. There must +be something odd about him, to have drawn +that remark from the girls. Nancy looked +at him critically from her place below the +decorated looking glass, and decided he did +appear queer to her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I’m just starved,†she told herself, +“and I’ve got to have something to eat.†+The girl in the gingham dress, with a great +wide muslin apron, took an order for cake +and cream and a glass of milk. Fortunately, +Nancy had her purse along with her. +That much, at least, she had already learned +about being a business woman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Teddy was chatting gaily with the man +down near the door. They seemed to be +having a great time over their stories, and +Nancy rightly suspected the stories concerned +Ted’s favorite sport, camping.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She ate her lunch rather solemnly. +Everything seemed to be going wrong, but +the escape from fire, with the frying meat +on a shallow griddle, was surely something +to be thankful for.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Oh, well! Only half a day had been lost, +and she really couldn’t have done more when +Miss Townsend took all that precious time +with her lamentations.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend! Nancy sipped the last +of her milk as she reflected on the little dog’s +interest in the old fireplace. Of course, +Miss Townsend would come again, and Tiny +would always be along with her. And +Nancy hadn’t yet told Ted about that experience.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just buying a country store didn’t seem +to mean buying a lot of freaks along with +the bargain,†Nancy speculated. “And +now here’s Mr. Baldy who wants to be called +after Uncle Sam, going right in back of my +counter and helping himself—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ready, Sis!†called out Teddy, as he +waited for Mr. Sanders to pay his bill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You go along, Ted,†called back Nancy. +“I’ve got to stop some place, but I’ll be there +in time to open the door for you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted never questioned one of those queer +decisions of Nancy’s. He knew how useless +such a thing would be; so off he went with +the man in the short sleeved shirt, while +Nancy tarried long enough to give them a +fair start.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, easily finding a way through the +fields, she raced off herself, although getting +through thick hedges and climbing an occasional +rail fence, proved rather tantalizing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In front of the store she found Mr. Sanders +just leaving Ted. They were both talking +and laughing as if the acquaintance had +proved highly satisfactory, but it irritated +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, I suppose, <em>he’ll</em> come snooping +around,†she grumbled. “Well, there’s one +thing certain, I’m not going to keep an old-fashioned +country store. No hanging +around my cracker barrels,†she told herself, +although there was not, and likely never +would be a cracker barrel in the Whatnot +Shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Once more left to themselves, the burnt +dinner was not referred to, as Ted helped at +last to clear up the disordered kitchen. Not +even the lost potatoes came in for mention as +brother and sister “made things fly,†as +most belated workers find themselves +obliged to do.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here, Ted, get the broom.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted grabbed the broom.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, let me sweep. You empty those +baskets of excelsior.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. Can we burn it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, never. No more fire for us,†+groaned Nancy. “Just dump the stuff some +where.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we can’t, Sis,†objected Ted. +“Mother 'specially said nothing could be +dumped around.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, do anything you like with it, but +just get it out of the way,†and Nancy’s excited +broom made jabs and stabs at corners +without quite reaching them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted was much more methodical. He +really would do things right, if only Nancy +would give him a chance. Just now he was +carefully packing the excelsior in a big +clothes basket.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You know, Nan,†he remarked, “Mr. +Sanders is awfully funny.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How funny?†asked Nancy crisply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, he knows an awful lot.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He ought to, he’s bald headed,†answered +Nancy, implying there-by that Mr. +Sanders was an old man and ought to be +wise.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is he?†asked Ted innocently.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For lands sake! Ted Brandon!†exclaimed +Nancy. “Can’t you think what +you’re saying? Is he what?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The thread of the argument thus entirely +lost, Ted just crammed away at the excelsior.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m just dying to get at the store,†said +Nancy next. “I want to fix that all up so +that mother will buy more things to put in +stock.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She’s going to bring home fishing rods. +I’m goin’ to have a corner for sport stuff, +you know,†Ted reminded the whirl-wind +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes, of course, that’s all right. But +we’ll have to see which corner we can spare +best. The store isn’t any too big, is it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Big enough,†agreed the affable boy. +“And I’ll bet, Nan, we’ll have heaps of sport +around here this summer. There’s fine fellows +over by the big hill. That’s more of +a summer place than this is, I guess.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where does your friend Uncle Sam +live?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You mean Mr. Sanders. Why, he didn’t +say, but he went up the hill toward that +old stone place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. I wouldn’t wonder but he would +live in an old stone place,†echoed Nancy +sarcastically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, don’t you like him?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Like him?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I mean—do you hate him?†laughed +Ted. His basket was filled and he was gathering +up the loose ends of the splintered +fibers upon a tin cover.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t like him and I don’t hate him, +but I do hope he won’t come snooping +around <em>my</em> store,†returned Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Teddy stopped short with a frying pan +raised in mid air. He swung it at an imaginary +ball, then put it down in the still +packed peach basket.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, Nan,†he protested, “don’t you go +kickin’ up any fuss about Mr. Sanders. +He always came around here; he’s a great +friend of the Townsends.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon!†Nancy flirted the dust +brush at the gas stove, “do you think I am +going to take all that with this store? Did +we buy all the Townsends’ old—old cronies +along with the Whatnot Shop?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s someone,†Ted interrupted, as +the store bell jangled timidly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you go please, Ted,†begged Nancy, +who had glimpsed girls’ skirts without. +“I’m too untidy to tend store this afternoon.â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chIV' class='c010'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <br />NEW FRIENDS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Nancy never looked as untidy as she +really felt. In fact, she always looked “interesting +and human,†as her friends might +say, but she was sensitive about the disorder +she pretended to despise. Now, here were +those two girls! She simply could not go in +the store as she looked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re all right,†Ted insisted, as they +both listened to the jangling bell. “You +look good in that yellow dress.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Good?†she took time to correct. “You +mean—something else. And it isn’t yellow,†+she countered. “But please, Ted, you +go. There’s a dear. I’ll do something for +you—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted started off dutifully. “But I won’t +know,†he argued.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Run along, like a dear,†whispered +Nancy, for persons were now within the +store, she could easily hear them talking +and could even see their reflections in the +little hall mirror.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted went. He was such a good-natured +boy, and Nancy was glad to notice once more +“so good-looking.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>After exchanging a few questions and answers +with the girls in the store, Ted was +presently back again in the kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Blue silk!†he sort of hissed at Nancy. +“They want—<em>blue silk</em>.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t any. Tell them we’re out of +it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted went forth with a protest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A few seconds later he again confronted +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Blue <em>twist</em> then. What ever on earth is +blue <em>twist?</em>â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t any!†Nancy told him +sharply. “We’re all out of sewing stuff, +except black and white.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you come on. They’re just +laughin’ at me. It’s your store. You go +ahead and 'tend it.†Ted was on a strike +now. He wasn’t going to be that kind of +store keeper. Twist and silk!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I’m so dirty,†complained Nancy, +brushing at her skirt and then patting her +disordered hair. She had been rushing +around at a mad rate since noon hour and +naturally felt untidy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, any how, go tell them,†suggested +Ted. “They’re just girls like you. You +needn’t worry about your looks.†His eyes +paid Nancy a decided compliment with the +careless speech. Evidently she was not the +only one who found good looks in the family.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Out in the store the girls were waiting, +and when she finally walked up to them, +Nancy was instantly at ease.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, hello!†greeted the stouter one. +She was genuinely pleasant and Nancy at +once liked her. “You’re the girl we’ve been +trying to meet. This is Vera Johns and I’m +Ruth Ashley. We live over on North Road +and we’ve been wanting to meet you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m Nancy Brandon,†replied Nancy +pleasantly, “and I’m glad to meet you, too. +I was wondering if I would get acquainted +away out here. Won’t you sit down? +Here’s a bench,†brushing aside the papers. +“It takes so long to get things straightened +out.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The girls murmured their understanding +of the moving problem, and after Teddy +had called out from the back door, that he +was going “over to see the fellows,†all three +girls settled down to chat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is it really your own store?†asked +Ruth. She had reddish-brown hair, gray +eyes and the brightest smile.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†replied Nancy. “Just a little +summer experiment. You see, I perfectly +despise housework and mother believes I +should learn something practical. I just +begged for a little country store. I’ve always +been so interested reading about +them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How quaint!†murmured Vera Johns. +Her tone of voice seemed so affected that +Nancy glanced quickly at her. Was she +fooling? Could any girl mean so senseless +a remark as “How quaint!†to Nancy’s telling +of her practical experiment?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do you mean,†murmured Nancy, +“why, just—how quaint?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, isn’t it?†Vera again sort of lisped. +At this Nancy was convinced. Vera was +that sort of girl. She would be apt to say +any silly little thing that had the fewest +words in it. Just jerky little exclamations, +such as Nancy’s mother had taught her to +avoid as affectations.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Vera’s hair was of a toneless blonde hue, +cut “classic†and plastered down like that +of an Egyptian slave. Her eyes, Nancy noticed +were a faded blue, and her form—Nancy +hoped that she, being tall herself, +did not sag at all corners, as did Vera Johns.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it’s a wonderful idea,†chimed +in Ruth, “to have a chance really to try out +business. Just as you say, Nancy, we learn +to wash doll dishes as soon as we can reach +a kitchen chair. Then why shouldn’t we +learn to make and count pennies as early as +we possibly can?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do you hate housework too, Ruth?†+Nancy asked, hoping for the joy of finding a +mutual understanding. “Are you also anxious +to try business?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hate housework, abhor it,†admitted +Ruth, dimpling prettily, “but mother says +we just have to get used to it, so we won’t +know we’re doing it. You would be surprised, +Nancy, how easy it is to wash dishes +and dream of babbling brooks.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really!†That was Vera again. “I +adore dishes, but I won’t dream of bobbling +brooks, ever.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Bobbling,†repeated Ruth. “That’s +good, Vera. I suppose they bobble more +than they babble. But I guess you’re not +much of a dreamer, Vera,†she finished, in +a doubtful compliment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was amused. Ruth was going to be +“good fun†and Vera was already proving +a pretty good joke. Their acquaintance +was surely promising, and Nancy responded +fittingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She had time to notice in detail each of +these new friends. Ruth was dimply and +just fat enough to be happily plump. She +also was correspondingly sunny in her disposition. +She wore her hair twisted into +three or four “Spring Maids†and it gave +her the effect of short, curled hair. Her +summer dress was a simple blue ratine, and +Nancy admired it frankly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Vera was affected in manner, in style, in +dress and every way. Her hair was so arranged +Nancy couldn’t be sure just how it +was done, but it looked like a model in a hairdresser’s +window. Also, she wore, bound +around it a Roman ribbon, with a wonderful +assortment of rainbow colors. Her costume +was sport, with a very fancy jacket and a +light silk and wool plaid skirt. That she +had plenty of money was rather too obviously +apparent, and Nancy wondered just +how she and Ruth were connected.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were inspecting the newly acquired +little store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you are the manager, the proprietor—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The clerk and the cashier,†Nancy interrupted +Ruth. “I’ve always loved to play +store, so now, mother says, she hopes I’ll be +satisfied. But this is a very old-timey place. +I don’t see how the Townsends ever made +it pay.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Miss Townsend is a queer old lady,†replied +Ruth. “I guess of late years they +didn’t have to worry about making things +pay in the store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why Ruthie!†exclaimed Vera. “Don’t +you know every body says they went bankrupt?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that,†laughed Ruth. “I guess Mr. +Townsend lent out his money and couldn’t +get it back handy.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But he and his sister had a perfectly desperate +fight over it,†insisted Vera, eyes +wide with curious interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Desperate,†repeated Ruth, as if trying +to give Nancy a cue to Vera’s queer vocabulary. +“I can imagine their sort of desperate +fight. Sister Sarah would say to +Brother Elmer: 'Elmer dear, you really +can’t mean a thing like that,’†imitated +Ruth, “and Brother Elmer would clasp and +unclasp his thin hands as he replied: 'I’m +sorry, Sister Sarah, but it looks that way.’â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth and Nancy laughed merrily as the +little sketch ended.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s about how desperate those two +would fight,†Ruth declared.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then why did they sell out?†demanded +Vera. “Every body knows they lost everything.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We haven’t actually bought the place,†+Nancy explained, “just have an option on it. +You see, we had to go to the country every +summer, and mother thought this might suit +us. It is so convenient for her to commute, +and Ted and I can’t get into a lot of mischief +in a place like this. So it seems, at +least,†she hastened to add.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, if you let your brother go around +with that queer old fellow we saw him with +today, he may get into mischief,†intimated +Vera, mysteriously, with a wag of her +bobbed head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders? What’s the matter with +Mr. Sanders?†demanded Nancy, rather +sharply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh talk, talk, and gossip,†Ruth interposed. +“Just because he sees fit to keep his +business to himself—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You know perfectly well, Ruth, that is +more than gossip,†insisted Vera.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What is? What’s the mystery?†again +demanded Nancy, dropping her box of lead +pencils rather suddenly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†drawled Vera, getting up with a +tantalizing deliberateness, “if you were to +see a person in front of you one minute and +have him vanish the next—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A peal of laughter from Nancy broke in +rudely upon Vera’s recitation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†Vera added, in a hurt tone. +“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, but +just wait and see.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Disappearing Dick?†chanted Nancy +gaily. “Do you mean to say he’s one of +those so-called miracle men?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no, nothing of the sort,†protested +Ruth. “But there is something—different +about him. A lot of people say he does disappear, +but of course, there’s nothing uncanny +about it. It’s probably just clever,†+Ruth tried to explain.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Rather,†drawled Vera.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy could not suppress an impolite +but insistent chuckle.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chV' class='c010'>CHAPTER V<br /> <br />ORIGINAL PLANS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>During the next half hour the girls busied +themselves playing store. Ruth was almost +as keenly interested in the little place as was +Nancy, herself, but it was noticeable that +Vera was more curious. She poked into the +farthest corners, even opening obscure little +cubby-holes that Nancy had not yet discovered. +All the while they talked about the +Townsends and the mysterious Mr. Sanders, +declaring that something around the +Whatnot Shop held the clue to the Townsend +disagreement, and Mr. Sanders’ mysterious +power of disappearing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it’s the funniest thing,†ruminated +Nancy, clapping the wrong cover on +the white thread box, “here we came away +out here to be peaceful, quiet and studious. +Mother looked for a place just to keep Ted +and me busy, and then we run into a regular +hornet’s nest of rumors.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t you know,†replied Ruth, “that +still waters run deepest?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I didn’t know we had to take on a +whole Mother Goose set of fairy tales with +a little two cent shoe-string shop,†protested +Nancy. “Of course it will serve me +right if I get into an awful squall. My rebellion +against the long-loved house-work +idea, is sure to get me into some trouble, +isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who doesn’t rebel secretly?†admitted +Ruth. “Isn’t it fairer to up and say so than +to be always hoping the dishpan will spring +a leak, and dish-towels will blow away?†+Ruth was making rapid strides in gaining +Nancy’s affection. She was so unaffected, +so frank, and so sensible.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Vera wasn’t saying much but she was poking +a lot. Just now she was fussing with +some discarded and disabled toys. She held +up a helpless windmill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine!†she said, simply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, what of it?†asked Ruth. “It +was pretty—once!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Pretty! As if anyone around here +would ever buy a thing like that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let me see it,†Nancy said. “I’m sure +Ted would love 'a thing like that.’ He’d +spend days tinkering with it.†Nancy took +the red and blue tin toy and inspected it +critically. As she wound a tiny key a little +bell tinkled.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Lovel-lee!†cried Ruth. “That’s a +merry wind. Or is it a tinkle-ly wind? +Anyway it’s cute. Save it for the small +brother, Nancy. And I think he’s awfully +cute. Here’s something else for his camp,†+she offered, handing Nancy over a red, white +and blue popgun.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Great!†declared Nancy. “Ted has +been too busy to rummage yet, but he’s sure +to be thrilled when he does go at it. Yes, I +think Ted is cute, and I hope the disappearing +man won’t cast a spell on him,†she +finished, laughing at the idea, and meanwhile +inspecting the toy windmill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can joke,†warned Vera, “but my +grandmother insists that what everyone +says must be true, and everyone says Baldy +Sanders is freakish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Baldy,†repeated Nancy gaily. “I noticed +that. But he has enough of eyes to +make up for the lost hair. I never saw such +merry twinkling eyes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really!†Vera commented. “I never +notice men’s eyes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just their bald heads,†teased Ruth. +“Now Vera, if Mr. Sanders is a professor, +as some folks claim, and if he ever gets our +class in chemistry, I’m afraid you would +just have to notice his merry, twinkling +eyes. Anyhow,†and Ruth cocked up a +faded little blue muslin pussy cat, “he’s +merry, and that is in his favor. What are +you doing with that windmill, Nancy?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Inspecting it. It’s a queer kind of +windmill. Look at the cross pieces on top +and this tin cup.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>All three girls gave their attention to the +queer toy. It was, as Nancy had said, +different from the usual model. It had cross +pieces on top instead of on the side, and one +piece was capped off with a metal cup.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll save it for Ted,†Nancy concluded. +“But I hope it isn’t dangerous. It takes +boys to find out the worst of everything. +Just before we moved, most of our furniture +is in storage you know,†she put in to explain +the scarcity of things at the country +place, “Ted went up to the attic and found +an old wooden gun. It would shoot peas, +and what those boys didn’t shoot peas at +wasn’t worth mentioning. I’ll put the freak +windmill away for him, though. It looks +quite harmless.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I think it’s just joyous to have a +shop,†exclaimed Ruth, “and if you’ll let +me, Nancy, I’ll come in and 'tend sometimes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’d love to have you,†replied Nancy +earnestly. “I did expect my chum, Bonny +Davis, to visit me, but she’s gone down to +the shore first. Bonny’s lots of fun. I’m +sure you’d like her if she does come,†declared +Nancy, loyally.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I like her name,†Ruth answered. +“What is it? Bonita?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, it’s really Charlotte, but she’s so +black we’ve always called her Bonny from +ebony, you know. Now Vera, what have you +discovered?†broke off Nancy, looking over +to the comer in which Vera was plainly interested. +“Anything spooky?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Not spooky,†replied Vera, “but I never +saw such odd looking fishing things. No +wonder the Townsends went bankrupt. +Here are boxes and boxes of wires and +weights, and I don’t know what all. Oh, I’ll +tell you!†she exclaimed, in a rare burst of +enthusiasm. “Let’s have a fishing sale?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And sell fish!†teased Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No,†objected Nancy, taking Vera’s +part. “I think a special sale of fishing and +sport supplies would be great. Let’s see +what we’ve got toward it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It would draw the boys and that’s +something,†joked Ruth. “But I’ll tell you +what, Nancy, you had better be careful what +you try to sell to the young fishermen +around here. They’re pretty particular +and rather good at the sport. I like to fish +myself.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I’d love to,†declared Nancy. +“Where do you go?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Dyke’s pond and sometimes the old mill +creek,†replied Ruth. “But we only get +sunnies there. There’s perch in the pond, +though.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This led to discussing the fishing prospects +in brooks, ponds and other waterways +around Long Leigh, until it was being +promptly decided that Ruth and Vera +should very soon introduce Nancy to the +sport. The idea of having a sale of the outfit +at the shop was also entered upon enthusiastically, +until the afternoon was melting +into shadows before the girls realized it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But what ever you do,†Ruth cautioned +Nancy, “don’t let any one induce you to take +the Whatnot out of the window. That’s the +sign of this old shop that’s known for miles +and miles.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think a cute little windmill would be +lots nicer,†suggested Vera. “That Whatnot +is—atrocious.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Windmill!†repeated Ruth. “But we +don’t sell windmills.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Certainly not. Neither do we sell Whatnots,†+contended Vera.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we sell the things that are on the +Whatnot,†argued Ruth. “And besides +Whatnot stands for <em>What Not!</em>â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was amusing Nancy to listen to their assumed +partnership. They were both talking +about “<em>our</em> shop†and insisting upon +what “<em>we</em> sell.†This established at once +a comradeship among all three, and Nancy +was convinced that her own desire to go into +business was not, after all, very queer. +Other girls, no doubt, shared it as well, but +the difference was—Nancy’s mother. She +was the “angel of the enterprise,†as Nancy +had declared more than once.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’ll tell you,†confided Vera, quite +surprisingly, “if you’ll let me, I’ll help you +with your housework. I don’t mind it a +bit, and you hate it so.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that’s just lovely of you, Vera,†+Nancy replied, while a sense of fear seized +her, “but I really must do some of it, you +know. Even a good store keeper should +know how to cook a little,†she pretended, +vowing that her house would be in some kind +of order before Vera ever even got a peek +into the living rooms.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When they were finally gone Nancy stood +alone in the little store, too excited to decide +at once which way to turn. She liked +the girls, especially Ruth, and even Vera had +her interesting features. At least she said +odd things in an odd way, and her drawl was +“delicious,†Nancy admitted. Of course +she was gossipy. There was all that nonsense +about Mr. Sanders. As if any human +being could really disappear. Ted would +just howl at the idea, Nancy knew, and if +the man were really a professor of some sort, +that ought to make him interesting, she reflected. +At any rate, he was, the girls had +said, a friend of the Townsends, and Nancy +would make it her business to ask Miss +Townsend about him the very next time she +came into the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her mind busy with such reflections, +Nancy hooked the screen door, (the shop was +not yet supposed to be open for business) +and turned toward the upset kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ve just got to do something with it,†+she promised, “before mother comes. I +wish Ted would hurry along home. Of +course, he’s a boy and boys don’t have to +worry about kitchens.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nevertheless, as Nancy dashed around she +did make a real effort to adjust the disordered +room, for her pride was now +prompting her. Whatever would Vera +Johns say to such a looking place? And +was all this fair to a mother so thoughtful +and so good-natured as was Nancy’s?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I begin right here at this door,†she +decided, feeling she had to begin at a definite +spot, “and I just straighten out every single +thing from here to the back door.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Peach baskets idling with the odds and +ends of packing, Ted’s red sweater, Nancy’s +blue one, Nancy’s straw hat that she felt she +must have within reach and which therefore +had been “parked†on the floor, safe, however, +under a big chair, and a paste-board +box of books that she also didn’t want to +lose track of, the portable phonograph +cover, the phonograph itself was reposing +safely on the corner of the sink where Ted +had been trying a new record; all these and +as many more miscellaneous articles Nancy +was briefly encountering in her general +clearing up plan “from one door to the +other.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But she forged on, the old broom doing +heroic duty as a plough cutting through the +débris. Finally, having gotten most of the +stuff into a corner, she undertook to scatter +it in a way peculiar to one with business, +rather than domestic, instincts.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll need the baskets, all of them, when +I’m settling the store,†she promptly decided, +“and I’ll get Ted to put the box of +books in there too, so I can read while I’m +waiting. Then the phonograph—That can +go in there just as well, it may draw customers.†+At this Nancy laughed, but she +picked up the little black box, it had been +her birthday present, and put it right on the +small table under the old mantle in the store. +A phonograph in the store seemed attractive.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I guess we’ll find the store handy for +lots of things,†Nancy was thinking, for the +difference in the size of their old home, and +the limits of this new one, was not easy to +adjust.</p> + +<p class='c009'>With a sort of flourish of the broom at the +papers and bits of excelsior that were still +an eyesore about, Nancy at length managed +to “make a path,†as she expressed it, +through the kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’ll gather some flowers to greet +mother with,†she insisted. “There’s no +reason why we shouldn’t make a pretty room +of a kitchen like this, with one, two, three, +good sized windows,†she counted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the glorious bunch of early roses must +have felt rather out of place, trying to conserve +their wondrous perfume from contamination +with the remains of a smudgy +odor from burnt potatoes—which by-the-way, +had not yet come to light, not to say +anything of the real fire smell of burnt meat, +that ran over from a pan-cake griddle into +a seething gas flame.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, those flowers!†exhaled the triumphant +Nancy, pushing the dishpan away so +as not to bend the longest stalk, which was +brushed against it. “Won’t mother just +love it here?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>After all, is not the soul of the poet more +valuable than the skill of a prospective +housewife?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chVI' class='c010'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <br />FAIR PLAY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Mrs. Brandon was such a mother as one +might readily imagine would be the parent +of Nancy and Ted. In the first place she +was young, so young as to be mistaken often +for Nancy’s big sister. Then she was lively, +a real chum with her two children, but more +important than these qualities, perhaps, was +her sense of tolerance.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Fair play, she called it, believing that the +children would more surely and more correctly +learn from experience than from continuous +preaching. Perhaps this was due +to her own experience. She had been a girl +much like Nancy. She had not inherited +the so-called domestic instinct; no more did +Nancy. To that cause was ascribed Nancy’s +unusual disposition toward business and her +dislike for all kitchens.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Those roses!†she breathed deeply over +the scented mass Nancy had gathered. +“Aren’t they just um-um? Wonderful?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I knew you would like them, mother,†+responded Nancy happily. “I’m sorry we +couldn’t get things slicked up better today, +but we were so constantly interrupted.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You will be, Nan dear. It is always just +like that when business runs into housework.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, but say, Mother,†interrupted Ted. +“It’s just great here. There’s the best lot +of boys. And we’ve got a camp, a regular +brigand camp—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look out for mischief, Teddy boy,†replied +his mother fondly. “I want you both +to have a fine time, but a little mischief goes +a long ways toward spoiling things, you +know,†she warned, earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I know. I’ll be careful. We won’t +have any real guns nor knives, nor +swords—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! I should hope not!†+cried Nancy. “Real guns and swords and +knives, indeed! If you go out playing with +that sort of ruffian—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But they aren’t. We don’t have them. +No real firearms at-all,†protested Ted. +“And the boys are nice fellows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But just imagine what I would do if you +came in hurt. And mother away and everything,†+reasoned Nancy foolishly, as if she +enjoyed the sensation. “It is not like it was +when Anna was with us. Mother,†Nancy +asked, “don’t you really think we should +have someone in Anna’s place?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, girlie, I don’t,†promptly replied the +mother, who was just taking from the gas +oven a deliciously broiled steak. “While we +had Anna you never had a chance to find out +all the simple things that you didn’t know. +Anna was an ideal maid, but maids are not +educators and none of us can learn without +being given a chance. Ted, please get the +ice water. And I would try, Nancy, to have +every meal, no matter how simple it is, +served either on the side porch or in the dining +room,†counselled Mrs. Brandon. +“Nothing so demoralizes us as upset kitchen +meals.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, mother, I know that,†admitted +Nancy, who, with her mother nearby for inspection, +was daintily arranging the salad. +“As a matter of fact, I lose things in the +kitchen. Imagine losing the potatoes, pan +and all!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A hearty laugh followed the recalling of +Nancy’s and Ted’s dinner disaster. But +even to that accident Mrs. Brandon insisted +that her daughter was one of the girls who +must learn by experience, so there were no +long arguments given to point out her weakness.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But Anna is coming back, isn’t she?†+Ted pleaded. A boy wants to be sure of his +meals in spite of all the educational processes +necessary for training obdurate sisters.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, dear. I expect she will be back to +us in the autumn, and I’m sure she will be +benefited by her vacation,†said Mrs. Brandon. +“Anna does not really have to work +now. The salary and light expenses of +maids soon place them in a position to retire, +you know,†she pointed out practically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And besides,†chimed in Nancy, “it’s +lots of fun to live all alone for the summer, +at least. Why, if Anna were here she +would be forever poking in and out of the +store, and really mother,†Nancy’s voice fell +to a very serious tone, “when I get things +going, I intend to make <em>you</em> take a vacation. +I’m going to make that store <em>pay</em>.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s lovely, girlie,†replied the +mother, “and I’m sure you and Ted are going +to be wonderful little helpers. Now, +come eat dinner. You must be ravenous. +Here, Nancy, carry along the beans with the +butter. Make each hand do its share to help +out each foot, you know,†she teased.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I’m starved,†declared Ted, making +a rather risky dive for the three dinner +plates and hurrying into the little dining +room with them. “That ice cream was good +while we were eating it, but it doesn’t last +long, does it, Nan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This brought up the story of Mr. Sanders’ +treat, and as her children related it, each +outdoing the other in vivid description and +volumes of parentheses, Mrs. Brandon listened +with but few interruptions. When +the story was told, however, she gave her +version of the gossip concerning the +stranger.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He is really a professor, I’m sure,†she +stated, “for Miss Townsend told me that +much. Of course professors can be as queer +as other folks—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Queer?†interrupted Ted, holding his +plate out for another new potato.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, they are often odd,†admitted his +mother, smiling at the boy’s joke. “But +then, too, we expect to depend upon their intelligence +for reasonable explanations.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother, anyone would know you were a +librarian, the way you talk,†said Nancy. +“I suppose we act booky too, only we can’t +realize it ourselves. Ted, your knife is +playing toboggan—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m too starved to notice,†said Ted. +“Hope you won’t lose the potatoes and burn +the meat again, Sis,†he added, “I can’t +stand starvation.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I didn’t do it, <em>we</em> did it,†insisted +Nancy. “I’m sure we were both getting +dinner—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But about Miss Townsend, dear,†her +mother forestalled their argument. “Did +she say she regretted agreeing to sell?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, mother; that’s the queer part of it +all,†Nancy replied. They were now settled +at their meal and could chat happily. “She +acted so mysterious about everything. And +you should see her little dog, Tiny, sniff +around! Honestly, I thought he’d sniff +his little stumpy nose off at the fireplace. +By the way, mother, can’t we have the old +stove moved out into the back storeroom? +We don’t want it standing around all summer +waiting for a blizzard next Christmas, +do we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No. But I’m afraid we will have to put +off that sort of work until my vacation, +Nancy. You must remember, dear, we have +only agreed to let you run the little store +practically as it is, to sell out Miss Townsend’s +stuff and to give you some experience.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes. I know,†said Nancy a little +ruefully. “But mother—†she hesitated. +Then began again, “Mother, I simply can’t +have the girls come in and have things so upset, +and I won’t, positively won’t have Miss +Townsend fussing around—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can’t be rude to her, Nan,†the +mother said rather decidedly. “And, after +all, there is nothing here she doesn’t know +about.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, there seems to be,†sighed Nancy, +“or else what did she start right in to search +for? And the very first time she met me, +too.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Perhaps her brother lost some papers, or +something like that,†suggested Mrs. Brandon. +“I <em>do</em> know he is a little odd in his +manner.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But if it were only that she wouldn’t +need to act so mysteriously about it, would +she, mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the dog,†put in Ted. “He +couldn’t know about papers, could he? +Dogs are awfully wise, I know that much, +and I’m going to get one—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Paying no attention to Ted’s last sentence, +Nancy continued to deplore Miss +Townsend’s threat of more visits to her +shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the girls, that is Vera, said that she +and her brother had a quarrel about the +place before they left,†Nancy continued. +“Vera is talkative, but I could see myself +that Miss Townsend was awfully unhappy +about something.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†snapped Ted, again allowing his +fork to rest in the prohibited sliding position +from his plate, “and she’s the one who +talks about Mr. Sanders, too. That girl +Veera—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Vera, Ted. Just like very,†said Nancy +critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yeah,†groaned Ted. “Just like scary, +too. That’s what she is, scary. And the +fellows say Mr. Sanders is a first-rate scout, +a real scout. They say he’s even a scoutmaster—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Did they say anything about his habit +of disappearing?†asked Nancy, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, Nan. You know very well that +isn’t so. It couldn’t be. How could any +one dis-sa-peer?†inquired Ted, emphatically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That wasn’t the question, brother,†insisted +Nancy. “I just asked you if the boys +spoke of his reputation as Disappearing +Dick?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This was too much for Ted, and again his +mother was forced to intervene.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Anyway,†the boy managed to interject, +“if they did say something about it they +didn’t say he was a spook, like your old +Very-scary girl told it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! Nothing about spooks! +We never even mentioned them, that I remember. +But they said that Mr. Sanders +lived somewhere around here but no one +knew where, that he went right up the hill +to the stone house and never went in the +house nor in the barn nor anyplace but just +disappeared,†rattled off Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why daughter!†protested Mrs. Brandon, +“how perfectly absurd. I’m surprised +that you should listen to such truck.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But of course I don’t believe it, Mother, +it’s just funny, that’s all,†explained Nancy, +who had begun to carry the dishes to the +kitchen quite as if she just loved to do it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>According to their new schedule, both Ted +and Nancy were expected to do their part in +the clearing of the table, and washing the +dishes, and as this was a beautiful summer +evening, the children “fell to†very +promptly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s too lovely to stay inside,†remarked +Nancy. “You’ll come out with us, won’t +you Mother? There’s heaps of things you +haven’t yet had a chance to see around +here,†she pleaded.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we really must get things in order,†+declared the mother. “You and Ted hurry +along with your work—Ted will dry and you +wash tonight, Nancy, and meanwhile I’ll +sort of dig in—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother! You can’t. You have just got +to have your evenings free,†protested +Nancy. “You need lots of fresh air out +here—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know, dear, but after all we are just +ordinary mortals and we must live as such. +That means—civilization, around here,†+laughed Mrs. Brandon, who was already +“digging in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll put these pans away first.†She +paused. “Whatever is this? I do declare, +children, here are your lost potatoes, packed +away in among the empty pans. Now, who +could have done that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted did,†replied Nancy. “He was +sorting the tins. But Mother,†she said, in +a grieved tone, “I know I did waste a lot +of time today.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was carrying out a tray but she had +stopped abruptly. No punishment could be +greater to her than the loss of a summer +evening out of doors, except it was her +mother’s loss of that self-same evening.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m so sorry,†she sighed. “I know I +did idle my time today, Mother dear, but I +can’t bear to have you—pay for it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nonsense, dear, I don’t mind. Really +the exercise will do me good,†insisted Mrs. +Brandon. “Just attend to the dishes and +you won’t know these quarters presently. +I’m glad we found the potatoes,†she said, +but Nancy was now too serious to joke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A call from the side porch checked their +argument. It was Ruth calling to Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come along!†she shrilled through the +screen door. “There’s going to be a band +concert—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I can’t, Ruth,†Nancy called back. +“I must do—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You <em>must</em> go, dear,†interrupted her +mother.</p> + +<p class='c009'>At this Ruth came in to wait. Ted was +already off—he did not need to be coaxed to +give up his task, and when dishes were not +being washed surely they could not be dried.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nancy felt guilty. In fact the band +concert, novelty though it was, with firemen +and a baseball team making up the “scrambled†+programme, was not loud enough to +still the voice of regret.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can’t bear to think of mother doing, +now on this beautiful evening, what I should +have done today,†she confided to Ruth, as +they waited between numbers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll help you tomorrow,†offered Ruth +kindly. “And I won’t bring Vera. She’s +rather critical—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll be up at daybreak,†resolved Nancy, +really determined now to get the little country +home in order.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A band concert in Long Leigh was plainly +an important event, and the numbers of +persons crowding about the band-stand on +the village green attested hearty appreciation +for the musical efforts. The firemen, +however, seemed to draw out the heaviest applause, +but that was because old Jake Jacobs, +the best piccolo player around, had been +training them. Still, there was Pete Van +Riper, the drummer on the baseball side of +the platform. He certainly could drum, +and the small boys around kept calling to +him in baseball parlance such encouragements +as “Make it a homer, Pete! Hug the +mat! Hit her hard!†and such outfield +coaching.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth had met a number of her friends +and some she introduced to Nancy, but the +concert was spoiled for Nancy. She could +see and actually feel her mother working in +that little country place to which she had +come, just to give Ted and Nancy a happy +vacation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When her worry was becoming so keen +that she felt she must ask Ruth to go home +with her, there pushed into the crowd an old +man in a broad-brimmed straw hat, although +the sun was well out of all mischief.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look!†whispered Ruth. “There’s Mr. +Townsend! And that’s Mr. Sanders—with +him!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Just then the two men stepped over to the +little mound where the girls were. They did +not see the girls, but Mr. Sanders drew Mr. +Townsend to a sudden stop in a space directly +in front of Nancy and Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I tell you, Sanders,†Mr. Townsend +said, in a voice not at all suitable for his +surroundings, “the whole town is talkin’. +They say all kinds of things and you had +better out with the whole thing.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. Sanders laughed as if he enjoyed the +joke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Keep cool, keep cool, friend,†he said.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Mr. Townsend was by no means keeping +cool, and he said so, sharply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’ve left my home, got my sister on +her ear, made a poor man’s name for +myself—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. Sanders grasped his arm with a sudden +movement, perfectly evident to the astounded +girls.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“When you are tired of your bargain, +Elmer Townsend,†he said, “just let me +know.â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chVII' class='c010'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <br />THE SPECIAL SALE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>They had worked like slaves, according +to Nancy, while Ted insisted he was too +tired even to eat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But it’s going to be a grand success,†+promised Ruth. “I can hardly wait until +morning for the doors to open.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sale now going on!†chanted Isabel, a +friend of Ruth’s, who had come in to help. +“Ladies and gentlemen! Step this way for +your fish lines!†she called out, testing the +possibilities of the next day’s special sale. +“Here’s where you get your fish-hooks that +never slip, and your tackle that always +tacks, and as for sinkers—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’ll sink, first shot,†Ruth interrupted, +from her perch on the stepladder, +where she was waving a Japanese lantern +as if that flimsy article had anything to do +with fishing tackle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh say! Look here! Who took my +best reel?†cried Ted. “I want that for +myself. It was in a dollar box—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then it’s got to be sold,†called back +Nancy. She was sitting on the counter +counting fish lines, a dozen to each box.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sold nothing!†retorted Ted. “I’d like +to know why I can’t have the best—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can, Teddy dear,†Ruth told him. +“You have been a perfect lamb to help us +all afternoon, and I never did see two legs +do more trotting than yours have done since +Nancy locked the front doors and put us all +to work like prisoners. You may certainly +have the reel, and there’s a wonderful pole +back of the empty cigar boxes—there on +that first shelf. See it? It’s in a gray +case—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruth Ashley! Whose store is this?†+Nancy pretended to be very severe but her +jolly little laugh filtered through the words +in giggles and titters. “If you are going +to give things away, why not start in with +the perishables? There’s a basket of +apples, Ted himself bought out of the general +fund, and unless they can be sold as bait, I +don’t see what we’re going to do with them.†+She had counted out all the fish lines and +was resting against the old-time candy +glass case, now neatly filled with post cards +and stationery supplies.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They had had a merry time getting the +Whatnot Shop ready for the first special +sale, and girl-like, had expended a lot of +energy upon pretty effects in the arrangements +of articles. Mrs. Brandon “chipped +in†as Ted expressed it, and Nancy was +able to supplement her stock considerably. +She had also made a very attractive poster +for the big front window, in fact, it was so +attractive that Ruth put another sign right +alongside of it which stated:</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>This poster, handmade, for sale</div> + <div>Price $2.00</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>“We always sell our charity posters,†+she insisted, “and they are never as pretty +as this. Just look at that fish. What is +he, Nancy? A cat-fish or a pickerel?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m totally ignorant of the varieties,†+replied Nancy grandly. “But I like the +flecks on his back so I made him up flecked.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The fellows will be here awfully early,†+Ted warned the girls, “so you better be +ready to sell, quick as the door’s opened.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ll be here,†sang out Ruth. “And +Ted, be sure to tell them this is a strictly +cash sale. No charging and no refunds. If +you buy a fish pole and find it’s a curtain rod +you’ve got to go fishing with the curtain +rod. Nancy, here’s those fancy little colored +bags to fool the poor fish with. Where +do you want them put? Some place very +safe, for they’re easily broken, you know,†+Ruth cautioned.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Right here in the show case,†Nancy directed. +“They’re too cute to be stuck away +on a shelf. Ted, you better run off and have +some fun. I don’t want mother to think +we’ve been stunting your growth. You +know how particular she is about exercise.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Exercise!†repeated Isabel. “As if the +poor child hasn’t been stretching every muscle +to its utmost all afternoon. Take my +advice, Ted, and lie down. I’ll make an ice +bag out of an old bathing cap—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ted was not waiting to hear Isabel’s +kind, if foolish, offer. His merry shout as +he rounded the corner, however, spoke decidedly +against ice bags as well as couches.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s quit,†suggested Nancy. “Honestly +girls, I thought housework was tedious, +but I can’t see much difference. I +believe I’ll be winding fish lines all night, +I’ve got them tangled in my brain.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then you’re the one for the ice bags,†+pronounced Isabel. “I love to make them +and I love to put them on pretty heads. +Here Ruth, let’s put her on the couch. I +think she looks a bit feverish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Kicking and protesting Nancy was +forced to get down from “her perch,†and +stretch out on the little leather couch in a +favorite corner of the sun porch. Then, +while Ruth literally held her there, Isabel +cracked ice, put it in a green rubber bathing +cap, that leaked like a sieve, tied it up most +imperfectly, and presently clapped it on +Nancy’s head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, please! It’s leaking! I’m all wet. +Isabel, you’re freezing my—my thinker!†+yelled Nancy, as she struggled to free herself +from her playful companions.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea,†replied Isabel. +“We’ve got to freeze your thinker to +make you forget your fish lines. Here +now, dearie,†she mocked “lie perfectly +still—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re spoiling my pretty new gown,†+yelled Nancy, referring to the oldest and +most faded gown she could find that morning, +in preparation for the extra work.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Isabel held the bag in the general direction +of Nancy’s forehead, while little +icy cold streams tinkled down her neck and +into her ears. Ruth served as body guard, +and almost kept Nancy on the couch, her +feet, arms, and other “loose ends†hanging +over untidily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The store bell was jerked suddenly and +violently.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh me, oh my!†groaned Nancy, jumping +up so as to smash the ice bag to the floor, +cut its string loose and send the remaining +chunks of ice flying. “I can’t go. Ruth, +will you—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Love to,†chanted Ruth, starting off +promptly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look at the puddle,†bewailed Isabel, +but Nancy interrupted her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No one, simply no one can come in to-day. +Do run out, Belle and restrain Ruth. +Just listen to her sweetest tones—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel went. She liked to “'tend store†+and each possible customer represented to +her, as well as to Ruth, a possible adventure.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, I’m not the proprietor,†Nancy +heard Ruth saying.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, she really can’t see you,†was +Isabel’s contribution.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A man’s voice, full, rich, persuasive, was +speaking in so low a tone that his words did +not convey meaning to the listening Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She listened! She crept nearer, and +finally realizing that both Ruth and Isabel +were not being able to dismiss the stranger, +she attempted to right her rumpled self, to +pat the unruly hair into place, and not +knowing that her forehead looked like a +beefsteak from the ice freeze, she sauntered +out into the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This is Miss Brandon,†announced +Ruth as she entered. “She is the +proprietor.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy found herself in the presence of a +very important looking young man. His +Panama hat was on the counter, his suitcase +was on the floor, and he stood in the +most attentive, courteous attitude, bowing +as if she were meeting him in a reception +room.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ve heard of your store, Miss Brandon,†+he said. “In fact, its fame has +travelled far and wide, and I’m here representing +a Boston firm of sporting goods. +I would like you to see—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really,†faltered Nancy, “this is only +sort of a play store. We are doing it for a +vacation experience.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Exactly the thing,†insisted the young +man, who was not polite to the point of affectation +but simply polite as a gentleman. +“I know this territory pretty well, and you +will possibly be surprised at the class of +customers who will, doubtless, seek you out. +The motor people come along here from +Gretna Lake. There’s good fishing on that +lake, and fishing supplies have a way of giving +out suddenly when the inexperienced +handle them. If you will let me—†he was +tackling the suitcase.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you see,†protested Nancy, much +embarrassed, “I really have no authority +to—buy. Mother is not here—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You assume no obligation,†insisted the +man. “As this is your store we are glad, +in fact anxious, to leave you a sample line. +If you sell them you make a very fair commission, +if you do not I pick them up and +try something else on my next trip.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>He opened the case, and presently was +displaying a bewildering line of such fishing +tackle and general sport supplies as Nancy +had never dreamed of. Ruth and Isabel +were fascinated. They suggested, in spite +of their better judgment, that Nancy +stock up with the pretty little trout flies, the +feathery kind tied to fish hooks. Then +Ruth thought they ought to have at least +one box of the dry flies, the sort that floats +without the hook, and before they knew it +the salesman had deposited upon the +counter, goods worth so much money, that +Nancy could only gasp at the transaction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I haven’t any place—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This little case, if I may suggest,†said +the salesman, “is admirably suited. You +could move your cards to the far end, +couldn’t you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†chimed in Ruth, “and Nancy, +just see the lovely window card!†She was +holding up a big folder that had been neatly +packed in, folded in sections, within the +suitcase. “Why, it will be wonderful to +have such goods, and I’m sure the summer +folks from Breakneck Hill will just buy us +out as soon as they hear we have such splendid +stuff.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think you are right,†replied the +salesman. “But as you seem doubtful, +Miss Brandon, I’ll return later and talk +with your mother, if you wish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy considered quickly. Her mother +should not be annoyed with such details; +also, the special sale was to be a matter left +entirely with the girls and Ted. He was +claiming and entitled to a share in certain +articles. So she answered:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t think that will be necessary. +Mother won’t object, I guess, if I don’t have +to sign anything—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nothing whatever,†she was assured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But how did you find out about us?†+asked Isabel. “This is such a tiny store +and it is on the back road, really.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The tiny store on the back road with the +quaint name Whatnot Shop is more attractive +than a big public place,†replied +the salesman. He had handed Nancy his +card and she saw that his name was W. S. +Webster. “As a matter of fact, one of our +firm was passing here in his car, and he left +me the memorandum. But I’ve heard of +the special sale of fishing tackle out on the +Long Leigh road from perhaps a half dozen +persons.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The girls gasped, simultaneously. They +were overwhelmed. If their fame had thus +travelled afar, what would the day of the +sale bring them?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well,†stammered Nancy, trying +once again to keep her wet dress out from +her neck while she worried over the effect +of that besprinkled garment. “I’ll be glad +to do what I can with the goods, but really, +I had no idea of going in for such, such important +articles.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If you will let me say so,†remarked +Mr. Webster in a gentlemanly way, “I +think you girls have the right idea. So +many putter around with art stuff these +days, that they don’t realize the big chances +they are missing in business. Some of +America’s brainiest women are heads of +our wholesale firms, and they make more +money than movie queens,†he finished +pleasantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When he was finally gone and the door +well bolted this time, the three girls joined +hands and danced around like a kindergarten +class.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Me for the movie queen!†sang out +Isabel. “You, Nance and Ruthie, can sell +fish hooks. Just watch this pose and see if +I couldn’t pass in a beauty contest—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a racket, a very noisy one, at +the side door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s Ted!†exclaimed Nancy, apprehensively.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And he’s got a crowd with him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“They can’t come in,†Nancy declared. +“We are not going to show goods or take +any advance orders.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh me, oh my!†cried Ruth. “No wonder +the fine looking drummer said that the +brainiest girls in America were in +business.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He didn’t,†contradicted Nancy. “He +said women.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well, Nancy. Just you wait. Go +sit down on a big stump in the woods and +wait. By and by you’ll be a woman.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, in spite of all their eloquence, in +marched Ted heading a parade of the “fellers.†+And what could Nancy do but show +them the arrangements.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chVIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <br />FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>“Mother! Are you awake?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, dear.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s someone knocking—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m getting up.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The knocking continued.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey there, Nan!†called out Ted. “Get +up and answer that noise. See what your +old sale did! Wake us all up—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted, hush! Be quiet, Mother’s going +down—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You ought to go. It’s your bargain +day.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>As usual Ted was charging Nancy with +delinquency. He wasn’t really quarreling, +but just talking, as Nancy defined it. Mrs. +Brandon had been dressing when the early +knock first sounded, so that she was able to +get down stairs almost directly afterward.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A dread, a sort of feeling that something +might happen in regard to that expensive +outlay of goods left by the travelling salesman, +seized Nancy. She crept to the top +of the stairs to listen, but all she could hear +was a man’s voice; his words were lost behind +the closed doors.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She ventured down to the second landing. +Her mother was chatting pleasantly with +whoever the early visitor might be, and at +the sound Nancy’s spirits rose.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s no collector,†she decided, turning +quickly back to her room and starting at +once to dress. She must be ready early. +All signs pointed to an early patronage, and +although Ted had declared he would be up +at daybreak, it was all right, Nancy concluded, +for him to sleep until seven o’clock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her mother was calling in a subdued +voice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy, I’ll get breakfast now, as I hear +you stirring,†she said. “I want to leave +things ready for your lunch today, so I +came down early.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right, Mother,†Nancy replied over +the balustrade. “I’ll be down soon. Who +called?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is Ted awake?†Mrs. Brandon was still +restraining her voice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He was, but he isn’t,†half whispered +Nancy. “Wait, I’ll run down and help, +then come up and dress later—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Curiosity was too much for Nancy’s patience, +so she merely tucked her hair tidily +into a cap, and in slippers and robe joined +her mother who was preparing breakfast.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who was it?†she asked breathlessly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, your famous Mr. Sanders,†replied +Mrs. Brandon, indifferently. “He +wanted a little model of some sort, a windmill, +it looked like. I happened to spy +it—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The funny little windmill!†Nancy exclaimed. +“Why, we were wondering what +that was. Did he say it was a model?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Not exactly, but I judged it was. At +any rate, dear, you mustn’t always be looking +for mystery in Mr. Sanders’ doings. I +would call him a very pleasant gentleman. +Here, dear, stir this cereal. I want you and +Ted to make sure you get enough proper +food.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy stirred the meal, which was receiving +a preliminary start before being put +over the hot water in the double-cooker.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you see, Mum,†she remarked very +quietly, “he is queer. Whatever could he +want a thing like that for? And why did +he come for it so early?†Nancy asked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He wanted it because it has something +to do with his line, is the way he expressed +it, and he came early because he has been +away and just heard of your sale. If he +waited later, he explained, the little windmill +might have been swept away in the +tumult,†Mrs. Brandon replied. This +seemed to satisfy Nancy’s inquiries, but secretly +Mrs. Brandon herself was just a +little puzzled about Mr. Sanders. For instance, +it had been very clear to her that he +just laughed off, rather than explained, the +purpose of the possible model. Something +“in his line,†which he had forgotten to +take away when the Townsends moved, +seemed vague, to say the least.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was now eating her breakfast with +her mother. She confessed to having waked +more than once during the night, in anticipation +of the big day.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’m going to send you a little surprise +treat for lunch,†her mother confided. +“I want you and the girls to enjoy yourselves +in spite of your self-imposed business +tasks, so I’m sending out some—ice +cream!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Mumsey—love!†exclaimed Nancy, +jumping up and in giving her mother a bear +hug almost spilling the last spoonful of +grape fruit. “Aren’t you too ducky! +We’ll have a regular party, and I’ll ask—How +many have you ordered for?†she demanded abruptly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Two quart bricks. That’s counted +twelve servings,†replied her mother. “Of +course, one brick is for Ted, and you must +help him a little.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course, Mumsey-love,†promised +Nancy. “We’ll get every body out and +close up shop from one until two, and have +a regular party!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>From that time until Nancy was almost, +but not quite, ready “for the fray,†as she +expressed it, she kept herself in a flutter of +excitement. Her mother went into town as +usual on the seven forty-five trolley, and +even then there was a waiting list at the +front door of the shop, children peering in +the two broad windows which looked out +onto the old-fashioned long porch.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come on, Ted, hurry-up,†begged +Nancy as her brother tarried over his breakfast. +“The girls won’t be here until eight, +and you’ve got to go outside and try to keep +those boys quiet. They’ll be coming +through the window if you don’t.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that’s Buster, making all that +racket,†declared Ted, getting another look +at the paper which he was not supposed to +read at the table. “I’ll go out and talk to +them, in a minute,†he promised laconically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Please do, then,†begged his sister. +“You take it as easy as if we didn’t have a +big responsibility.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What responsibility?†he asked, actually +deciding to move his plump little self +from the table. “I can’t see what you’re +all so excited about.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course you can’t. But I’ll tell you. +Everybody, for miles and miles, knows +about this sale, and we’ve got to get busy.†+Nancy was peering anxiously out of the +side window. “I do hope,†she said again, +“that the girls will get here soon.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is that Very-scary girl coming?†+asked Ted. He was trying to set his blouse +straight around his sun-burned neck.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You mean Vera. She’s gone away for +a while—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I hope she stays away,†snapped Ted. +“I can’t seem to like her—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m sure that’s too bad,†mocked Nancy. +“She would feel dreadfully bad to hear +that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, don’t be funny. Listen! They’re +hammering on the door. You had better +open it or they’ll break the glass,†cautioned +the boy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Dear me, Ted,†exclaimed the excited +Nancy, “I can’t go; perhaps you had better +open it. Why didn’t you fix up a little,†+she argued, looking critically at the usual +vacation boy. “You might at least have put +on a white blouse.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“To sell fish hooks?†roared Ted. +“That’s a grand idea. Why, Nan, the fellows +would think I was giving a party—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The noise at the front of the store was +now becoming so insistent that both brother +and sister found it imperative to respond.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come on,†said Nancy, sighing rather +miserably. “We may as well face it. But +don’t let them back of the rope. We can’t +wait on more than a few at a time.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>At that Nancy and Ted entered the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look—at—them!†gasped Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Faces were pressed against the windows, +the door, against every inch of outside space +that could command a view of inside the +store, and they looked so funny, the flat +noses, the white spots on cheeks, the opened +mouths, humping against the glass!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hello! Hello!†shouted Ted as Nancy +fumbled with the door lock. “What do you +think this is? A circus?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, as Nancy opened the door, there +was the unavoidable falling in!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Please!†she begged. But the boys +seemed actually massed as for some game.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey there!†urged Ted. “Whoever +doesn’t behave can’t get waited on a-tall!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But his words had no effect upon the eager +urchins.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I want that rod over there!†shouted +Rory Jennings. He was tall, big and noisy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s mine—that beaut in the window,†+insisted another. Ted called him +Shedder, or something that sounded like +that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey, please, missus please,†begged a +lad so freckled Nancy couldn’t see anything +else but freckles. “Please missus,†he entreated, +“couldn’t you just hand me over +that crab net? That’s all I want.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hey there! Stop crowdin’,†ordered a +boy who was using all his strength to make +matters worse. “She can’t wait on us if +you don’t give her a chanst.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There were easily twenty-five or thirty +youngsters in the crowd, and Nancy felt +quite helpless to supply all their wants at +once. The fact that goods were offered at +the very lowest figure possible, that a +twenty-five cent ball of fish line was marked +ten cents, of course, accounted for the rush. +Many boys could get hold of a dime, but a +quarter was not so easy to pick up, it +seemed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then, too, the advertising, one boy telling +the other, had done much to make the sale +known; hence the early morning rush.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now don’t muss everything up!†ordered +Ted, for a group of boys had laid hold +of the fish-hook box, and it was impossible +for Nancy to get it back.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You must not take things away from the +counter,†she protested, for at that moment +the box of sinkers was being carted off to the +door, by Jud Morgan and Than Beach. +They said they only wanted to pick out a +couple where there was more room, but +it was plainly a risky way to make their +selection.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Dear me!†sighed Nancy to Ted. +“Please look out and see if the girls are +coming. These boys will have everything +upset—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the girls were coming, in fact they +were just then elbowing their way in from +the front door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hello—hello—hello!†called out Ruth +joyfully. “Isn’t this grand! Going to buy +us out first thing—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, land sakes!†wailed Nancy. “I’ve +been in here fifteen minutes and I haven’t +sold a stick. We should have charged +admission.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel looked on rather importantly. +Evidently she knew or thought she knew +how to handle a crowd of boys.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’ve got to get in line!†she announced.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A laugh, a whole series of laughs was her +answer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Do you hear me?†she insisted, raising +her voice to suit the occasion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure, we hear you. Want us to clap?†+answered impudent Sammy Larkins.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now see here,†Ruth attempted to order. +“If you boys really want to buy anything +you have got to stand back and take +turns—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>No sooner had that order been given than +everybody made a dash for the first place in +line, and the tumult that followed all but +drove Nancy under the counter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say, look here! Want us to put you all +out?†demanded Ted, in unassumed indignation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Try it!†tempted Buster, pretending to +roll up sleeves he didn’t have.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But don’t you want to see the things?†+cried out Ruth in desperation, for those boys +were tumbling around the floor and actually +fighting, at least they made that kind of +noise, it seemed to the girls.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Su-ure!†came a chorus.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then Nancy had an inspiration. She got +up on the high stool that stood by what used +to be Miss Townsend’s desk and she immediately +commanded attention.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll tell you,†she began, “if you all sit +down on the floor just where you are, the +window sills or any place, I’ll tell you about +some of the most interesting things we’ve +got here. They are not for sale, but they +belonged to a sea captain—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The magic word had the desired effect. +At the word “sea captain†that crowd of +boys, dropped “in their traces,†and it was +then Nancy’s duty to unfold to them some +wondrous tale.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For boys like a story—when it’s about a +sea captain even if they are out to buy bargain +fishing tackle.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chIX' class='c010'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <br />THE BIG DAY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>As Ted said afterwards: “It was some +story!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy stood there on the stool, dangling +an old rusty knife which she had just spied +among the box of unclassified articles, and +she told those boys a yarn, a regular old +salt-yarn, which she frankly admitted was +pure fiction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But how they listened! As Ruth expressed +it: “How <em>hard</em> they listened!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>No more jostling, nor pushing nor underhand +squabbling. Every boy among them +wanted to hear all that story, and consequently +he was taking no chances on missing +any of it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And when the old sea captain looked into +the poor half-frozen face of that baby he +had picked up, lashed to an icy—an icy +plank,†Nancy trilled, becoming so +interested in her subject she almost forgot the +make up of it, “then he remembered,†she +went on, “the big Newfoundland dog, Jack, +who had fallen back into the sea exhausted +from his long swim.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She stopped. The boys said “Gosh,†and +“Gee Whiz.†Buster said “Jingo!†and +there were probably many other subdued +and impulsive exclamations of the crisp boyish +variety.</p> + +<p class='c009'>One little fellow who was sniffing audibly, +piped up a question over Than’s shoulder.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say miss,†he said. “Say Miss—Nancy,†+he corrected himself, “could a feller +buy that there knife?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why,†flushed Nancy, “the knife hasn’t +anything to do with the story—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Naw!†came a chorus. “'Course not!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was a corkin’ good story,†applauded +Nort Duncan, clapping grimy hands.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you said the ole captain cut the +ropes with a rusty knife—†the little fellow +insisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now look here, boys,†called out Ruth +suddenly. “You are all settled down, nice, +quiet and orderly. Suppose we begin to see +what you want to buy. There are three of +us to serve you, and if we divide you up in +three groups, I’m sure we can give every +single one of you the biggest bargain you +ever got in fishing tackle.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>After that, something like order prevailed, +for most boys are not devoid of a +sense of honor, not by any means, and surely +after Nancy’s story they owed her attention +and politeness.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted helped. He was able to hand out the +poles and took pride in doing so. They +were, most of them, nice shiny, new bamboo +canes, and it didn’t matter how long it took +him to please a customer. In one hour, +however, he had sold ten at fifty cents, five +at seventy-five cents and two at a dollar each. +Ted was delighted, and secretly agreed with +Nancy that “business was the thing.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Meanwhile the girls were busy, and +happy. Ruth had taken charge of the sinkers +and hooks. Isabel was having a fine +time with the crab nets and fancy reels, the +nickel kind with the stem winders, while +Nancy acted as general supervisor and director +of the entire stock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Things were going merrily and few disagreements +marred the proceedings (not to +count the scooping up of fellows’ caps in +trying out crab nets, or the occasional protest +from someone who would resent being +poked with new fish poles), when there appeared +at the door a very pleasant looking, +in fact a very “good-looking†young girl.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s Sanders’ girl,†said a boy into +Nancy’s ear. “You know the feller that—disappears,†+he hurried to explain.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy had neither time nor opportunity +to ask questions so she turned to meet the +very blue eyes of the young girl in question.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t let me interrupt you,†said the +stranger. “I can wait,†and she stepped +aside to let Tom Preston get change from a +precious one dollar bill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy noticed that the young lady had all +the known signs of college life. She wore a +worsted tam o’ shanter (in summer), she +also wore a sweater to match, with a tan +golf skirt and—heavy stockings, ending in +good, strong, walking Oxfords. If these +signs were not collegian, thought Nancy, +then the girl must be an actress which she +obviously was not.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But she had so much personality, that was +it, Nancy promptly decided while still counting +out change for eager boys. Also, +Nancy reasoned, she had such pronounced +individuality, that one did not observe separately +her brown hair, her blue eyes and +her lustrous, fine healthy skin. She just +looked perfect, at least to Nancy, who always +loved the athletic type.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sanders’ girl!†Nancy was thinking. +She didn’t know he had a daughter, but the +girl looked like him, especially around her +firm, determined mouth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth left her boys and was now offering +to wait on Miss Sanders.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m Sibyl Sanders, you know,†she told +Ruth, “and I just dropped in to see if I +couldn’t pick up something for dad.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’re having quite a sale,†replied Ruth +pleasantly. “When things thin out a little +I should like to introduce you to Nancy +Brandon. This is her idea of a vacation,†+Ruth added quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it splendid?†replied Sibyl, brightening +with enthusiasm. “I just ran up to +Long Leigh to see dad. He insists upon +spending a lot of time up here,†she continued, +“and I feel I must look after him a +little. I wonder if you have any pieces of +wire or light springs, around? He has use +for that sort of material.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Wire, springs!†Nancy heard the request +and a joke, that the disappearing man +might slide away on wires and springs, +flashed humorously through her mind. But +again she found no chance even to whisper +the joke to Isabel, for there were still boys +demanding change.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In the course of an hour, however, the +youngsters were all “cleared out.†Their +wants had been supplied, and the girls, with +Sibyl, were chatting away about the first results +of the sale.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If they don’t go trying things out and +then want us to change them,†worried +Nancy. “I told them positively we would +exchange just absolutely not—a—thing,†+she declared, most emphatically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s see how much we took in,†suggested +Isabel. “I had no idea that a lot of +small money could be so fascinating.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Indeed it is,†Sibyl rejoined. “I’ve had +experience at college sales, and it always +seemed to me the peanut money was the most +interesting to handle.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This brought on some talk of her college, +for just as Nancy had guessed, she was a +college girl. Finally, when the receipts +were all counted and it was found that the +boys, they who came in the first squad, had +actually bought seventeen dollars worth of +goods.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It doesn’t seem possible!†Ruth exclaimed, +“and just look at the bushels of +pennies!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And we had better prepare for the next +arrivals,†suggested Isabel. “The lake +folks will be along presently on their morning +drives.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the early golfers returning from the +links,†added Ruth. “Guess we better tidy +things up a little. Those boys certainly can +upset a place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel had found a roll of picture wire and +three small screen door springs. These +Sibyl bought without giving the slightest +hint of the possible use her father was apt +to put them to. Neither Isabel nor Ruth, +however, paid as much attention to the odd +purchase as did Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I do wonder,†Nancy remarked as Isabel +tied up the goods for Sibyl, “what has become +of Miss Townsend?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, haven’t you heard?†exclaimed +Sibyl. “She’s been quite ill.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, I hadn’t,†said Nancy, considerately. +“I’m so sorry. What has been the +trouble?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Worry, chiefly, I guess,†and a sort of +sigh seemed to accompany Sibyl’s words. +“It was too bad she had such a dispute with +her brother,†she continued, “and yet, they +really didn’t seem to dispute, just to disagree, +but they have both such old-fashioned, +gentle natures that they consider it disgraceful +to dissent from the views of loved +ones. Oh, well!†this time the sigh was unmistakable, +“I suppose even the most gentle +can hardly expect to go through life without +differences. I only hope they do not +hold my daddy in any way responsible,†she +said seriously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, how could they?†faltered Nancy, +in honest bewilderment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, of course they couldn’t,†replied +Sibyl hastily, as if regretting her remark. +“But you see, daddy and the old gentleman +have been such close friends that Miss Townsend +might fancy daddy influenced her +brother. But I must be running along,†she +added a little hurriedly. “I’m so glad to +have met you, Nancy, and I hope your sale +will be a tremendous success.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It surely will be,†chimed in Ruth, while +Isabel and Nancy joined in the good-byes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hasn’t she wonderful eyes!†was +Nancy’s first remark following Sibyl’s departure.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I got the surprise of my life,†declared +Ruth, “when I saw Sibyl Sanders saunter +in. There, that sounds like a new song, +doesn’t it? But you know, girls, she is almost +as mysterious as her dad, the way she +comes and goes—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But doesn’t anyone up and ask them +where they live?†asked Nancy in evident +astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Never get a chance,†chimed in Isabel. +“If we were to go out now and follow her up +the hill, I’ll venture to say we would get a +good sample of the disappearing stunt—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But we haven’t time, dears,†chirped +Nancy. “Look! Here come three autos. +Now, ladies, step lively,†and the way they +stepped was lively enough to be called trotting.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, sure enough,†Ruth agreed, “they +<em>are</em> coming here, and they’re here!â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chX' class='c010'>CHAPTER X<br /> <br />STILL THEY CAME</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Before the girls could pull their faces +straight a young man dashed up the steps +and was in the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, this is great!†he declared +heartily. “I see by your window card you +carry Mackinaw’s goods and I haven’t been +able to get them nearer than the city.†He +was addressing all three who stood together +back of the counter like a trio in a comedy. +The young man looked critically at the show +goods in the show counter—the supply left +by the travelling salesman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here they are, sure enough!†he exclaimed. +“Just give me a half dozen of +those plugs, and of those dry flies, and a +dozen of those bobbers—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy set out the boxes and the customer +helped himself. He knew exactly what he +wanted, and the girls marvelled at his quick +selection of the fancy colored artificial minnows, +the little feather flies, used to decoy +the poor fish, and the bobbers, of which +article Nancy had as pretty a selection +as might have been in a really large +shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You don’t know what an accommodation +this is,†went on the young man, putting +down a twenty dollar bill to pay for his purchases. +“No, don’t bother to put paper on +the boxes,†he objected, as all three attempted +to wrap the goods. “I’ll put them +right in the car. You see, I’m at the fishing +club over on the lake, and when we want +supplies there we <em>want</em> them instantly,†he +concluded.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And he was gone before the surprised +clerks had time to realize that the sale had +almost cleared out all the fancy tackle, and +there were coming in at the door two elderly +gentlemen, who looked exactly as if they +would want fancy flies.</p> + +<p class='c009'>One of the gentlemen poked his head in +the door so comically, the girls all giggled.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well!†he exclaimed. “So it <em>is</em> a shop. +Thought it might be a Sunday School fair +and I’d get roped in,†he chuckled, stepping +inside cautiously. “Sorry, but I didn’t +come to buy. Can you direct me to Professor +Sanders’ office?†he asked, while politely +removing his hat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“His office? Why, he hasn’t any office +that I know of,†faltered Nancy, surprised +at the question.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He has messages sent to the ticket office +at the station,†volunteered Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I see,†replied the man, seeming to +“see†more than the girls did. “Then, +we’ll go over to the station—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So saying the man backed out of the door +smiling pleasantly as he departed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I declare!†exclaimed Nancy. +“Our Disappearing Dick is going to have +callers. I wonder if he’ll perform for +them?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Those are important looking men,†Isabel +commented. “Did you see their car?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Wasn’t it fancy?†agreed Ruth. “Perhaps +Sibyl will get a ride home.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t think you folks can be very good +detectives around here,†Nancy criticized, +“or you would have found out what so many +people mean by saying that Mr. Sanders disappears.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, listen,†quoth Ruth, in a most confidential +tone, “I don’t call myself sensational, +and in fact, people at Long Leigh +generally have the name of minding their +own business; but there is something mighty +queer about Mr. Sanders.†She paused +while Nancy waited for further explanation. +“He does <em>not</em> live in the old gray +house, for father’s men went through the +entire place the other day, he’s in real-estate +you know,†she explained, “and there +wasn’t a thing to show that the old house +had been opened since they inspected it +last.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Couldn’t he camp in the barn or somewhere +outside the house?†queried Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No; the barn was locked up tight as tuppence,†+insisted Ruth. “But he seems to +hang out somewhere on that hill, just the +same,†she added.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know!†exclaimed Nancy. “He goes +up in a tree with the wires and springs,†+and she sprang up and down without either. +“Some day I’m going up there and I bet +<em>I’ll</em> solve the mystery,†she promised +gaily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let us know when you’re going, Nan,†+suggested Ruth. “We wouldn’t want to +have you swallowed up by—the fairies.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say,†whispered Isabel, her eyes set in +what looked like alarm, “do you know, I +saw a little woman come up and down our +side steps a half dozen times this morning—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh!†and Nancy laughed merrily. +“That would be little Miss Manners, the +dressmaker who lives in the tiny bungalow +under our window. You see, Mother +wouldn’t really let us keep store without +some supervision. She’s pretty particular, +and declares there is no telling who +might pop in—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And hold us up for our cash box—!†+Ruth added so mirthfully as to suggest a +good time in the danger.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, any how,†continued Nancy, +“Mother insists that Miss Manners look in +quite often to see that everything is all right. +She’s as quiet as a mouse—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I should say she is,†Isabel confirmed. +“In fact, I didn’t want to frighten you or +I should have told you someone was sneaking +in,†she added, folding up a tape line as +she spoke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Miss Manners is so quaint, as Vera +would say,†Ruth contributed, “that I think +she ought to be a partner, if a silent partner, +in the Whatnot Shop.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†agreed Nancy, “it does seem as if +this shop should belong to little old people +like Miss Townsend, and I guess that’s why +Miss Manners is so interested. You see, +girls, I’m still a very poor housekeeper, and +our maid, Anna, won’t be back until fall. +After I get tired playing store, I suppose,†+and she sighed heavily, “I’ll be expected to +start in playing house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But if you run the shop as you have done +this morning,†Isabel interposed, “don’t you +suppose your mother will think you’re a real +genius at business?†she inquired.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can’t fool my mother on geniuses,†+replied Nancy, who like her companions was +putting away the odds and ends of things +that had been scattered in the morning’s adventure. +“Mother is an expert, and she sort +of knows—me.†This last was said in a +way implying a very doubtful compliment +for Nancy. “I’ve been almost a genius at +art, for instance. When I was five years +old I could draw a goose with my eyes +shut.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How about it when your eyes were +open?†asked Ruth, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was usually a little fat pig, then,†+Nancy admitted, amid an outburst of girlish +laughter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy,†interrupted Isabel, “here’s the +ice cream man.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ours,†declared Nancy. “Now we’ll +whistle for Ted and his boys and shut up +shop for lunch. Isabel, will you please open +the side door? We’ll take a tray over to +Miss Manners and then sit down and enjoy +ourselves.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here’s Ted and his friends now,†announced +Ruth. “They seem to know it is +ice cream time.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That will save trouble,†Nancy remarked. +And presently the big sale was all +but forgotten in preparations for the feast +of ice cream, with other suitable summer +lunch supplies.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Isabel took an attractive tray over to solicitous +and attentive Miss Ada Manners, +while Nancy and Ruth attempted to satisfy +the demands of Ted and his ice cream loving +friends. The noon day was much +warmer than the morning had indicated, and +this coupled with the sale excitement, went +far to make the little party a tremendous +success, just as Mrs. Brandon had planned +it to be.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXI' class='c010'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <br />THE FAILURE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>The days were slipping by, and Nancy +found herself entangled in a rather confused +vacation. True, she had already reaped +real benefit from the big sale and from the +subsequent days’ sales in her shop, but was +it really being a vacation?</p> + +<p class='c009'>It must be admitted that Nancy had a +tendency to stubbornness, but since that peculiarity +very often marks the first stages of +a strong character, her mother wisely allowed +her to continue to try things out for +herself. The Whatnot Shop was not proving +in any way a disappointment, but it was +most certainly giving Nancy work, so that +she was not free to come and go with the +other girls, in spite of Miss Manners frequent +and generous offers to “'tend store†+for her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A bright spot on her calendar not very far +off, was the coming of Mrs. Brandon’s vacation. +Soon she would be at home, free to do +all the precious things a devoted mother +plans to do in the little interval of freedom +so long looked forward to and so quickly +spent.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“When you are home,†Nancy would continually +plan, “I’m going to do that,†referring +to any one of a number of things being +postponed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Today it was raining; a sudden summer +shower was drenching everything as if rain +had never had such a good time before, and +a charity sale, in which all the girls were interested, +was to be held that afternoon. +Everyone, including Nancy, expected to attend, +and she with others had promised to +donate a cake.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But how it rained! And Nancy had +planned to go into town to the fancy bakers +to get her cake. Hour after hour she hoped +the rain would cease, until it became too late +for a telephone delivery, and still Nancy +could not go out in the downpour.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If I could only bake it,†she reflected, +as she once more gazed gloomily out of the +windows at the dripping world. “It’s easy +enough to bake a cake,†she told herself, +“and, of course, I could follow the recipe in +mother’s cook book.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Still Nancy had misgivings concerning +such an experiment. A cake for a sale +should be good, of that she was certain, and +for that very reason she had previously decided +to buy one at the French Pastry Shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†she sighed, “I may as well try it. +It is sure to clear up just when the girls are +due to call for me, and I simply couldn’t go +without a cake.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>First locking the store, and making up +her mind that no call, however insistent, +would tempt her to leave her task, Nancy +promptly set about baking her cake. It was +no trouble to find the cook book, Mrs. Brandon +had found a small shelf suitable for +that in the open pantry. Also, the required +ingredients were all at hand, and the creaming +of the butter and sugar, according to the +first rule, Nancy executed with something +like skill, for she had strong young hands +and the spoon in her grasp quickly beat the +butter and sugar together in a perfectly +smooth paste.</p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic004'> +<a href='images/illus-132.jpg'><img src='images/illus-132.jpg' alt='' class='ig004' /></a> +<p>Nancy promptly set about baking her cake.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Then she put the flour in the sieve. In +doing this she made a slight mistake, for no +pan nor plate had been placed under the +sieve and consequently a pretty little layer +of the sifted flour showered out upon her +table before she could get a receptacle under +the utensil.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I had better measure over again,†Nancy +decided, feeling that the uncertainty of +guessing at the lost flour might spoil her +cake. So this time she put in her baking +powder, salt and flour, and sifted all into a +little pudding pan. Separating the eggs, +yolks from whites, was not quite so easily accomplished, +but even that was finally managed, +and now Nancy knew it was time to +light the gas oven.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Next, three-fourths of a cup of milk was +added to the creamed butter and sugar, the +egg yolks added to that and all well beaten. +Then the flour was carefully turned in, while +beating all together Nancy felt really elated +at the prospect in sight.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m sure this will be fine,†she was congratulating +herself, “perhaps even better +than a store cake. And I know how to make +the maple icing—I’m glad I have done that +much before, at any rate,†she admitted ruefully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The soft yellow mixture did indeed look +promising, but now came the time to fold +in the whites of the eggs.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Fold in,†repeated Nancy, somewhat +puzzled. “How shall I fold it in?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She looked at the batter and she looked at +the frothy egg whites. To fold that in +would surely mean to spoil all the nice, +white, snowy mound of froth. Nancy hated +to do it, but she finally spilled it into the +bowl full, and started to beat it all over +again. The batter seemed rather thin and +Nancy decided to add a little more flour. +Just here was where her inexperience +threatened disaster, but the trial so fascinated the +little cook that she did a few other things not +proposed by the recipe, but all of which +seemed reasonable to her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The oven was now sizzling hot, and Nancy +quickly turned her mixture into two tins, +which she neglected to grease, and slipped +them into the oven. With a sense of satisfaction +she turned to and really cleared up +all the utensils—something very commendable +indeed in Nancy Brandon. With +watching the clock and getting Ted’s lunch +set out on the little porch table, while she +also managed somehow to start her own personal +preparations for the afternoon, Nancy +was, as she would say, kept on the jump.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the cake didn’t burn, and she took it +from the oven on the dot of thirty minutes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It will have to cool, I suppose,†Nancy +guessed, “and while it’s cooling I’ll make +the icing. It looks pretty good but it has +got a lot of holes in it,†was her rather +skeptical criticism, as she inspected the two +layers of golden pastry. But the cake, even +after a thorough cooling which consumed +more time than could be spared, would not +leave the tins!</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy tried a knife—that broke a great +rough corner off. Then she got the pancake +turner and slipped it under as well as +she could, but alas! The thing actually +splashed up in a regular explosion of +crumbs!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruined!†groaned Nancy. “I can never +fix that!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her disappointment was cruel. To see a +perfectly good and such a fragrant cake go +to pieces when finished, after all the work of +getting it that far was nothing short of a +tragedy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Tears blinded Nancy Brandon.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I might have known,†she sighed, “I +just couldn’t have such good luck with +cooking.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The rain was almost over. Ted would +soon be in, but Nancy just couldn’t help +crying. It was so hard not to succeed when +she had been counting so especially on that +afternoon’s fun. Perhaps she could get Ted +to go to town for her after all. But upon +serious consideration she decided against +that plan. She simply wouldn’t go now +under any circumstances. Her eyes were +red and she wanted a good cry even more +than the fun of the sale. In fact, she +couldn’t help crying and she wasn’t going to +try.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When an hour later the girls called, Ted +told them what was strictly true. Nancy +was in bed with a sick headache and she +couldn’t go. Carrying their messages of +sympathy upstairs to Nancy, along with a +plate full of broken cake and a glass of ice +cold lemonade, Ted tried to cheer his disconsolate +sister, but even then she had not +discovered that the whole trouble was +merely her neglect of greasing those cake +tins. The cook book didn’t direct so simple +a thing as that and, of course, poor Nancy +just hadn’t noticed that her mother did it. +She was usually too concerned about the +remnants of cake dough being left in the +bowl, to observe how the batter was being +put in the pans.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Does it ache hard?†asked Ted, sitting +beside his sister and referring to her head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, it does, Ted, but this lemonade is +splendid.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I can make good lemonade,†Ted admitted. +“And your cake is swell, only it +sticks awful. I got it out with the pie +server,†he told Nancy simply.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. I couldn’t get it to come off the +pan at all. Well,†and Nancy moved to get +up, “I suppose I won’t feel any worse down +stairs. What color dress did Ruth have +on?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>To the best of his limited ability Ted described +the girls’ costumes and then, determined +to drive away Nancy’s blues, he +started in to recite in detail his great experience +of that morning.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now Nan,†he began, “you can say all +you like, but Mr. Sanders does disappear. +<em>I saw him!</em>â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“<em>You</em> saw him disappear!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, sure as shootin’. We were all running +down the hill, trying to get to the station +before that big shower, when I said to +Tom, 'there’s Mr. Sanders, comin’ up.’ He +said he saw him too, and we kept on runnin’, +when I was just goin’ to shout hello, and +true as I tell you, Nan, there wasn’t any Mr. +Sanders anywhere in sight!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep, that’s just what I’m telling you. +We all saw him go, but no one saw where +to.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And presently even the lost pleasure and +the spoiled cake were soon forgotten in their +discussion of Ted’s remarkable story.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <br />THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>But something had happened to Nancy. +The cake failure represented to her much +more than a simple episode, for it had suddenly +summed up all the awful possibilities +of untrained hands. It was well enough to +make excuses, to claim business and even +artistic talent, for Nancy could draw and +color, and was among the best in her class +as an art student, but the fact now bore +down upon her with undisguised horror! +She could not do what other girls could do. +She could not even bake a cake.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And just as mother so often told me,†+she reflected bitterly, “it is not at all a question +of preference but of simple, civilized +living. What <em>I</em> don’t do and should do +someone else <em>must</em> do, and that’s anything +but fair play on my part,†Nancy sadly +admitted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Aren’t you going to open the store, +Nan?†Ted asked her. “There’s been +someone knocking a long time and now +they’re going away—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, never mind,†she answered indifferently, +“I’m going to get tea ready so +mother won’t have to bother. She does it +like an angel when I plead store business, +but I guess, Ted, the old store—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,†Ted +helped her out rather willingly, for he had +not, at any time, shared her enthusiasm in +the little business venture.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy sighed dramatically. She was +feeling rather sorry for herself and that is +always a symptom of wounded pride. It +was the same day, in early evening, of the +picnic and cake experience, and her crying +spell still stirred its little moisture of hurt +emotions. Ted couldn’t bear to see his sister +cry, ever, and he was now all attention +and sympathetic interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I wish, Nan, you’d just sell out. The +store would make a swell gym, and we +scouts need a place just like that—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon! Do you think <em>I</em> would +quit just because a thing is hard! Why, I +should think you would remember how hard +mother works,†she declared, in a sudden +outburst of virtue. “And the harder it is +the more reason to—to do it,†she +floundered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yeah, sure,†agreed Ted amicably. +“Of course that’s so. Want me to set +table?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thanks, Ted, I wish you would. I’m +going to try a cooked custard, I mean a top +of the stove custard. If I can cool it by +putting the dishes flat on the ice,†Nancy +reasoned aloud.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But they’ll melt right through, if they’re +hot,†Ted reminded her. “I know my taffy +pan did—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, perhaps I’d better not try it then, +as it’s so late,†Nancy decided, relieved to +find a genuine excuse. “Suppose we have +toasted crackers with cheese on top? +Mother always likes that and <em>that</em> can’t go +wrong.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Fortified with a new determination, +Nancy went at her task, and in less time, +much less time than she usually required, +succeeded in preparing not only an appetizing +but a really tempting meal. Ted +arranged the crisp lettuce leaves while +Nancy cut the tomatoes, which she “nested†+in the lettuce, prettily. The toasted cheese-crackers +were in the oven and as this was +not only a favorite dish with the Brandons, +but is also a favorite with many others, it +might be well to know how Nancy prepared +it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She buttered saltines, enough to cover +the bottom of a flat pan, the pan usually +used for “Johnnie Cake,†then, on top of +the cracker layer, she showered, plentifully +thick, grated cheese; another layer of crackers +and another shower of cheese. Next, she +wet the layers with just enough milk to +moisten the crackers. The pan was then +allowed to stand long enough for the crackers +to absorb the milk, after which the +preparation was baked in a quick oven. A +delicious brown cheese-cake was the result, +and it “didn’t go wrong.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m glad I can do that much, at any +rate,†Nancy half-complained, half-praised. +“And Ted, you have made the table look +lovely. I shall be so sorry when the roses +are gone—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Say Sis,†broke in Ted abruptly, “you +know I was telling you about how Mr. Sanders +disappeared.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Were you?†Nancy was polishing her +water glasses.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure, I was. When you had the headache +and was crying. Don’t you know?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes, I do remember,†admitted +Nancy. “But it’s too foolish, Ted—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Foolish nothing! I tell you I saw him +go,†Ted declared in a voice that admitted +of no argument.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How funny!†cried Nancy. “Do <em>you</em> +really believe in that stuff, Ted?†she asked +quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, say!†Ted was too disgusted to attempt +explanation. That any one should +doubt <em>his</em> eyes was beyond his understanding.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I’ll tell you,†Nancy condescended. +“I’m going to call on Miss Townsend soon, +that is, mother and I are, because Miss +Townsend has been sick, you know,†she +elucidated. “Then, I’m just going to ask +her straight all about that weird story.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“As if she’d tell,†scoffed the boy. +“Why, her own dog never left her house +since she’s been sick, if you want to know. +What do you make out of that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Cute doggie,†replied Nancy, now shutting +off the gas stove to await her mother’s +coming. “And another thing, Ted, I wish +you could see how that dog acts around this +place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m just thinking that maybe Miss +Townsend is acting sick just to get back +here,†hazarded Ted. “I hope mother +won’t give in, if she is, for I like it here, +don’t you, Nan?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Love it! Here’s mother! Quick Ted, +the ice water. There, let’s hide!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The joy of a thing well done was Nancy’s +reward for her extra efforts. The little +meal was indeed a credit to her, and that it +gave her mother unmistakable pleasure was +Nancy’s greatest satisfaction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I am always sure that you can do it, little +girl,†her mother told her, as they all three +turned in to clear away the table things, +“but I also know you have to find things +out for yourself. How did you manage it +all so nicely?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I didn’t mean to tell you,†Nancy +sighed, “but I might just as well.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Better,†chimed in Ted mischievously, +as he scurried around to do his part in the +clearing up ceremony.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†Nancy agreed affably. “I +had better tell you, Mother. You see, it was +the day of the sale—the church sale the girls +were all going to. And I expected to get +my cake at the French Bakery.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you couldn’t on account of the +rain,†Mrs. Brandon helped the recital +along.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It never stopped for one half hour,†+Nancy added. “So I tried, that is I just +<em>tried to make</em> a cake.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She drew in her lips and puckered her +pretty face into a wry misgiving expression. +Nancy was looking very pretty in her +rose colored linen dress (the one her mother +had finished off with peasant embroidery), +and her dark eyes were agleam now with +enthusiasm and interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Frankly she told her mother the story of +her spoiled cake, and how they all three +laughed when the mother explained why it +had failed—just because Nancy didn’t know +enough to grease the tins!</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted, all this time, was casting suspicious +glances first at Nancy then at his mother. +He seemed to be enjoying a secret that even +his glances were not imparting to the others.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You may run along, Ted,†his mother +told him, as she always excused him just a +little earlier than she and Nancy were prepared +to finish. “I guess you can call your +part complete. Here dear. I’ll put the +sweeper away. You run, I hear some code +whistling at the side window.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right, Mother, but I can chase the +sweeper in the pantry as I go,†Ted offered. +“But I wanted to tell you.†He sidled up +to his mother very confidentially, “I think +Nancy’s good and sick of the store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why Ted!†His mother showed complete +surprise at the frank declaration. +Nancy was not within hearing so Ted ventured +further.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep,†he continued. “I’ll bet she +chucks it up pretty soon, and if she does, +Mother, could we fellers have it?†he +pleaded.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You boys have it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yeah; for a gym. Fine and dandy. +We’ve got a lot of things to exercise with—†+Nancy was back from the ice box now so +Ted could say no more. The next moment +he darted off to the boys who were calling, +his own vociferous answer shrilling the path +he made as he rushed out.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy remained silent for some minutes +and neither did her mother seem inclined to +talk. Mrs. Brandon put the center piece on +the table and Nancy straightened the window +shades, replaced the fruit dish on the +little table near the cool window, and suddenly +remembered to wind the clock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s Ted’s business, dear,†her mother +reminded her. “You see, even a boy must +get some training in these little household +matters. He too lives in a house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†agreed Nancy. “And isn’t it +strange that I always remember his part +while I so often forget my own?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, not strange,†her mother said gently. +“Ted’s little schedule is new and novel to +you, therefore interesting; yours is old and +monotonous to you, therefore irksome.†+Mrs. Brandon managed to get her arm affectionately +over her daughter’s shoulder. +“But don’t be discouraged, dear. You may +make a star housekeeper in the end,†she +prophesied.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh dear. I’m afraid not, Mother,†and +Nancy sighed heavily. “It seems to me I +get tired of everything. I thought it would +be wonderful to earn money,†she faltered, +“and I suppose because I always liked to +play store I thought it would be just as much +fun to have a real store. But Mother,†and +she snuggled against the sympathetic breast, +“Mother, I do want to help you—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you have,†brightened Mrs. Brandon. +“You have no idea what miracles I +have worked with your extra dollars, earned +in that little store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really, Mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, indeed. In fact I am thinking of +taking a real vacation when my little two +weeks come around. I had expected to do +some extra work—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“In your vacation?†exclaimed Nancy. +She had squatted her mother down in the +arm chair and was herself resting on the +side cushion. “Indeed, I should say not,†+she scoffed, pouting prettily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But if we buy this little summer place, +dear, we must do a lot of certain things,†+explained her mother vaguely.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then I’m not going to get tired of the +store,†determined Nancy, suddenly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yet Nannie, we might do very well to +rent it,†suggested Mrs. Brandon. “A +business place is worth something, you +know.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Rent it? To whom?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it would cure Miss Townsend of +her imaginary ills, to have a chance to come +back—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Mother, somehow I shouldn’t like +to have her around,†faltered Nancy. +“She’s sweet and quaint and all that,†conceded +Nancy, “but she gives one the creeps. +She sort of brings ghosts along with her +when she comes here. And her dog! Why, +he’d bark us all to death if we ever let him +in to fight with the chimney place.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mrs. Brandon laughed good-naturedly. +“I’ve felt rather against considering the +plan myself,†she admitted, “for as you say, +dear, we would feel like intruders with Miss +Townsend established in the store. Well, +we don’t have to think about it now, at any +rate,†she decided. “Come along for a +walk. I’m afraid you haven’t been out +much today and that’s one thing that would +really worry me, dear. I don’t want you to +stay indoors to take care of the store,†her +mother admonished. “We don’t pretend to +carry real necessities that people might expect +to buy from us, and such stock as we +do keep can be had at our convenience, as +well as at theirs,†she finished definitely.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are perfectly right, Mother,†+Nancy answered emphatically. “And +that’s one thing I don’t like about business. +Everybody just thinks <em>we</em> are their servants, +and they even become rude when I tell +them I haven’t got something they happen +to want.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes, I know. But I wouldn’t worry +about that. It all adds to the value of the +lesson, you know. Just be sure you are +right, keep a cool head and a steady hand,†+her mother laughed, “then, let the other +folks lose their patience if they are foolish +enough to do so. But listen,†she paused +attentively. “Here comes Miss Manners. +And she seems to be in trouble. I’ll let her +in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The little lady was indeed in trouble for +her face, small and somewhat pinched with +threatening years, showed, as she entered +the room, the unmistakable signs of weeping.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh dear,†she sighed brokenly, as +Nancy pulled out the rocker for her, “I +don’t know why I should come to you folks, +for I’m sure,†she gulped back her interrupting +sobs, “you must have troubles +enough of your own. But I just had to talk +to somebody—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Talk away,†replied Nancy’s mother +cheerily. “You know that is the best way +to conquer one’s own troubles—to attack +them with the troubles of someone else.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe that’s so,†replied Miss Manners, +brushing back a stray strand of her graying +hair, “but I don’t just see how that is going +to help me,†she faltered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Tell us yours,†urged Nancy, “and then +we will be better able to judge.†Nancy sat +back in her own chair, quite prepared now +for a new chapter in the current events of +Long Leigh.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <br />BEHIND THE CLOUD</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Poor little Miss Manners! Hers had +been a brave struggle, and as Nancy and her +mother listened to the brokenly told story, +they were easily ready to pardon the little +lady’s show of emotion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So you were worried about your rent, +principally?†Mrs. Brandon prompted her, +kindly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. You see when I had to give up +teaching on account of my health, I naturally +turned to sewing,†she explained. +“If I had only been a teacher in a public +school, instead of a private school, I +shouldn’t have been left without some +means,†she complained, sorrowfully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was watching her in silent contemplation. +What a “sweet†little woman she +was. The type always called little and +sometimes referred to as “sweet†because +of that indefinable quality usually associated +with flowers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You should not have worried so,†Mrs. +Brandon assured her. “You have done a +great deal for us—I never could have left +the children here alone without feeling sure +of your watchful kindness, you know.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now Mrs. Brandon,†said Miss Manners, +in a rather dictatorial tone, “I have +done nothing at all for you, and I want to +assure you that Nancy and Ted require very—little—watching.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I want to say,†spoke up Nancy, +“that Miss Manners is the very nicest kind +of a watch—a watch-woman,†she laughed. +“We never hear or see her when, perhaps, +we are noisy and—and rackety.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was afraid,†continued Miss Manners, +without apparently heeding Nancy’s intended +compliment, “that you might have +been alarmed about the silly stories current +around here. I mean, that especially about +Mr. Sanders.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†said Mrs. Brandon encouragingly. +“We have heard queer tales of his remarkable +powers, but I can’t say they have +alarmed us, Miss Manners.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You have too much sense, I’m sure, for +that,†she conceded. “But when one comes +into a strange place and hears such stories, +especially, when they have something to do +with this little place—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What could they have to do with +<em>this</em> place?†Nancy questioned sharply. +“Surely, he doesn’t do any disappearing +around here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Both the older folks laughed at that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, not exactly,†replied Miss Manners, +“but you see, they say he influenced old Mr. +Townsend until he spent his own and his +sister’s money. But for my part,†she hurried +to add, “I could never believe that +Mr. Sanders is anything but a perfectly upright +gentleman, and in no way responsible +for the sad state of the Townsends’ business +affairs.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then <em>you</em> don’t believe any of the stories +about him, do you?†pressed Nancy. +“Even Ted insists he saw him—fade away.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The little woman, who seemed for the +moment to have forgotten her troubles, +looked from mother to daughter. It was so +easy to interpret her thoughts. She was +measuring Nancy’s courage.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you don’t need to be afraid of +frightening me, Miss Manners,†Nancy assured +her, “I’m only waiting for a chance to +investigate the disappearing story. I’ve +been so sure <em>I</em> could solve the mystery, that +the girls will soon be calling me a boaster +if I don’t start out to do something. What +do you think, really, Miss Manners?†she +pressed further.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I hate to say so, but I can’t deny +there is something curious about Mr. Sanders. +I have often watched him around this +house, when he and Mr. Townsend were +such friends, and really,†she paused as if +the admission were most distasteful to her, +“I must say, the way those two men ran +around the house—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ran around! Those two old men!†+cried Nancy, sitting up very straight in sudden +interest.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, actually. I mean out of doors, of +course,†Miss Manners explained. “But +they would first fuss around the outside +chimney—you know the mason work runs to +the ground on my side of this house, I mean +the side next to my bungalow,†she emphasized, +“and there is an old-fashioned opening +there. I suppose they used to take +ashes out that way when they used the old +grate fires.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I know!†cried Nancy excitedly. +“That’s why Miss Townsend’s dog made +such a fuss over the fireplace in the store!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. They always had Tiny with them +and the dog seemed as—crazy as the men,†+Miss Manners remarked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t you suppose they were working at +something?†Mrs. Brandon suggested, sensibly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I did think so, of course; but Miss +Townsend seemed to fear all sorts of things; +yet she never would put her fears into sensible +words,†Miss Manners told them +curiously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But how could that be connected with +the foolish story of Mr. Sander’s disappearing +trick?†Mrs. Brandon wanted to know.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You see, it was all so unusual—I mean +Mr. Sanders coming in here a stranger, and +not living any place that folks could find +out. Then, when he came down to Mr. +Townsend here, got him all excited over +some secret, got him to draw his money +from the bank, and finally worked poor Miss +Townsend into a state of nervous breakdown, +why, naturally the people around suspected +almost everything—even to calling +him a magician,†Miss Manners said, with +a timid little smile.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I couldn’t give credence to any of it,†+replied Mrs. Brandon decidedly. “I have +met Mr. Sanders and share your opinion; +that he is a perfect gentleman.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I’ve talked a long way from my +own story haven’t I?†Miss Manners +sighed again, as she blinked against impelling +thoughts. “You see, I have no friends +at hand, and when I did so large an order of +hand-made handkerchiefs—it took me +months to do them—I depended upon that +money for the summer. But the lady I +made them for was called hurriedly abroad, +on account of the sudden illness of her husband, +and she never gave a thought to my +precious twenty-five dollars,†the little lady +sighed ruefully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She went away and owed you all that +money!†Nancy exclaimed. “However +could she have forgotten?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“My dear child, we are all selfish when +in trouble I suppose,†said Miss Manners +charitably. “But I did fully expect to hear +from her before this, and my next rent will +be due in three days. I just came in to consult +with you, not to borrow. I wondered +if you knew of anything I could do—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Certainly I do,†Nancy almost shouted. +“You can start a little private school, a +class in domestic science right in my—in +our store,†she exclaimed. “I know at +least a half dozen girls who will be glad to +take a month’s course, and we’ll all pay +you in advance. They always do in private +schools!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The women both appeared speechless as +Nancy rattled on. The idea was plainly +fascinating. A domestic science class for +the girls who hated housework, as Nancy +did! How much better than idling an entire +vacation!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, I just wonder—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You needn’t wonder, Mother,†Nancy +interrupted, “I tell you, it’s just perfectly +wonderful, the idea, I mean. I’ll learn, I’ll +learn, I’ll learn,†she chanted, “and then +maybe I’ll find out a pleasant way—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are right, daughter,†spoke up Mrs. +Brandon. “When you learn to do things +as they should be done, you will find the +work interesting. I have been sorry, Miss +Manners, that my home has had to get along +without a great deal of my time,†she turned +to her visitor, “as you know I have had to +attend business and leave things to my +maid. For, after all,†she said evenly, +“only a mother can teach a daughter, and I +have not been with Nancy long enough—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You have too, Mumsey, and it’s all my +very own fault,†Nancy confessed. “You +often showed me how to do things, and you +always told me I would have to pick things +up when I threw them down, but I just +didn’t care. I didn’t think it made any difference.†+Nancy was actually joyous in +her confession, showing the positive relief +one is apt to experience when the mind is +suddenly freed from a heavy weight.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I really think Nancy’s idea is a good +one,†said Mrs. Brandon. “There is no +real reason why you should be tucked away +next door to us when we need you in here, +and we’ve got more room than we know +what to do with.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, joy!†Nancy was positively dancing +now. “We can have Manny in here with us +all the time? May I call you Manny?†+she asked. “It’s the cutest name.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s queer,†replied the little lady, a +soft color showing through her pale skin. +“My girls at Raleigh always called me—Manny—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then the plans were unfolded, and such +plans as they were!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I feel like a fairy with a magic wand†+declared Nancy. “My little store is just +like—a magic carpet or something.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I don’t want to impose—†Miss +Manners began.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re a positive blessing,†Nancy insisted. +“The only trouble is—we can’t +learn sleuthing in your class and I’ve just +got to find out Mr. Sanders’ secret before +I’m many days older. I honestly think, +Mother, the idea of that foolish story going +around without anyone—running it down, +as Ted would say, is getting on my nerves.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And every one enjoyed a good laugh at +the idea of Nancy Brandon having nerves.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXIV' class='c010'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <br />A PLEASANT SURPRISE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It was all very exciting, but Nancy didn’t +want to think that she was really glad to get +rid of her precious Whatnot Shop. Ted +openly declared “he told her so,†as boys +will, but she politely drew his attention to +the fact that she had fulfilled her contract, +that she had earned money, quite a lot of +money, in fact, and in now turning the shop +over to Miss Manners she was following her +mother’s advice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was a few days later than that evening +when she and her mother offered the use +of the shop to the little seamstress, and +now they were preparing to call on Miss +Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Suppose she says <em>she</em> wants it back,†+faltered Nancy, just patting her dark hair +back into the desired soft little bumps. +“What would we say, Mother, if she just +begged us to let her have it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why dear, we could let her have a part +of it, perhaps. She could come in and sell +out what little stock you have, while Miss +Manners is getting ready for her class.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, but,†pouted Nancy, “I would just +hate to have her do that. If you ever saw +the way she snooped around, Mother. And +the way that dog acted!†Nancy’s manner +was very decidedly one of opposition to +Miss Townsend and her dog.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, come along, dear,†her mother +urged, “we must not stay late. I have some +notes to write up and I don’t want to lose +sleep over them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Whatever else bothered Nancy Brandon, +an evening’s walk through the country +roads of Long Leigh, in a beautiful summer +twilight with her arm locked tightly in her +mother’s, was balm enough to soothe and +heal every slightest hurt and anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother-love,†she actually cooed, in the +softest little voice she could command, “I +just love it tonight, don’t you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Perfect,†replied the happy mother, +pressing lovingly upon the imprisoned arm. +“And I am so glad, daughter-love, that you +want to give up your business.†There was +a humorous little twist given to that last +word, for Nancy’s business was and had +been something of a practical joke among +the Brandons.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s walk around the old house,†suggested +Nancy, for they were at a fork in +the road and needed to choose a way to +Miss Townsend’s. “Then, maybe we will +discover something about Mr. Sanders’ +quarters.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But just as they were about to turn into +the lane that led past the old stone house, +Ted hailed them from the hilltop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>He wanted to know where they were going. +He wanted to know if he could go +along, and as they managed to make signs +that gave at least a negative answer to this +last request, they found themselves on the +open road, walking directly away from the +old stone house.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We won’t be long, Ted,†his mother assured +him, as he reached them, “and you +can, if you want to, go over to Norton Duncan’s. +We will give you a call as we come +back, and then we will all go home together. +The side door key is in the regular place +though, if you would rather go home—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no I wouldn’t. I’ll stay out 'til +nine, and Nort and I’ll practice drill,†proclaimed +Ted. “We’re going to have a regular +test drill soon, and he’s my partner.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This being a satisfactory arrangement, +Ted went to Nort’s while Nancy and her +mother continued on to the little country +hotel, where the Townsends had taken up +their abode.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I do hope,†murmured Nancy, “that she +won’t upset our plans. I just can’t see, +Mother, why you bother about her at all,†+she complained.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The place is ours for this summer to do +as we please with it, Nancy,†her mother +replied, “but just the same, it is a little +business courtesy to show to Miss Townsend. +We have the option on the place, and I fully +intend to buy it, but the shop was so dear to +Miss Townsend’s heart, that I feel we ought +to, at least, tell her what we plan to do for +the month.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’re so, generous, Mother,†sighed +Nancy. “I wish <em>I</em> were more like you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Her mother smiled and squeezed the +young hand that rested so confidently upon +her own arm.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t worry, dear,†she answered. +“You know what dear grandma always said +when you got into little troubles?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†replied Nancy, “that my heart +was in the right place if my head was a little +shaky.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, that’s it. And don’t we miss +grandma? She might just as well come out +here with us, but I was afraid of bringing +her to the old-fashioned little house. Well, +here we are at our hotel,†Mrs. Brandon +broke off, as they came in sight of the long +white building, with its unmistakable hotel +piazza.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In the row of rockers on the porch sat a +row of men on one side and almost a row of +women, or “ladies†on the other. Country +folks, with a few city interlopers, composed +the patronage of the Waterfall House, it +was quite evident.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy and her mother smiled at the faces +and half-greeted them, as they passed into +the office, and after asking for Miss Townsend’s +rooms, followed the boy along the +red carpeted hall, and up a stairs carpeted +with what once had been red. They journeyed +on until they reached a little turn in +the second hall. Before this their guide +halted and pointed out a door that bore the +number twenty-seven.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy’s heart would have jumped a little +apprehensively had it been a less healthy +young heart, but as it was, she merely kept +very close to her mother until the boy +turned on his heel and whistled a returning +tune.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe she’s sick in bed,†Nancy was +thinking, just as the door was opened in +response to her mother’s knock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why! Mrs. Brandon!†she heard a +voice exclaim. “And Nancy!†as Miss +Townsend bowed them in. “How glad I +am to see you! Do come right in. Here, +take this chair, it’s so comfortable. Nancy, +sit by the window,†she was pushing a chair +over to the girl, “and you can see the people +passing. Well, I can’t tell you how glad I +am to see you both.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was so surprised she almost exclaimed +aloud. There was the “sick†Miss +Townsend fairly beaming, in, what surely +looked like, very good health. The little +dog was frisking around and Nancy had +scarcely seated herself in the chair by the +window when he pounced up on her lap, and +after “kissing her†several times, finally +subsided into a small, brown, woolly ball, +cuddled into a little nest formed from the +soft folds of Nancy’s blue voile skirt.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m so glad to see you are better, Miss +Townsend,†Mrs. Brandon presently said. +“You have been ill, we heard.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes indeed, but I’m better now, really +a new woman, you might say,†and Miss +Townsend now seated herself comfortably +on the small green sofa near them. “But +it was just worry. Worry is a pretty bad +ailment, isn’t it?†she asked, smiling a contradiction +to anything like worry affecting +her just then.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You are real cozy here,†Mrs. Brandon +ventured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, it’s quite pleasant, but I’ve just +come back from a trip to the sea shore. I +guess that is what helped me most,†conceded +Miss Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Like Nancy, Mrs. Brandon also, was much +surprised at Miss Townsend’s exuberant +spirits. It was perfectly plain that some +good fortune had befallen the lady since she +had paid that mournful visit to Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You see,†she began, as if in answer +to their unmasked questions, “our business +affairs are being all straightened out and +Brother Elmer is getting back the money he +loaned. Of course I didn’t understand, and +it is one of those affairs a woman isn’t supposed +to understand.†This was said in +that sort of tone that conveys deep and mysterious +meaning.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m awfully glad of that,†Mrs. Brandon +assured the woman in her brand new heliotrope +one piece dress. It was quite modish, +indeed, and without question, very becoming +to Miss Townsend.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes,†went on the hostess, “I was +so worried for a long time. You see, I +really couldn’t have faith in a business deal +that I was not privileged to know the details +of. I have been a business woman all my +life,†she insisted, “and I’m not afraid to +tackle any business deal,†at this she +dangled her amethyst beads self-consciously. +“But Elmer and Mr. Sanders!†Her hands +went up protestingly. “They just used +every dollar. Well—†she broke off suddenly, +“it’s all right now, so why should I +fuss about it. You didn’t come to hear of +my troubles, I’m sure.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>At this point Mrs. Brandon divulged the +real purpose of her visit. Nancy was having +a great time with Tiny. He was awake +now and evidently eager to show off. He +stood up and begged, jumped down and +“prayed†and otherwise disported himself +most wonderfully. The distraction afforded +Nancy a welcome chance to sit aside +and take little or no part in the elder’s conversation, +but she was, as Ted would have +said, “all ears to it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, I think that’s a perfectly splendid +idea,†she heard Miss Townsend say, +in reference to the plan of giving the store +over to Miss Manners. “And I must say +you are very generous, Mrs. Brandon,†+she complimented. “As a matter of fact, +fancy-store business is not what it used to +be. More folks now take to the mail order +plan, especially in winter. Why, there +were months when I didn’t see the color of +a 'green back’ in that place,†she admitted. +“Yet, I couldn’t help loving the old place. +I had been in it so long,†she concluded +earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I met Mr. Sanders’ daughter, Miss +Townsend,†Nancy spoke up, determined to +bring up that subject, “and I think she’s +a perfectly splendid girl.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t she though! But she couldn’t +help but be smart with such a father.†+This last little speech was indeed a compliment +to the absent Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But where does he live?†demanded +Nancy, without any attempt to cloak her +question with indifference.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Live? Why, my dear child, he lives +here! Just moved in, and I do declare, the +man needs some comfort after all he’s been +through. If Elmer comes in before you go +I’ll have him bring Mr. Sanders in. We +are all the best of friends now,†declared +the incomprehensible little woman on the +green velour sofa.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXV' class='c010'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <br />TALKING IT OVER</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>“You haven’t really sold out?†Ruth demanded +incredulously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Going, going, going, gone!†sang back +Nancy. “Manny is a wonder. She just +sells and goes on with her preparations, +and girls, when my store is all cleaned out +I wouldn’t wonder but we’ll have a model +class room, instead of the Whatnot Shop.†+Nancy was flitting around like some full +grown elf. The three girls, Isabel was with +them, were out on the broad sloping grounds +surrounding Ruth’s home, and it was perfectly +plain that Nancy was already enjoying +her freedom from business.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it’s splendid,†Isabel joined in. +“We took millinery last August, you know, +so we don’t want any more hat making. +Mother is simply thrilled, as Vera would +say, and you know, Nan, Vera is due back +Tuesday. I guess the stores ran out of post +cards and she couldn’t live at Beverly without +cards. I’ve got enough of mine to paper +our attic room.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you’d never guess,†enthused +Nancy, “that salesman who came in with the +fishing tackle for our big sale, you know, is +going to send Manny a gas range! Just +think of it, a gas range for us to use, to practice +cooking on.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For nothing?†Ruth inquired.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For the advertising. It seems, a demonstrator +for a special line of gas ranges +used to go to Raleigh, that’s Manny’s old +school, and, of course, when the salesman +came in to sell and <em>we</em> weren’t buying,†she +was drawling her words to assume an imposing +air, “of course,†she continued, “he +became deeply interested in our plans, and +at once offered to send his friend, the lady +demonstrator, out to make plans with +Manny.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And we’re to be demonstrated,†chimed +in Isabel, imitating Nancy’s twang. “I +choose pie. I want my picture 'took’ curling +the edge of a lemon meringue,†and +she executed a few very 'curly’ steps to +illustrate.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was no denying it. Nancy was +happy on these the first days of her real vacation. +It had been splendid, of course, to +have twenty-five dollars of her very own to +offer to advance Miss Manners, to clear up +the rent worry, but the store had not been +all fun, she was willing to admit that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And do you know, girls,†Nancy confided, +“we, mother and I, had some doubts +about the way Miss Townsend would take +the news? Do sit down, Belle,†she broke +off. “How can I tell a story while you’re +doing hand-springs?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“These are flip-flaps,†insisted Isabel. +“Just watch this one.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She was leaning with both hands on a long +low bench, and the “flip†consisted of a violent +spring of both feet from the ground. +After bringing the feet down again with the +unavoidable jerk, she performed the “flop†+by pivoting around until she sat on the +bench and stuck both her feet out straight +in front of her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s very pretty,†commented Nancy. +“But if you want to hear my story you +have got to flop. I insist upon a sitting +audience.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>This demand restored comparative quiet +and Nancy continued with her narrative.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was telling you about Miss Townsend,†+she went on. “You just should see +that lady. She’s all 'set up.’ We understood +she was a nervous wreck—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She was,†interrupted Ruth, “but I +heard mother say her brother’s business +affairs are being mysteriously adjusted. +Maybe that’s why she has become +rejuvenated.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, that’s exactly it,†snapped Nancy. +“And how the great, grand trick worked +is one of the stories we have missed. I +never saw such a place as Long Leigh for +floating stories that no one can explain. +Miss Townsend talked all around her good +luck, but never touched it. Of course, I +couldn’t be so rude—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course <em>you</em> couldn’t,†mocked Isabel.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just the same,†retorted Nancy, “I did +ask right out straight, without hint or apology, +where—Mr. Sanders lived.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you got snubbed for your pains,†+flung in Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nothing of the kind, I became informed +for my pains,†asserted Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Land sakes tell us!†pleaded Isabel. +“First thing you know I’ll hear our car, +and miss the—mystery.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†began Nancy, deliberately and +provokingly, “I asked her: 'Where does +Mr. Sanders live?’ And just as I was gulping +hard to control my emoting emotions, +Miss Townsend shook her necklace like a +dinner bell, and said softly—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy paused. The girls were threatening +to throw her over the bench into the +flower bed but she seemed about ready +to divulge the secret, so presently they +desisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well,†she said, “Miss Townsend answered, +'Mr. Sanders lives right here in this +hotel. He moved in yesterday and the poor +man needed the change after all he’s been +through.’ Now girls,†pouted Nancy, +“did you ever see anything as mean as that? +Just when I’m free to dig up the wild and +woolly mystery, our hero goes and rents a +room in the Waterfall House,†and she affected +a pose intended to excite pity, but in +reality causing mirth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I see it all!†cried Isabel, jumping up on +the bench and laying a sprawled hand over +the heart location. “All, girls, all.†Her +voice was droning like a school boy reciting +the Charge of the Light Brigade. “What +happened was this!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“This!†interrupted Ruth, pinching Isabel’s +ankles until she literally fell from her +perch.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Whow!†yelled Isabel. “Can’t one elocute +without being plucked by cruel hands? +I tell you, girls, we have lost a lot of fun in +not keeping up with our little brothers.†+This was said in a very different and quite +serious tone. “If you were to ask Ted, +Nancy, very confidentially, what is or was +the secret of the hidden treasure place, I’m +almost sure he would tell you. He <em>knows</em>!†+she declared loudly, “and so does my +brother Gerard know, but <em>he</em> won’t tell +me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then it is or was a question of hiding +a treasure,†reflected Nancy. “I’m so +sorry it is only that. I perfectly hate treasure +mysteries, they’re so horribly common. +I had in mind some sort of great, grand, +spooky, now-you-see-me and now-you-don’t +trick. That would have been heaps more +fun than just the old hidden treasure business. +Well, at any rate, <em>we</em> seem to have +missed it, for Mr. Sanders is really living at +the hotel,†she wound up finally.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Is that any reason why we shouldn’t +find out the secret?†demanded Ruth. “It +seems to me we would be better able to do so, +now that every one else has suddenly grown +rich, and there’s no more danger of getting +folks into trouble by prying into their business. +I just wish Sibyl Sanders would +come up again. I fancy she would be just +tickled to tell us the whole thing,†declared +Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I must trot along,†Nancy suddenly announced. +“And girls, please don’t forget +about the first lesson in domestic science, to +be held at the residence of—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A loud and insistent honking of a motor +horn interrupted Nancy’s flattering announcement, +and presently all three girls +were scampering down to the roadside to +pile into Gerard’s Duryea car, for Isabel’s +brother was taking them for a ride into +town, ostensibly to do some important family +errands, but really to have one of those +unplanned jolly times that go to make up +the happy summer time.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I must be back by five,†warned Nancy. +But her companions only pushed her back +further in the over crowded car-seat as they +sailed along.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXVI' class='c010'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <br />JUST FISHING</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>Some days later the Whatnot Shop was +being dismantled, that is the shelves were +being treated to a great clearing off, and the +old-fashioned glass cases were being lined +with white oilcloth, preparatory to Miss +Manners’ Domestic Science Class storing +their samples of food therein.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Gradually Nancy’s sense of honor was +coming back into its own, for not only her +mother but also her girl friends were constantly +reassuring her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s nothing small nor frivolous +about changing one’s mind for the better,†+they told her. “In fact,†said the mother, +“that one is willing to do so, is very often +a mark of progress. If we didn’t change +our minds how could we grow wiser?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I thought I’d just love business,†+Nancy complained. “I was crazy to keep +store and now I’m crazy to start something +else.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Which is perfectly normal and entirely +reasonable for any healthy young girl,†her +mother insisted. “Can you imagine girls +being as staid and as old fashioned as their +mothers?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Moth-thur!†Nancy sort of moaned, “If +ever I could be as <em>new</em> fashioned as my +mother I shouldn’t mind how old nor how +young I might be. And you are a love not +to scold me. I know you are glad to see +Manny so happy setting-up her school, and +I know you will be better satisfied to have +her there, facing the fierce public, than allowing +me to do so. Not that I had +any trouble with the dear public,†Nancy +mocked. “And not that Brother Ted +wasn’t always within a few miles call if I +needed him. But, at any rate, Mums, I did +make some real money, didn’t I?†she +cooed, quite birdlike for Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A clean little, yellow bankbook was offered +for evidence by Mrs. Brandon at this +question, for being a business woman, she +knew the value of personal interest in every +part of a business undertaking, and so, +early in the experiment, she had brought +Nancy into the City Bank and there attended +to the formalities of opening her +bank account.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother, you keep the book, please,†+Nancy begged just now, as Mrs. Brandon +offered it to her. “I know I ought to be +very careful and not forget where I put +things, but somehow I do. And I would +hate to lose that precious book,†she murmured, +touching her mother’s cheek with +her lips as she made the appeal.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well, daughter,†Mrs. Brandon +conceded, “but you simply must learn to remember, +and the way to do that is think of +a thing as you do it,†she advised.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was, however, already improving +in such matters. Being obliged to find +things for herself, instead of calling out to +Anna, the maid, as she had been in the habit +of doing, was teaching a lesson that words +had never been able to convey to her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It now lacked but three days of the opening +of the class, and in these days Nancy +and Ted were planning to have a great time +fishing, exploring, and hunting. By “hunting†+they meant looking for Indian relics +along the river bank, for Ted insisted there +really were such articles to be found there, +if one were only patient enough in the +search.</p> + +<p class='c009'>This was the day set for fishing, and Ted +was just now coming up to the back door +with a tin can slung on a string, and that, in +turn, was slung over his shoulder on a pole.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Got lots of them!†he called out. “Nice +fat ones, too. We can catch big fish with +such worms as these,†and he set down the +outfit to display his freshly dug bait.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I’m not going to put them on the +hook,†protested Nancy. “I don’t mind +handling the slippery little things, but I +can’t murder them. You’ll have to bait my +hook, Ted, if you want me to go,†she +insisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right,†growled Ted, merely pretending +to protest, but really just showing +his boyish contempt for such girlish whims. +“I’ll put them on for you. But do hurry, +Nan,†he urged. “This is a dandy morning +to fish. Hardly any sun at all.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Calling good-bye to Miss Manners, who, +even, this early, was at work in the store, +Nancy was soon ready to start off with her +brother on the fishing trip. She was clad +in her oldest gingham, and wore her most +battered big straw hat, nevertheless she +looked quite picturesque, if not really +pretty even in this rough attire; for Nancy +was ever a striking looking girl.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Think we ought to take your old express +wagon, Ted?†she asked, jokingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What for?†demanded the boy in +surprise.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“To carry them home in,†laughed +Nancy. But even then Ted didn’t see the +joke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently they were trudging along the +heavily shaded road that wound in and out +around Bird’s Woods until it would stretch +along side Oak’s Pond, where the fishing +was to be done.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s fine to have you come, Nan,†remarked +the boy, wagging his bare head and +slapping his fish bag against his bare legs. +Ted was wearing old clothes himself, and +his trousers had not been trimmed any too +evenly, for one leg ended above the knee +and the other leg ended below the other knee. +But he looked about right as a fisher-boy, +his cheeks well tanned, his brown +eyes sparkling and his browner hair doing +pretty much as it pleased all over his +head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m mighty glad to come, Ted,†Nancy +was saying in reply to his gentle little compliment. +“It is great to be off all by ourselves, +although, of course, I have good +enough times with the girls,†she amended, +loyally.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Me too,†added Ted, “I have lots of +sport with the fellows but this is better,†+he concluded, as Ted would.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Arrived at a spot where the pond dug +into a soft green bank, rounding into a +beautiful semi-circular basin, brother and +sister there camped. Ted insisted that +Nancy take the choicest seat, a smooth spot +on the big tree that must have been felled +years before, and which had found comfortable +quarters on the edge of the jolly little +stream. Sympathetic ferns stretched their +soft green fronds along the sides of the +naked wood, as if they wanted to supply +the fallen tree with some of the verdure of +which it had been cruelly bereft, and even +a gay, flowering swamp lily, that wonderful +flaming flower that holds its chalice above +all other wood blooms, bent just a little toward +the one branch of that tree that still +clung to the parent trunk.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy squatted down expectantly. Ted +had baited her hook and she was now casting +out her line in the smooth, mysterious +stream, clear enough on the surface, but +darker than night beneath. She had removed +her “sneaks†and stockings, so +that she might enjoy the freedom of dipping +her toes into the little ripples that +played around the log.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t care whether I catch anything +or not,†she remarked, “it’s lovely just to +sit here and fish.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ll catch, all right,†Ted assured her. +“This is a great place for fish—regular nest +of them in under these rocks.†He shifted +a little on his perch, which was on a live +tree that leaned out of the stream.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently Nancy developed a song from +the tune she had been humming:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Singing eyly-eely-ho! Eyly-eely-ho!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Got to keep quiet when you fish,†Ted +interrupted her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†agreed Nancy affably. +“But that tune has been simmering all day +and I just had to let it light up. Say Ted,†+she began all over again, “did you hear +about your friend, Mr. Sanders, getting +rich?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Rich? I’m glad of it. He’s all right,†+the boy declared, flipping his line to a new +spot.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep-py, rich,†Nancy repeated. “He’s +living at the hotel.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I knew that,†scoffed the boy, airily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Did you? Then why didn’t you tell +me?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Secret,†snapped Ted, shutting his lips +with a snap that even a venturesome fish +might have heard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And the Townsends—they are quite +prosperous too,†Nancy pressed further.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ye-ah.†Ted was not encouraging the +confidence.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For a few moments neither of them spoke +again. Then Nancy’s line began to draw, +to pull out into a straight line.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Easy!†whispered Ted. “You’ve got a +bite! Don’t yank it. Wait until he’s on, +good and tight!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>They waited, breathless. Then Ted, the +experienced, gave the signal, and Nancy, +the amateur, drew very gently on her pole. +Up, up, but still under water, until suddenly +the water surface freed the capture, and +something black, shiny, snaky, dangled violently +from the upheld line!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ted, quick! It’s a snake! Look a +snake!†cried Nancy, getting to her feet +finally, after slipping several times on the +smooth log.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look out,†yelled Ted, for the black +slimy thing dangling on Nancy’s line +seemed to be making directly for her face, +as it swung back and forth and darted violently +toward the shore.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh-h-h-h-h!†Nancy screamed. “He’s +going for—†But she was taking no further +chances, instead, she flung her pole, +line and hook and catch, as far from her as +a single fling could send it. The pole floated +contentedly but the slimy thing was again +hidden in its beloved waters, although it +must have still been impaled upon the tortuous +hook.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted looked a moment at the lost outfit.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy,†he said gloomily. “You’re +crazy. That was a fine, fat eel, and they’re +hard to catch that way. And look at—your—pole.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll get it,†decided the surprised girl, +instantly slipping down from the log and +leaning out over the stream.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t!†yelled Ted. But the warning +was given too late, for as Nancy stepped on +what seemed to be grass, she found herself +thrust into the water, deep enough to +frighten her of something worse than a +snake.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh!†she yelled again. “I’ve got to +swim out, I’ll smother in the bog if—I—don’t.†+And so saying she flung her body +free from the deep marsh-grass, and struck +out in an emergency stroke toward the open +stream.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Go up to the cove!†Ted yelled. “Just +around that pine tree! I’ll meet you +there!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The light clothing she wore was not much +more cumbersome than some bathing suits +are often found to be, so that Nancy, a +capable swimmer, was now pulling surely toward +the cove, while Ted was racing, as best +he could in the heavy undergrowth to meet +her as she would land.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But just as Nancy turned in to a clear +little corner to make her landing, she heard +a muffled call.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Help! Help!†came the indistinct cry.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted was abreast of her and he too heard +the call.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s over in the sand dunes,†he yelled, +as Nancy stepped ashore and shook some +of the heavy water from her clothing. +“Quick, Nancy, the fellows went to play Indian +there!â€</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXVII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <br />THE CAVE-IN</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>There was no time to think of wet garments +as Nancy raced after Ted toward the +sand dunes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Quick,†he urged. “They’re the little +fellows, Billy and Jack, and they must be +under the sand.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Just beyond the trees and undergrowth +that surrounds Oak’s Pond, a stretch of +sand hills offered the youngsters an ideal +playground. A few scrubby pines managed +to draw from the dry soil enough vitality +for a very much impoverished growth, +and it was from the direction of the trees +that the feeble call was now heard, at protracted +intervals.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There!†pointed out Ted. “There’s the +shack. They must be in a cave-in near it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>His surmise proved correct, for quickly +as brother and sister could reach the spot, +they found every evidence of a cave-in and a +sand deluge.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’re here,†Ted called. “That you +Billy?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, yeah,†came a pitiful little squeak. +“We’re smoth-rin’ to death. Quick—please—quick.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There’s a board,†Ted ordered, at once +taking charge of the rescue. “You can dig +with that, Nan. I’ll dig with my hands.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Exactly like a very eager dog that digs +with all fours when he wants to get in or out +of a pit, Ted went to work. The light sand +flew in clouds as he pawed and kicked, so +that compared with his efforts Nancy’s +board-shovelling seemed provokingly slow.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, this is no good!†she finally burst +out. “I can do that, too,†and without a +thought but for the rescue, Nancy dropped +to the position Ted was working in, and was +soon digging and kicking until her clouds +of sand rivalled his.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh! Oh!†came repeated calls and +groans. “We—can’t—breathe. Move the +board! It’s pressing—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’re coming. We’re coming,†Nancy +called back. “Don’t get frightened; you +can’t smother now.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But it was not easy to reach the imprisoned +youngsters, for a collapsed sand hill is +as slippery to control as a rushing water +fall. Every time the rescuers thought themselves +within reach of a board, an avalanche +of sand would tumble upon it and bury the +end they tried to grasp.</p> + +<p class='c009'>At last Nancy grabbed hold of a big stick +that protruded from the hill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here Ted,†she called. “Get this! It’s +under a board—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Raising the stick carefully they did, at +last, lay hold of one of the collapsed boards, +the “roof†under which the youngsters had +been caught.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Care-ful,†warned Ted. “Raise it! +Don’t pull it out!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was heavy, for sand pressed itself into +great weight, in spite of its infinitesimal +atoms. At last the rescuers were able, with +care and skill, to raise the board, then another, +until finally the bare feet of two small +badly frightened boys, led directly to the +entire persons of the same little victims.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh my! Mercy me!†gasped Nancy. +“They do look awful, Ted! Quick let’s +get them water!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Jack is the worst,†replied her brother. +“Nan, see if your skirt is wet yet. You +could squeeze a little water on his face—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The garment that had been dripping a few +minutes before was still damp enough to +permit of being “squeezed,†and standing +over the pale face of little Jack Baker, +Nancy managed to extract some drops at +least, to coax back life into the almost unconscious +boy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Billy dragged himself out, although he +was barely able to do so, and as quickly as +little Jack showed signs of life, Ted and +Nancy between them carried him down to the +water’s edge.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were just about to bathe his face +and hands when a canoe drifted into sight +around the cove.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders!†called Ted. “There’s +Mr. Sanders,†he repeated, and his voice +was reaching the occupant of the canoe, for +the bark was now headed directly for land.</p> + +<p class='c009'>First aid and other common sense treatment +was soon being administered to both +Billy and Jack by Mr. Sanders, Ted and +Nancy, and when the cave-in victims were +finally entirely resuscitated, it was decided +that Mr. Sanders should carry them up +stream in his boat, and so enable them to +easily reach their homes, at the head of the +pond.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You’ve been having some experience this +morning,†the man remarked to Nancy as +he waited for the boys to climb in the big +long boat. “Can’t I give you and Ted a +lift too? There’s room enough if everybody +obeys canoe rules,†he said pleasantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, that would be fine,†Ted replied, +while Nancy was thinking of what to say. +“Sis fell in the pond after her fishing +tackle,†Ted added. “That was our first +adventure.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That must be what I picked up,†interrupted +Mr. Sanders pointing out Nancy’s +pole with the cord wound around it, lying +in the bottom of the boat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, that’s mine,†admitted Nancy, +“and I’m glad to get it back for it was a +special pole—one I got for a premium from +a Boston store,†she explained.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, pile in,†ordered Mr. Sanders, +“and you little 'uns’ had best not frighten +your folks with the cave-in story,†he +warned. “Better to be careful next time,†+he finished laughingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When all were securely ensconced in the +long, graceful bark, Nancy was given the +extra paddle and allowed to ply it alongside +Mr. Sanders. In the joy of that unusual +privilege, (for she was seldom allowed in a +canoe,) the accidents were quickly lost +thought of, even Jack and Billy venturing to +trail their fingers in the stream, while Ted +sitting in the stern took chances on throwing +out his line now and then just for the +fun of feeling it pull through the quiet +waters.</p> + +<p class='c009'>As they sailed along, conversation was +rather scattered, consisting mainly of +snatches of questions and answers between +Nancy and Mr. Sanders. The two little +boys had scarcely spoken since their rescue, +and now within sight of home, they were +just beginning to assume normal courage.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Suddenly Nancy started to titter. There +was no apparent cause for her change of +mood, but the more she bit her lip, looked +out toward shore, bent her head toward her +paddle and otherwise strove to divert herself, +the more the titter gathered and broke +into a laugh, over her helpless features.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Funny, isn’t it?†remarked Mr. Sanders +drolly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Silly, but I just can’t help laughing,†+she admitted. “It’s at the idea—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I wonder if I couldn’t guess,†+interrupted the man with the strong brown arms. +“It’s about me, isn’t it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†admitted Nancy, slowly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And about—about my supposed magic +powers.†He stopped and enjoyed a light +laugh himself. “Wouldn’t it be tragic if I +should disappear just now?†he said so suddenly, +that Nancy jerked her paddle out of +the water and stared at him with a sort +of guilty flush.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The idea—†she faltered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ha, ha, ha!†roared the big man swinging +toward the shore where Jack and Billy +were to land. “That’s a great story, isn’t +it? But I’ll tell you,†he lowered his voice +in a tone of confidence, “I am altogether to +blame for that fantastic yarn, but sometimes +we have to let folks guess even if they +do make—spooks out of us.†He laughed +again and even the little boys were now being +tempted to join in. “But I want to +promise you and your brother this, Nancy,†+he said seriously. “You shall be among the +first to know the answer to the riddle of my +magic disappearance around the gray +stone house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Thank you,†Nancy managed to say, as +Ted caught a strong little branch on shore, +and helped land the canoe.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXVIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <br />INTRODUCING NERO</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It did not seem possible that Manny’s +school had been successfully opened two +weeks ago! That the girls in her class, at +first numbering eight now counted fourteen, +each paying five dollars for the month’s +training in domestic science, with lessons +three mornings a week. Fourteen pupils at +five dollars each and every single one paid in +advance, while Nancy was acting as class +president and Ruth as class secretary; these +were, indeed, auspicious arrangements.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And besides the seventy dollars paid Miss +Manners for tuition, the class members +brought their own supplies and were privileged +to take them home with them, in the +form of various tempting dishes, “the like +of which†as Nancy expressed it, “never +had been seen in Long Leigh before nor +since.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe you don’t know you’re a +wonder,†Ruth remarked very casually to +Nancy, while she, as secretary, was consulting +with Nancy as president. “I can cook +better <em>now</em> than I ever expected to in my +whole life. And as for Isabel! She’s so +enthusiastic, her mother says she has to restrain +her from going into the boarding +house business. You should just taste +Belle’s 'Cherry Moss.’ Um-m-m! It was +de-lic-ious!†and Ruth smacked her lips to +the echo. “Her brother Tom wanted to +know why we didn’t make up a class for +boys. He was in the army, you know, +and so thinks himself very efficiently +trained.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it great?†Nancy remarked, referring, +of course, to the success of the class. +“And for a laggard, an idler and one who +positively hated the very letters that spelled +cooking, I think I’m doing pretty well myself. +I made a fudge cake yesterday and +mother carried it out to set before the library +ladies, can you imagine that? A cake that <em>I</em> +made! After my heartbreaking experience +with the ungreased pans!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was very early in the afternoon and +Ruth, with Nancy, was putting the class +room in order. She had remained over to +lunch as she often did, and the two chums +found pleasure in arranging the white covered +tables, the shining pans, the numbered +spoons and other utensils. It was all so +much pleasanter than doing anything in an +ordinary kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The gas range, that was sent in to Miss +Manners as a demonstrator’s sample, was +majestically white and really quite attractive, +if such an article can be called attractive, +and just how Nancy hovered rather +lovingly over it, polishing with the very +softest, whitest cloth the impeccable, enameled +surface.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth had been finishing a little memorandum +in her oilcloth covered book. She laid +the book down now and strolled over to +Nancy. In their white aprons and white +caps, Nancy and Ruth looked too +picturesque to be passed by without compliment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth wound her arm around Nancy’s +shoulder. “I wonder,†she said, “why we +sometimes think that all play is more +fun?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I never did,†replied Nancy, innocently. +“My trouble always has been in finding +enough different things to do.†She looked +rather pathetically into the soft gray eyes +that were caressing her own darker orbs. +There was no impulsive hugging, nor other +ordinary demonstrations of affections dear +to the average emotional girls, for Nancy +was not given to extremes, nor was Ruth addicted +to such flagrant sentiment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The two girls were especially happy just +now. Nancy was accomplishing more, much +more, than she had ever hoped to do, with +her little shop that first brought real financial +help to her mother, and was now doing +as much for Miss Manners. Besides all +this, it was giving the girls themselves a +very useful, as well as enjoyable, summer +diversion. Ruth, although a new friend of +Nancy’s, had become a very fond friend indeed, +for the frank, original and genuine +qualities of Nancy were unmistakable in +their sincerity, and it was easy enough for +any girl to love her—if she could but get +near enough to her to know her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And you don’t think it shows a weakness +to be so changeable?†Nancy asked Ruth. +“I just can’t seem to be happy unless I’m +planning something new.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, that’s—that’s a sign of originality,†+replied Ruth, smoothing Nancy’s cap +on her dark hair. “Some day you’ll do +something wonderful—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“About the girls,†Nancy interrupted. +“Don’t you think we were fortunate to get +the Riker girls to join the class? They +seem to represent the smart set at Upper +Crust Hill, and they brought at least five +others along.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nancy, our school is the talk of Long +Leigh. Lots of mothers think their girls +should do something useful during the +month of August, and I’d just like to see +any mother find a study more useful than +cooking—according to her ideas,†said +Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And Vera is going to take an extra hour +for desserts,†Nancy went on. “I can see +Vera the pride of her family some day. +Such home talent may be inherited. We +haven’t any of it in our family, I’m afraid,†+said Nancy, regretfully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But you’ve got something more precious,†+Ruth assured her. “I never saw +three folks so like one person as you three +are, and yet you are all individually different; +if you know what I mean.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I do,†said Nancy. “And you’re a dear, +Ruth. What would I have done out here +without you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Taken the stylish Vivian Riker to your +heart,†teased Ruth. “She’s a beauty.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a stir outside.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look who’s here!†interrupted Nancy, +jumping up and hurrying toward the door. +“Ted! And he’s got the threatened new +dog with him. Come and see!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The threatened new dog was indeed being +coaxed along by Ted, but he didn’t look exactly +new. In fact, his coat was matted and +shaggy, his tail hung down without a bit +of “pep†in it, and even his long, long-haired +ears seemed too discouraged to pick +up the kindest words Ted was trying to pour +into them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nero!†announced Ted simply, as Nancy +opened the door and Ted tried to push the +melancholy Nero in.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What ails him?†Nancy asked, looking +the strange animal over, critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just nothin’ but lonesome,†replied the +small boy cryptically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He looks pretty—blue,†Ruth commented, +giving the dog a friendly but unappreciated +pat on his shaggy head.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Guess you’d be blue too, if you lived +where he did,†Ted told Ruth. “That poor +dog hadn’t a friend in the world until I +found him. Here, Nero, come along and +eat,†ordered Ted, while Nero followed +him toward the back door through the +erstwhile Whatnot Shop and present-time classroom. +“He’s a fine dog,†the little fellow +continued to praise, “and when I get him +all fixed up he’ll be a beauty too,†he insisted +stoutly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe,†Nancy almost giggled as she +looked after Ted and his dog. “But when +you take him to the beauty shop, Ted, you +better get him a real Russian bob, his hair +is long enough to braid,†she commented +gaily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can laugh,†Ted retorted, “but he’s +a thoroughbred—a one-man dog. He won’t +notice you girls. Come on Nero, attaboy,†+chanted Ted, importantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But being cooks, Nancy and Ruth could +do no less than offer to provide Nero’s meal. +Each thought he would like something else +best, and each tried the other dish, pushing +it under his indifferent nose and coaxing +him with:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here Nero! Good! Eat! Eat-er-up!†+etc.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nero merely sniffed disdainfully, +snuggled his nose deeper into his flattened +paws, and turned two big, brown adoring +eyes up at his young master.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Pity about him!†quoth Nancy. +“Maybe he wants some of Isabel’s Cherry +Moss. Just stew or beefsteak or even fried +potatoes are not, it seems, on his diet +bill.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were all out on the back porch, Ted +squatted squarely beside the new dog, while +the girls floated around Nero, like little tugs +surrounding a big steamer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He doesn’t <em>have</em> to eat,†Ted remarked +indifferently, “he had a free lunch on the +way over.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He did!†screeched Nancy. “And you +let us go to all this trouble!†She kicked +the tin pan of water over in sheer disgust.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, I thought he might like something +else,†murmured the small boy, provokingly. +“He only had a big soup bone and loaf of +bread.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Taking off their cooking-school caps and +unbuttoning their aprons as they went, the +girls wended their way back to the deserted +class room.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can anyone beat that?†remarked +Nancy, inelegantly. “Ted and his dog and +the big—soup—bone! I could put a tune +to that; a sad mournful dirgy tune.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Wherever do you suppose he picked up +the brute?†Ruth asked. “I don’t remember +having seen him around town.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, trust Ted,†replied Nancy. “When +we first came here, mother answered him +once, in a most casual, unthinking way: +'Yes.’ It seemed his question was could he +have a dog, and mother hadn’t been paying +strict attention. Since then he’s been on a +hunt for a dog. He brought home a poor +half-dead little tatters one day, but some +boy followed him up and claimed the beauty. +I wonder if this one will be left to him? He +seems pretty particular about his food, +doesn’t he?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†replied Ruth, who was just glancing +out the door. Suddenly she exclaimed:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here’s a taxi coming, and it’s the one +mother always uses. I guess she’s sending +for me, I’ll go out and see.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy looked out and saw Ruth talking +earnestly to the driver. She seemed to be +disagreeing with the message he was giving +her, and she turned abruptly to come back to +Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine that!†she panted, “Mother +wants me to meet a train and take an old +lady to see the Hilton house. As if I could +show a house to one of father’s customers!†+Ruth’s voice betrayed actual antipathy to +the very idea.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But why not?†queried Nancy. “If she +is just an old lady—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A rich old lady who has come a distance +without notifying father’s office, and there +isn’t a man within call to take her out,†+Ruth sighed miserably. The thought of +showing a house seemed absolutely beyond +her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll go with you,†Nancy offered. “Why +couldn’t we show a house? We know how +to call out rooms, don’t we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth jerked back her pretty head and +stared at Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right,†she exclaimed, brightening +perceptibly. “I’ll go if you promise to do +the talking. I’m sure you can call off +rooms and do more than that in the business +line, Nancy. Let’s hurry. The train is almost +due.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So the two young “real estate ladies†+were presently seated most circumspectly in +the taxi, on the way to “meet a wealthy lady +who wanted to look at the Hilton house.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy was fairly aglow with the +prospect of a new and interesting business +adventure.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXIX' class='c010'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <br />A DISCOVERY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>“Isn’t she lovely? Looks like a cameo.†+That was Nancy’s remark to Ruth when +Mrs. Mortimer Cullen tarried in the sun +parlor of the Hilton house, through which +the girls were conducting her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ruth only sighed. Her task was too +obnoxious to permit of compliments even to +the handsome, elderly woman, who indeed +did look like an animated cameo, set in a +frame of gray veils, thrown over a small +summer hat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t the garden beautiful from this +porch?†Nancy enthused, joining Mrs. +Cullen there. “Just look at that hedge! +It’s literally screened in with fine white +clematis! And look! Mrs. Cullen! Just +see that bower of Golden Blows! Oh, I +don’t believe I have ever seen such a beautiful +place,†and Nancy flitted around like +a big butterfly herself, her yellow and white +tissue dress escaping in little clouds about +her, as she raced from room to room.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“My grand-daughter Naomi, is quite like +you,†smiled the amused lady. “If you see +so much beauty here I am sure it would +please her. And it is for her, principally, +that I am considering coming to Long +Leigh.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, I’m sure she’d love it,†chirped +Nancy. “But do come upstairs and see all +the wonderful bay-windows. Why, this +house is made just like a lot of flower bowls. +Every single room opens out in—Just see +these windows.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So Ruth and Mrs. Cullen followed Nancy +upstairs to see the windows. From that +point of vantage she dragged them to the alcove +over the stairs and pointed out the +“glorious garden,†from that view. And +she was being perfectly sincere in her enthusiasm. +None of it was assumed, in fact, +one would have imagined Nancy was +considering buying the fine old homestead for +her own use.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They spent more than an hour looking +over the place and even then Nancy hated to +leave.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine having a home like that,†she +tried to whisper to Ruth. “I think I’d be +satisfied even to do housework if I could +look out that kitchen window as I did it,†+she added, while Mrs. Cullen smiled her satisfaction +into Nancy’s eager face.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They drove back to the train with the +prospective customer, who, when taking her +leave, glanced significantly at Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“My dear,†she said, “you gave me a very +pleasant little visit to your pretty Long +Leigh, and I hope if my grand-daughter, +Naomi, comes here—ever, she will meet +you.†She then touched Ruth’s hand +gently, saying something about having her +father’s office get in touch with her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When the train had cleared the station +the two girls broke into a much relieved +giggle. Ruth declared that Nancy had won +the heart of “Lady Cullen who is as rich +as they come,†she explained, inelegantly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I had such a good time—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Whoa there! No, you don’t, Antoinette +Brandon,†Ruth warned Nancy. “You are +<em>not</em> going in the real-estate business, so you +needn’t get all set for it. My father has a +family to feed—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the very gentleman spoken of was +at that moment hurrying across the platform, +to meet the two uproarious girls.</p> + +<p class='c009'>He was most anxious to know about their +mission. Mrs. Cullen, it appeared, was a +very important personage, and he regretted +genuinely the absence from his office of a +suitable escort for the lady.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you needn’t worry, Daddy,†Ruth +assured him, taking the city newspaper +from one of his pockets and feeling for +candy in the other. “Nancy took such good +care of her that she almost stayed over to +buy more houses. You’ll have to look out +for Nancy, Dad.†Ruth continued to joke. +“She’s an expert business man, you know, +and might take a notion to try real-estate.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The more the merrier,†replied the +genial gentleman, who, like Ruth, had great +gray eyes and a clear florid complexion, +“I’ve been wanting to see your mother, +Nancy,†he said next. “Maybe, I could suit +her better in a house than you are being +suited in the Townsend place,†he ventured.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, we love it over there,†Nancy hurried +to state. “And besides, Mr. Ashley, +we’re just poor folks,†she added +laughingly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So are we all of us,†joined in Mr. Ashley. +“But I supposed, now that Sanders +has struck his gold mine, he might want to +buy the little place himself, sort of souvenir, +you know.†As they talked, they were +walking back to the waiting taxi, in which +the girls had fetched Mrs. Cullen to the +station.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now Daddy,†objected Ruth, “we’ve had +enough business for one afternoon. Nancy +must get back home and I’ve got a music +lesson, if Miss Dudley has waited for me, +and I hope she hasn’t.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy felt rather important stepping out +of the taxi at her door, it seemed, somehow, +much more business-like than just riding +in someone’s private car, and she dashed +up the store steps, still thrilled with enthusiasm +from her experience.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Inside the door she found Ted, crouched +before the fireplace urging Nero to “sic†+something.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Get him, boy!†he was coaxing. “Go-get-him!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Get whom?†Nancy asked, in surprise at +the spectacle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What ever is in that chimney,†the boy +replied. “Do you think Nero couldn’t get it +as good as that puny little dog of Miss +Townsend’s?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But how do you know anything is in +there?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Heard it—it whistles. Besides you said +so.†Ted was not a waster of words.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I never said there was anything there,†+Nancy argued. “But what whistled? +What did you hear?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just whistlin’. Sic him Nero!†and +Ted tried to push the big shaggy head +against the old-fashioned fireplace board, +that was papered with a very brilliant and +hideous set paper piece, the center representing +a terrible time among birds that +looked like freak chickens.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nero was absolutely deaf to Ted’s +entreaties. No more would he “go for†+the chimney than he went for the food offered +him by the solicitous young domestic +science students, Nancy and Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I don’t think you should keep that big—untidy +dog in here, Ted,†remonstrated +Nancy, who hesitated over calling Nero +“dirty†and felt foolish at calling him “untidy.†+She crossed to the corner of the +store and raised a window. “You know,†+she continued, “this is a cooking school and +everything has to be strictly sanitary.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s strictly sanitary,†Ted declared, +pressing his own curly head down to Nero’s. +“I’m glad I’ve got him, I needed a chum +around home,†he finished, affectionately.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How about me?†teased Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh you!†Ted was caressing Nero, and +Nero was thudding his tail in response.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, what about me, Ted? Don’t you +like me any more?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Like you! But you ought to hear folks +talk. They say you’ll be starting a—butcher +shop next.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy drew her breath in sharply. Were +they criticising her like that?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who’s talking about me?†she demanded +of her brother.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Don’t have to get mad,†drawled Ted. +“What do we care? We know, I guess,†+he placated, tactfully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But who’s talking?†she insisted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s all jealousy,†the boy evaded. +“They’re disappointed because the Townsends +and Mr. Sanders are getting along so +well. First, they tried to make Mr. Sanders +out foolish, and now they say this place is +spooky. Guess I’ve been here long enough +to know,†he retorted, as if answering the +unknown foes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nancy was stricken with that painful +self-consciousness that so often lately had +taken possession of her. The changeable +girl, even her friends were calling her; why +did she so love—to change?</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look!†whispered Ted, directing her +attention to the dog. “He—hears—it!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nero was now alert, head cocked to one +side, ears pricked up, and every dog-feature +of him ready to pounce.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted and Nancy watched him, breathless.</p> + +<p class='c009'>A little snapping bark, a growl, long and +threatening; then a wild, fierce howl, and +the big creature dashed against the fireboard!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There!†exclaimed Ted. “I told you +so!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What is it?†gasped Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the barking of Nero shut out even the +sound of their voices, and as brother and +sister looked on, the big dog pawed the fireboard, +scratching away the paper, birds, +flowers, impossible sky and all.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Presently he turned from that attack and +dashed to the back door. Ted and Nancy +were quick to follow him.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let him out,†Nancy directed. “He +may know there’s someone around.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Unhooking the screen door Ted let his dog +out. With a bounding leap Nero cleared +the steps and dashed around the house to +the chimney corner.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Look!†screamed Nancy, “there—goes—a—man!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>As she pointed to the farthest corner of +the lot, where the fence was broken down to +admit a short cut to the avenue, they saw a +man, just stepping through the brush.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders!†exclaimed Ted. “I see +his bald head!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders,†Nancy repeated. “What +can he have been doing here?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s what Nero is trying to find out,†+replied Ted, dryly. “Let’s see how he’s +making out. He’s stopped barking. Maybe—he’s—got—it.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It took but a few moments to reach the +side of the house, where the old-fashioned +stone foundation was broken by a place, +through which the ashes from the fireplace +had once been cleaned out. Here sat Nero. +He wagged his tail happily as Ted came up, +and he now seemed perfectly satisfied and +contented.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What is it Nero?†Nancy coaxed patting +the dog in a most friendly way. He was +evidently winning her affection as well as +Ted’s.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ted knew best how to follow the animal’s +lead. He was down on his knees in +front of the mossy stones and had his ear +cocked to the small iron door.</p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<div class='ic005'> +<a href='images/illus-228.jpg'><img src='images/illus-228.jpg' alt='' class='ig005' /></a> +<p>Ted had his ear cocked to the small iron door.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>“Yep,†he sort of gasped. “It’s there! +It’s kinda-tickin’.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let me listen,†Nancy asked, dropping +down beside him.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For some time brother, sister and the big +dog were all crouched there, attentive, eager +and somewhat excited.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Just a little sound—like an egg-beater,†+Nancy suggested. “And look, Ted, those +broken weeds! Mr. Sanders must have +been in here just now.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure, it’s his,†said Ted, in a manner as +matter of fact as if an egg-beater “whistling†+in the old fireplace was the most ordinary +thing in the world to expect being +put there by Mr. Sanders.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXX' class='c010'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <br />THE MIDNIGHT ALARM</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It was a very exciting story, indeed, that +Ted and Nancy poured into their mother’s +ears that evening. Had she any possible +objections to adopting Nero as the fourth +member of the family, they must have been +quickly dispelled with the graphic account +of that animal’s uncanny intelligence.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He seemed to know just where to find +the outlet to the chimney,†Nancy said, +“for he ran directly to the little furnace +place, and we didn’t really know it was +there ourselves.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course, he knew,†said Ted importantly. +“Dogs know lots of things that we +don’t. And he’s going to sleep in the store, +isn’t he, Mother?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, not in the store, Ted,†objected +Nancy. “Do you think that would be just +right, Manny?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Well, a big dog like that,†demurred +Miss Manners, who, now being a real resident +of the Brandon home, shared their table +with them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But he’s had a swim and he’s as clean as—as +anything,†floundered the boy, quite +unable to summon an appropriate comparison +for his great friend. “And Mother, he +can watch the whole house for us. How do +we know someone wouldn’t try to steal—the +secret of the chimney place?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It isn’t our secret,†retorted Nancy, +“and for my part I can’t see what right Mr. +Sanders has around our place at all.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You can depend, dear,†said Mrs. +Brandon gently, “that whatever he has put +in the chimney, if anything, it is something +that could in no way bother us. Mr. Sanders +is a professor, and the old-fashioned +stone oven may have some special interest +for him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But couldn’t he ask us about it, if he +wanted to—to plant a bomb there?†Nancy +remarked, superciliously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s no gabber,†said Ted, with more +wisdom than elegance. “And anyway, +maybe he didn’t. But Mother, may I have +the old steamer rug to make a bed for Nero? +He’s so big he needs a big bed.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was finally agreed that Nero should be +allowed to sleep in the store before the fireboard, +and after much work making the rug +into a bed for him, Ted eventually got him +to try it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Very slowly the big shaggy creature +sprawled himself out on the soft wool, but +he only stayed sprawled for a few moments. +The next, he got up, took a corner of the rug +between his teeth, dragged it over to the +show gas-range and, in a dog’s way, proceeded +to make his own bed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Every one was watching him and every +one laughed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He can do tricks,†Ted declared +proudly. “I’m goin’ to train him for a lot +of things. He could almost do anything,†+the boy added, whereat even Miss Manners +laughed softly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nero was settled at last, and so far as +he was concerned, gave no further trouble +to the Brandon family for that evening. +The subject of the buzzing, egg-beater noise +in the chimney, coupled with Mr. Sanders +leaving the grounds so suspiciously that +afternoon was, however, discussed most +thoroughly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Even to the children Mrs. Brandon’s confidence +in Mr. Sanders, agreeing as it did +with the confidence of so many other grown +folks, gave cause for much curious speculation. +Nancy pretended that she disagreed +with this general sentiment, but that was +only because she felt there was a certain injustice +in the manner of Mr. Sanders assuming +rights over their personal property.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted, on the contrary, was ready to vote +for Mr. Sanders at every opportunity, and +while he didn’t exactly say that Nero had at +one time belonged to the people who had +lived in the big stone house, he <em>did</em> say that +Lou Peters, who gave him Nero, said that +the Giffords, who belonged on the hill, used +to feed Nero regularly at their back door. +That was as near to proprietorship as Ted +could bring Nero. Lou Peters had been +keeping him among the old boxes, so he gave +him to Ted. All of which followed a natural +sequence, for Ted himself had been +feeding Nero dog biscuits and soup bones +for a long time previously.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it queer how jolly it seems to have +a dog in the house,†remarked the boy, who +was curled up on the couch and hugging a +big story book from which, tonight at least, +he read very little.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It does seem as if we have pleasant company,†+Miss Manners conceded agreeably. +She was, as usual, at her fancy work—some +exquisitely fine linen drawn work, being +done for a city customer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But I thought we all agreed never again +to become attached to a dog,†recalled +the mother. She was making notes and +reading a book—a librarian’s method of +reviewing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We all felt so dreadfully when Grumpy +died,†Nancy recalled. She sighed effectively +at the recollection. “Grumpy was +the loveliest dog—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So is Nero,†affirmed the fickle Ted. +“In some ways he’s a lot smarter. You +should have seen him do tricks for Lou Peters. +He’ll do them for me, too,†professed +the youngster, “as soon as we get better +acquainted.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ted,†digressed Nancy. “I’ve +been wanting to ask you. Did Billy and +Jack make out all right at home after their +cave-in scare? Their folks weren’t angry, +were they?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Angry!†scoffed Ted. “They each got +a quarter for ice cream cones; that’s how +angry their mothers were. Jack and Bill +are two—pets,†he finished, rather contemptuously. +“If they hadn’t been so soft +they’d have known how to dig themselves +out. Guess I’ll go to bed,†Ted then announced +suddenly and surprisingly, for he +usually wanted to remain up even longer +than the others.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, that Nero is asleep,†teased +Nancy. “But never mind, Ted,†she +amended. “I’ll give you credit for picking +a fine dog. He’s handsomer than a collie, +and not so awkward as a St. Bernard,†+Nancy commented, rather critically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sure,†agreed Ted. “He’s a thoroughbred,†+and with that all-meaning compliment, +Ted put his book upon the shelf, +looked very carefully in the store so as not +to disturb the distinguished occupant, and +almost whispered good-night, kissing his +mother fondly as he took his actual leave.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted does love that dog,†Nancy remarked +indulgently. “And I’m glad you +let him keep him, Mother, for Ted likes to +wander off alone and a dog is good company +for him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The dear little fellow!†murmured his +mother. “I can hardly believe he is growing +up and becoming able to look after himself. +So often during the day, I stop and +wonder—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, you needn’t, Mums,†interrupted +Nancy, “for Manny barely lets him out of +her sight without all kinds of cautions. +It’s lovely since Manny came,†Nancy concluded, +a little shyly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Following all this each of the three applied +herself to her task, (Nancy was reading,) +until the clock struck ten, then it appeared +time to follow Ted’s example and +retire, which they did.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It had to happen, it always does. The +dog barked wildly in the very blackest part +of the night, and before they realized what +had disturbed them, the Brandon household +was awake and on its feet!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What can—it—be?†breathed little +Miss Manners, wrapping her neat robe +closely around her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, it’s Nero,†answered Ted foolishly, +although he was not trying to +be funny. “He’s after someone. We’re +safe.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Ted’s unlimited confidence in his +dog’s power to protect, did not lessen the +uncanny feeling produced by the midnight +howling, growling bark.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mrs. Brandon did what she could to assure +Nancy and Miss Manners that dogs +often bark at almost nothing, but when she +heard Nero’s paws scratching against the +door that led from the hall into the little +group of sleeping rooms, her own courage +sagged somewhat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let him in!†ordered Ted. “Here, let +me!†he corrected, going to the door and +meeting bravely the wild greeting of Nero. +“What is it, boy?†he asked. “What’s +the matter?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>To which question Nero threw his two +great paws against Ted’s chest, barked not +fiercely, but in that talking way dogs have, +and then turned to race back down the +stairs.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s no one he’s after,†explained Ted, +“or he wouldn’t leave them to come up +and tell me. He wants to show me +something—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted Brandon!†cried Nancy. “Don’t +you dare go down—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll go along,†volunteered Mrs. Brandon. +“As Ted says, the dog would have +stood guard if any one were trying to get +in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was no use in further arguing, for +Ted was already close on Nero’s heels, following +him to the store whence he was leading. +Mrs. Brandon may have been timid, +but small Ted’s confidence in his dog was +very fortifying, and she, too, fell in with the +small midnight procession.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy did not remain upstairs, neither +did Miss Manners, for somehow it always +does seem safer to “stick together†in that +sort of trouble.</p> + +<p class='c009'>No one spoke as they followed the dog. +With great dignity he led them on, until, +upon reaching the store, he made a pounce +over to the corner near the chimney.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh,†screamed Nancy. “It’s that old +chimney—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s something else,†exclaimed Ted. +“Just look here! A 'busted’ water pipe. +That’s what it is! Look—at—the—flood!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>They all looked, and saw, issuing from a +pipe that was connected near the fireplace, +a very positive and very menacing stream +of water.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, my! Our things!†groaned Nancy. +“I’ve got to turn the water off.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But where? How?†asked Mrs. Brandon +in confusion, fully realizing the damage +water could do.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know,†replied Nancy, in her best +business-like manner. “I was 'monkeying’ +with it the other day. It won’t take me a +jiffy,†and while the others patted the intelligent +Nero for his alarm, Nancy flew to the +kitchen, got a wrench from Ted’s tool chest +in the little corner closet, and then with one +sure, swift turn, reversed the handle on the +water pipe that led from the boiler to the +pipes from the cellar.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It’s off,†yelled Ted. “That’s all right, +Nan, it’s stopped.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Why, daughter,†exclaimed Mrs. +Brandon, still breathless, “how did you know +how to do—that?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Because—she’s a good plumber,†declared +Ted. “Hurrah! Nan! Let’s start +a plumbing shop! That’s something you—haven’t +tried yet.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted!†said Nancy sharply. “I don’t +like being made fun of. Anybody ought to +know how to turn off a water pipe. We all +know how to turn off the gas, don’t we?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ted didn’t mean to be rude, dear,†Mrs. +Brandon assured the injured one, “but we +were so surprised.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And Nancy does seem to have such a +talent for business,†ventured Miss Manners. +“I tell you, dear,†and she gathered +her robe around her as she followed the others +out of the store, “it is something to be +proud of. Any of us can be just housekeepers, +but it takes a different sort of ability to +be—the man of the house,†she said, which +was an unusual figure of speech for prim +Miss Manners to make use of.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She can’t be that,†objected Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Very well, then,†said Nancy. “Let’s +see you mop up that floor, Ted,†she challenged. +“That’s a plumber’s job, too,†she +pointed out. But it was Mrs. Brandon who +found the mop and Ted who used it. Nancy +felt perhaps, that the executive part, in +turning off the water, was enough for her +to have done.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She was hurt, unwillingly, at Ted’s joking +remark.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A plumber shop,†she reflected mentally. +“Well, one could do worse, for +plumbers are necessary and needle-work +fiends aren’t. Maybe I will take up something +practical before I find what would be +best for me,†she continued to reason.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But none of them knew, nor was it possible +for them to guess, what Nero had +saved in his timely midnight alarm.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXXI' class='c010'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <br />FOR VALUE RECEIVED</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>It seemed but a very short time later that +Nancy was again awakened. But now the +sunshine was streaming into her room, and +she heard Miss Manners talking down in +the hall, in a suppressed voice.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The children are not up yet,†she was +saying. “But come in, Ruth. You see we +were somewhat disturbed—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Come on up, Ruth!†called out Nancy. +“Come up and hear about our par-tee!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth came up promptly, and the story of +the broken water pipe was presently being +told her, brokenly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“How perfectly—thrill-ing!†she commented +in her well known characterization +of the affected Vera. “But you should +have had Nero turn off the water—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll bet he could too,†shouted Ted from +his room. Ted never lost a chance to praise +Nero.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But just listen to <em>my</em> story,†Ruth +begged. “I’ve got a thrilling yarn, too.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then, wait until I get propped up for +it,†ordered Nancy. “I can’t hear comfortably +when I’m down.†She put her two +pillows under her shoulders and assumed a +most affected air of the tired society girl +after her dance. Even a cap was improvised +from a twisted stocking, a lacy robe +was concocted from her thin, soft slip, and +the luxurious effect was completed by Ruth +piling upon the bed a bunch of mussed up +store paper—the morning mail!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“There now,†said Ruth, “I hope you can +hear. Although I must say you are not well +cast. The character for you, Nan, is that +of a short haired lady at a big desk, her eyes +bulging out of goggles and her waist line +strapped into a belt. You know—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, I know,†admitted Nancy, “but I +like this better—it’s more becoming, isn’t +it?†Another pose and a shift of the lacy +robe. Then Nancy appeared ready to hear +Ruth’s story.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You sold the place!†Ruth blurted out +without a hint of its coming.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The place?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. To Lady Cullen. And she said +positively over the long distance last night +to Dad, that she never would have bought it +but for you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course, she would,†scoffed Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nope. Dad said that place just wouldn’t +sell. He and his men have shown it to so +many. But dear Mrs. Cullen!†Ruth +sighed foolishly. “She told Dad that the +young lady was so enthusiastic over the +place that she was positive her granddaughter, +Naomi, would react in the same +way. Notice that Nan, re-act.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yeah,†drawled Nancy. “That’s what +this is—I’m—re-acting,†and she fell +further back among her pillows.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But really, Nan, it is true,†insisted +Ruth, laying hold of one of Nancy’s long, +slender hands. “And you needn’t blush +about it, either. I think the way you +blush under that olive skin of yours—†+But a pillow, vigorously applied to Ruth’s +face, checked further compliments.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“If you don’t want to hear,†Ruth presently +continued.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Of course I do. I’m just as glad as +glad, Ruth, that your dad has sold the place, +but I know very well Mrs. Cullen would +have bought it anyhow.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She wouldn’t. Dad says so, she says so—I +say—says—so,†declared Ruth. “And +if you don’t believe it just listen to this.†+She changed her position sitting up very +straight and facing Nancy very positively +to make the statement most emphatic. +“Mrs. Cullen very tactfully suggested +that your interest and your success be—remunerated.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruth!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now, don’t let me hurt your feelings, +Nan, but Dad would honestly love to have +you accept.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I won’t,†declared Nancy, blushing furiously +now. “The idea—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then, he will talk to your mother about +it. Do you know, little girl, what a lot of +money a big sale like that brings to Dad’s +firm? And how much he would have to pay +out in commission to the man who succeeded +in making the sale?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know one thing,†said Nancy, shifting +herself out of the bed and planting two bare +feet firmly upon the floor, “I’m being made +a business woman, a store-keeper, a cooking +school director, a plumber and now a real-estate +agent. I don’t mind being a few +things but that’s quite a—lot!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You haven’t said Enthusiast,†Ruth reminded +her, “that is what counts most. +But Nancy, you really ought to consider,†+pressed Ruth. “The money would mean so +much to your mother, and you have a perfect +right to it. I knew the way you +were tearing around that big place, that +you would flim-flam Cullen,†joked Ruth. +“And Dad says, a hundred dollars isn’t anything +on a fifteen thousand dollar deal—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Fifteen thousand!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, all of that. And here’s the little +one hundred check,†Ruth was pressing a +slip of paper into Nancy’s unwilling hand. +“Dad will be dreadfully disappointed if you +refuse—you’re not too proud, are you?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Too proud!†and the black eyes snapped +little pin points of sparks. “No, indeed, I +mean to be a business woman, like mother, +and I don’t care how soon I start,†proclaimed +Nancy, firmly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Spoken like—Nancy Brandon!†hailed +Ruth, gleefully, for she had known all along +what a task it would be to get Nancy to take +the check. And just as she had honestly +stated, the amount given Nancy was but a +small fraction of that which a man from +Mr. Ashley’s office would have had to receive +for the same service.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Unbelieving, Nancy stared at the check.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“One hundred dollars!†she murmured, +her eyes now beaming with anticipation. +“And mother’s vacation only three days +off!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But please, Nan,†Ruth hurried to +change the subject, “don’t go away to parts +unknown and leave me pining here. Of +course, there are lots of girls—hanging +around,†she smiled very prettily and +looked very dimply as she said this, “but +since you came to Long Leigh, Nan, the +other girls don’t count as much as they +did.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I suppose,†said Nancy in her “twinkling†+way, “that may be because I’m such +a freak. I’m a lot of fun—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Nan—cee!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Ruth—ee!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And they finished the argument with a +very pardonable show of affection, if it was +only a sound slap on Nancy’s not fully +clothed shoulders and a pretty good whack +on Ruth’s plump little thigh.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When Nancy was alone again, (for Ruth +was to meet the girls at Isabel’s and they +were all going for a swim before their ten +o’clock cooking lesson,) she smoothed out the +little blue check lovingly. It was so strange +to think that money was acquired through +mere enthusiasm. That Mrs. Cullen would +have decided to buy that enormous place +merely upon Nancy’s—enthusiasm. That +the cooking school had been started and +was successfully running because of her—enthusiasm!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Perhaps,†she told the reflection in her +glass, “it’s a good thing to despise some +kinds of work if it makes one enthusiastic +for other kinds. But even now,†she was +insisting to that same mocking smile, “<em>I +can</em> make a very good cake.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>To meet the girls at the lake, Nancy took +a short cut up, over the hill that would lead +her past the old stone house. She had hurried +her breakfast and made sure that Miss +Manners did not need her help to get ready +for the class, then, gowned in the easiest +thing to put on—and off, her lavender gingham, +she raced off up the hill.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But she never could hurry past the stone +house; everything around it held fascination +for Nancy, even the half-formed dread +that someone or something would drop +down from the sky, or spring up out of the +earth, as Mr. Sanders had formerly been +accused of doing. So, instead of crossing +the fence where the old cedar tree had +broken through and had thus made an opening, +Nancy continued on up through the +stone path that would bring her out at the +apple orchard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“As if there could be anything weird in +this open place,†she was saying. “Why, +the old cistern over there looks as spic-span +as when folks used to draw water from it, +and I’m sure,†she was thinking, “a turned +upside-down rain-barrel shows care and attention—no +mosquitoes can breed in that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>She stood a few moments to enjoy the soft +summer scene, for it was not yet quite time +to meet the girls, when from the direction +of the rain-barrel she head a whine, a cat’s +cry, surely.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Some poor cat maybe caught in briars,†+Nancy decided promptly, as again came a +piteous meaow of a kitten or a cat.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Following the call Nancy hurried in its +direction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here puss?†she called. “Kitty-kitty-kitty!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The cry stopped as her voice called to it. +It was not near the rain barrel, Nancy now +decided, but over by the cistern. Quickly +she turned in that direction, but when +within a few feet of the square little box +that covered the artificial well, she was suddenly +startled by a noise—a queer noise.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What’s that?†was her unspoken +question.</p> + +<p class='c009'>She listened. It was a man’s voice, +singing!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Where, where—can that be!†she murmured +half aloud, meanwhile unconsciously +walking toward the cistern.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Then a hammering! A buzzing!</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh!†screamed Nancy in alarm, now +realizing that she had been hearing +something very strange indeed. “Oh, I must—get—away!†+was her wild determination, +as she turned and dashed down the hill, +making her way this time through the opening +in the fence where the cedar tree had +fallen.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXXII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <br />TARTS AND LADY FINGERS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>No one would believe her. They all came +out of the water as Nancy arrived at the +beach, and declined positively, to go in.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m too—flustered,†she insisted. “My +head is swimming now and it doesn’t matter +about my heels.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But Nancy,†protested Marion Mason, +one of the Upper Crust Hill girls, “how +could you have heard anybody or anything +in that open field? No bushes nor trees big +enough to hide behind, just there.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was the cat,†insisted Christine Berg, +a friend of Marion’s. “There are queer +cats—always have been—around the old +stone house. First, the cat meaowed, just +to entice you,†said Christine, wringing out +the scant skirt of her black satin bathing +suit. “And then, when she got you over +there, she did the rest,†finished the very +blonde girl with the lovely hazel eyes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Sort of ventriloquist,†added Isabel. +“Well, at any rate, Nan, you have had a +thrill. Vera, wouldn’t that constitute a +thrill, don’t you think?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll tell you what <em>I</em> think,†chimed in +Ruth. “I think we had better hurry to +dress or we shall be late for our lesson, and +mine is cream-puffs today. Our family +can eat cream-puffs until the puff—†But +the girls, running up to the little bath houses, +deprived Ruth of her audience, and also of +the necessity of finishing her simile.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy sat on the little board-walk edge +of the row of houses, while the girls dressed. +Ruth finished first and joined her there.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really, Nan?†she quizzed, in an under +tone.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Most certainly—really,†replied Nancy, +seriously. “Do you suppose I would make +that up for fun?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, I don’t. It isn’t your brand of fun. +But it’s mighty curious. Do you suppose +we should all go up there right now, and go +over every inch of the place—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no. We must go back to Manny +and be good cooks,†Nancy answered. +“Besides Ruth, she has my check and I’m +anxious to see if it is still there, not just a +dream check you know,†she smiled understandingly +at Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Rather towsled from their bath, and the +lack of time and tools for hair arrangements, +the party of girls presently started +off to take their domestic science lesson. +Along the way they met and hailed a number +of friends, for at bathing hour the lake +drew folks from all parts of the village and +its suburbs, but there was no time for tarrying +as Miss Manners insisted upon promptness, +and no one willingly ever disregarded +her rule.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was a merry little group that, all +aproned and capped, listened first to Miss +Manners explanation of rules and reasons, +and then they themselves undertook the +practical art of applying this knowledge.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Nancy could not forget her experience. +It had been so weird, so wild, in +fact, to hear those noises coming from nowhere.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth was beating the eggs light as air for +her cherished cream puffs; Isabel was carefully +creaming an equally dainty concoction +in her middle-sized yellow bowl, and the +other girls were being similarly and as +practically engaged, when a shadow, a large +manly shadow, darkened the glass that +formed the upper part of the store door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A visitor!†exclaimed Marion, smoothing +her cap at the risk of spoiling her +batter.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Manners stepped to the door to answer +the knock.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders!†the girls whispered one +to another, as they saw Miss Manners greet +the caller.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe he’s going to inspect—†Christine +began, but was stopped by Miss Manners +speaking.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Girls,†she said, in her best teacher +voice, “Mr. Sanders has called to see if +we can fill an order for him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“An order!†chorused the surprised +pupils.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†spoke up the one man among +them. “The fact is, young ladies, I’m giving +a little party up at Waterfall House, +and I felt convinced that my attractions +would be greatly increased if I could procure +some—some confections from this famous +little class,†he said.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Manners was all but protesting. +That her class could be called “famous†+seemed to her rather too extravagant a +statement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, indeed,†went on the caller, while +it must be admitted some of the girls were +stifling giggles. “My daughter is coming +up, and she thinks her college excels in this +sort of thing.†His sweeping gesture +seemed to include everything, even the +girls. “And I would be mighty glad to +show her what we can do in our little Long +Leigh.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Followed suggestions and questions, so +heaped up that the mere wording of all the +excitement amounted to little compared with +its general effect. Finally, Mr. Sanders +and Miss Manners went into a secret session, +to outline the order, and the girls, who +were supposed to go on with the lesson, in +reality went on with the fun.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Imagine!†chuckled Eleanor Dixon, +“getting an order for fancy cakes! I’m going +to make kisses—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Lady fingers would be more appropriate,†+Isabel remarked sagely, “although, +El, I have heard Miss Manners say, your +biscuits are—splendid.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Tarts!†whispered Christine, shaking +her long handled spoon, and making a comical +face.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mac-a-roons!†came from Dorothy’s +corner.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But Mr. Sanders was now preparing to +leave, and Miss Manners was conducting +him to the door, her face alight with the +pleasant excitement. As the caller walked +past Nancy he said to her in an undertone:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Can I speak to you, just a minute, +Nancy?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Without answering Nancy followed him +outside to the porch.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m coming up to see your mother this +evening,†he said, when their voices were +beyond reach of the others. “I’ve been expecting +to for some time, but now I <em>must</em>. +Will you tell her, please? And be sure to +be on hand yourself, you and Ted, for I’m +about ready to disclose the long promised +secret,†he finished, his eyes twinkling merrily +as he spoke.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, all right, certainly,†faltered +Nancy, not quite sure just what she was +saying.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes,†continued Mr. Sanders, “the summer, +is going fast and I’m glad things have +shaped themselves before we were, any of +us, forced to separate.†He was patting +his brown hands together gleefully.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Would you mind if Isabel and Ruth +came over? They’re my best friends and +you can trust them,†ventured Nancy, surprised +at herself for doing so.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Certainly, by all means, have them +come,†replied Mr. Sanders. “I see you +anticipate a surprise, and you are generous +enough to want to share it with your +friends. That’s the spirit I like to see. +Tonight it will be a sort of private performance,†+he smiled as he said this, “but to-morrow +night at the hotel I’m going to tell +all who come. That’s what I want your +cakes for,†he finished, moving down the +low steps. “We’re going to have a celebration +and—well, I’ll see you this evening,†+he promised, hurrying off like a happy +school boy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was little work done in the cooking +lesson after that. Everybody was so excited +at the prospect of filling a real order, +that the entire class immediately set to planning +just how it was to be filled.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was Christine, however, who had what +Ruth called “the inspiration.†After the +class was dismissed she got the girls +together, out of Miss Manner’s hearing, and +made her suggestion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s all come early,†she began, “<em>very</em> +early. We’ll do our very best, of course, +we can make wonderful cakes.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“<em>You</em> can,†corrected Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So can you, Nan,†Christine took time +to say, “I’d like to see any one make a better +sponge cake—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, sponge cake,†scoffed Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The very thing most needed to go with +ice cream,†Christine hurried to say. “But +listen—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We are,†said Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We will take whatever money we get for +the entire order, (we donate the materials, +of course,) and with the money we’ll buy a +gift for—Manny!†said Christine.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Hurrah!†came a hushed hail, for there +was danger of the plans being overheard.</p> + +<p class='c009'>However, Christine’s idea was enthusiastically +received, and there was no possible +doubt of the entire plan being successfully +carried out.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ruth remained with Nancy and so did +Isabel, so that she readily found an opportunity +to tell them of Mr. Sander’s message. +They were as usual, putting things away, +Miss Manners being obliged to leave early +to give a private lesson to an invalid girl.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And we are actually going to hear the +secret,†gasped Nancy. “Girls, you don’t +know how excited I am—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You don’t know how <em>crazy</em> I am,†added +Ruth.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And how <em>wild</em> I am,†put in Isabel. +“Think we should have a doctor within +call? Will it be overwhelming?†she joked.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Better have a policeman,†suggested +Ruth. “He may disclose some gems, or +other valuables.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Here comes Ted,†Nancy interrupted, +“and I know by his walk that he’s worried.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted strode in, Nero close beside him, and +as Nancy had intimated he did act worried.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“What’s the matter, Ted?†Ruth asked +first.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Matter? I’ve got to hide this dog. +Folks want to take him away from me. +Say he’s theirs,†Ted’s words fairly hissed +his indignation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Who says so?†demanded Nancy +belligerently.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A man who came up to the old stone +house,†answered Ted. “But Nero was +Lou Peter’s dog and Lou gave him to me, +and not all the money there is, is going to +get my dog away from me.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted’s voice was not very positive, and +the girls, all three, assisted him in coaxing +Nero out to the small door under the back +porch, where he was finally made a prisoner, +with several plates of food set before him +to lighten the misery.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It surely would be disastrous for Ted to +lose his dog.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 id='chXXIII' class='c010'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <br />THE STORY TOLD</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>The Whatnot Shop was quite powerless +to prevent the invasion.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We’ll push all the tables back and set +the chairs around in a half-circle,†suggested +the fluttered Nancy. “Then, it will +be just like—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A play,†finished Isabel. “Too bad we +can’t turn on a spot light.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think it would be nice to let Mr. Townsend +sit behind the counter on his old +high stool,†Nancy further suggested. “It +might make him feel at home. I wonder +where we put that stool.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Away back in the corner under the +three-cornered shelf,†Ruth informed her. +“I rammed it in there myself.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It was dragged out—the stool, and set +just where it had been found when Nancy +first took possession of the shop.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A regular par-tee!†chanted Isabel. +“Glad I happened to wear a white dress; +being a deb and all that.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You may carry the white paper fan, little +deb,†mocked Nancy. “We couldn’t +sell it so I’d be delighted to donate it to your +coming out party.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, it isn’t mine, it’s yours,†chirped +Isabel, “and I hope you are not going to +wear that howling yellow gingham—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I am. Yellow’s my color,†and Nancy +flipped the skirt of her dress around gaily.</p> + +<p class='c009'>They were preparing, as might easily be +guessed, for the “private performance†+promised by Mr. Sanders. Nancy had +talked with him over the phone, after his +visit to the class that morning, and arrangements +were then made to invite the Townsends +over, besides permission having been +granted Ted to bring in his chum, Buster +Clayton. Just now Ted was upstairs dressing; +also singing and telling stories to Nero, +most of which racket could be heard down +in the store.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mrs. Brandon’s cheeks became soft as +damask when Nancy showed her the big +check for one hundred dollars, which Nancy +explained was in no sense a gift, but purely +part of a business transaction between her +and Mr. Ashley’s real-estate office. The +mother did not try to hide her delight, that +Nancy should have become such “a splendid +little business woman,†and she predicted +her own retirement from the office +at an early date, if such wonderful achievements +were to be kept up.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And your bank account, my dear,†she +told Nancy when they were in confidence +over the developments, “aren’t you proud +of it?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A little, Mother-mine,†faltered the +happy girl, “but there’s something better +than that,†she said shyly, for Nancy was +not given to boasting.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know,†and the mother arms went +around her. “Besides, you know now that +even despised housework is not so bad when +it has an interesting motive. That’s why +we mothers tolerate it; because we are +working for our darling children.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I know, Mums, but I really only thought +'dishes’ before, now I think—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“The joy of helping <em>us</em>,†Mrs. Brandon +supplied. “And I’m so proud of your +cooking, and how much it has benefited Miss +Manners, as well as your friends. Why, +my dear, I would make you vain were I to +tell you one-half of what I hear—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Not vain, Mums. I’m not silly enough +for that, for I’ve got to admit I’ve been +rather selfish all the way through—it has +been such a lot of fun.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>And Nancy meant it. She was not posing, +nor was she playing at being humble, +for her mind was of that quality that reasons +and analyzes one’s own motives as well +as looking for motives in others. In that +way she had acquired what is called “common sense,†+perhaps because every one +should try, at least, to possess a measure +of it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Now Mrs. Brandon, as well as Ted, was +dressing. To please Nancy she had promised +to wear her geranium georgette, a soft +dress that toned so well with her dark hair +and dark eyes, for Mrs. Brandon was still +young, and a handsome woman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And the girls were fairly dancing around +the store, arranging chairs brought in from +the porch, dining room and even from the +kitchen.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Let’s make a little platform for Mr. +Sanders,†Ruth proposed. “This top step +of the back stairs will do. We don’t have +to open that door.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And have a stand and a glass of water—†+Isabel added.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And flowers,†insisted Nancy. “I must +have flowers, they’re so silly for a man’s +speech, they’ll make every body laugh.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Maybe hollyhocks would,†Ruth said, +“but I doubt if your audience would see +the joke if you put a bunch of roses there.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>So they progressed, until very soon, too +soon for the girls, the company began to +arrive.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. and Miss Townsend, and little, +brown, woolly Tiny came first.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m afraid we’re early,†said the lady +in her best silver silk dress and her very +pretty new black-satin-trimmed-with-silver +grapes, hat. She carried a little flat cushion +for Tiny, out of respect for the silver +silk dress.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mother will be down directly,†Nancy +greeted Miss Townsend, in her very best +manner. “Sit over here. We’ve fixed this +corner for you.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh my!†exclaimed the lady in genuine +admiration. “How lovely everything +looks! However did you paint this old +wood work white?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“For our cooking class, you know,†replied +Nancy, gaily. “Doesn’t it look—hygienic?â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I—should—say—so!†Miss Townsend +was aghast. “And I suppose, those spotless +tables—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Are the old ones from around the +porches and every place,†Nancy informed +her. “We just daubed the legs white and +covered the tops with oil cloth.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I want to see that gas range. I’ve +heard so much about it. Oh! there’s +Miss Manners,†exclaimed Miss Townsend, +“she’ll explain it to me, and you may run +along, dear.†This was a release, not a +dismissal for Nancy.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“She’ll buy one and that will be a good +big discount for Manny,†Nancy told +the girls who had heard most of the +conversation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes. They’ve bought a new house—a +brand spic-span new one,†Ruth whispered. +“Father said Miss Townsend wanted the +shiniest one he had for sale,†and there was +a pardonable titter in response to that.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But guests were now arriving in pairs. +There were Mr. and Mrs. Ashley, Ruth’s +parents, Mr. and Mrs. Duryee, Isabel’s parents, +besides Ted, Buster and Nero, the latter +three being promptly assigned by Ruth +to the corner nearest the side door.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“So you can watch for prowlers,†she +joked. “Some other folks might sneak up +on the porch and listen in.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’m all but stage struck,†panted Nancy, +trying to force the little kicked-up curls +around her ears back into place. “And +girls, take your places!†she admonished. +“Here comes—the—talent! Mr. Sanders +and Sibyl!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It really was taking on the look of some +sort of entertainment,—for as Mr. Sanders +and his daughter arrived there was a general +presentation all around by Mrs. Brandon, +while the girls, feeling very much like +ushers at a school entertainment, stood with +backs to the windows, just as they always +did at school affairs.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The preliminary formalities over, Mr. +Sanders was rather humorously conducted +to the “platform.†This pleased Mr. +Townsend “most to death†and he was +heard to chuckle that “the old fire-house as +town-hall had never held a better meeting.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I’ll not keep you in suspense, my +friends,†began Mr. Sanders, without so +much as clearing his throat, “but I’ll just +introduce myself to those who don’t happen +to know me. I’m Edwin Sanders of Eastern +College, professor of science there.†+There was a murmur through the room at +that announcement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Professor!†was the surprised word it +conveyed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I came here to experiment,†the +gentleman continued in a pleasantly matter +of fact voice. “I found this little house +had a direct air shaft, it runs from this +room at that old fireplace down to the cellar, +and out through an old-fashioned flue-door, +you know the kind.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That’s a relic on this place,†spoke up +Mr. Elmer Townsend. “It was built in +here by a Dutch man from Holland—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, and it’s a good one,†agreed Mr. +Sanders. “Well, you see, my friends,†he +continued, “I had to experiment on an extremely +delicate little instrument,†he was +all professor now, “so, when I found the +exact conditions that I required here, I made +an offer to the owner, Mr. Townsend.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was much shifting around and +significant scraping of chairs at this point, +but the speaker was in no way disturbed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I thought it only fair to tell him how +important my experiment was, and what +it would mean if it worked out as I expected. +Well, it did,†he stated emphatically, +“but not without the usual trouble that +must be endured if we want to succeed in +big things.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Miss Townsend was whispering, or she +thought she was, and her brother was trying +to restrain her.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I could not tell the nature of this work +because there was a new secret principle involved +in it,†Mr. Sanders said, having +overheard, likely, what Miss Townsend was +trying to tell her neighbor. “That was why +Mr. Townsend and I had to keep our secret +so close.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted and Buster were visibly squirming in +their chairs, they were so interested, but old +Nero snoozed contentedly, not even suspecting +apparently, the presence of another +dog, Tiny, that was safely hidden in Miss +Townsend’s cushion. And as if Mr. Sanders +remembered Tiny, he next said:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Even the little dog was so interested as +we worked he would insist upon barking a +tune for us. Sometimes we were afraid he +might tell,†he finished, quizzically.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That was it,†Ted privately told Buster. +“Nancy said that puny, little dog barked all +the time he was in here.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“After I got my point worked out in this +air shaft,†went on Mr. Sanders, who had +actually taken a sip of water from the glass +at his hand, “I was obliged to try it out in +a very much more condensed atmosphere. +And just there is where I was forced to excite +such wild suspicions.†He was almost +laughing at the recollection.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“It was funny; I’m willing to admit that +myself, for like the King of France in the +story, I marched up the hill, but unlike him, +I did not march down again. And I’m surprised +that no one seems to have guessed +where I was hidden.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was a pause. Nancy’s face was betraying +her suspicions but she uttered no +word.</p> + +<hr class='c011' /> + +<p class='c009'>“Just once I was almost discovered,†continued +Mr. Sanders. “And that was the +other day when my cat—cried. Just then +some one was passing—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was,†blurted out Nancy. “And I +heard you singing!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Every one laughed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Was I singing, really?†asked the professor. +“Well, I might have been for I was +surely very happy. The anemometer was +working beautifully down there, in my—cistern!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Cistern!†Every one seemed to cry out +the word.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He was in the cistern!†Nancy gasped. +“That was where I heard the—noises coming +from!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“In the cistern!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>It took some time for the older folks to +realize the significance of the revelation, +but the girls and boys seemed instantly to +understand.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes, and you would be surprised what +fine quarters I’ve had there. I have that +nice, perfectly dry cistern actually furnished, +even a rug on the floor! Chairs and +a table, a looking glass—oh, you are all invited +to inspect now,†announced the professor +cheerily, “for my precious instrument +has been safely shipped to the +manufacturers, and I’ve been able—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He’s paid me more than a thousand dollars,†+declared Mr. Townsend, rising from +his chair and addressing the house, “and I +think it’s only fair that folks around here +should know how well I’ve made out on my +investment.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes indeed,†Miss Townsend chimed in, +“if any body in Long Leigh has heard me +say I was worried about Brother Elmer’s +money affairs,†she sort of hesitated before +framing that term, “I just want them to +know now that we’ve made more money by +Mr. Sanders investment in six months, than +we would make in six years in this little +store.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>A burst of applause followed this. And +presently every one seemed to be talking at +once. The formality of the occasion was +lost in a round of enthusiastic interest; the +men demanding to know more about the invention, +while the women and girls were +keen to hear all about the cistern.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Sibyl was glad to tell them about the +curious little work shop under the ground, +and she soon had a group of the young folks +listening to her story.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I thought it was awful, at first,†she explained, +“but, of course, I’m used to father’s +peculiar experiments. He has invented +some wonderful instruments,†she said this +in a properly restrained voice. “They are +being used in the college observatories, +where they make weather predictions, you +know,†she pointed out.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I did notice some little pipes sticking +out of the sides of that cistern box,†+Nancy now remembered. “I might have +known, but I was too surprised to investigate,†+she admitted frankly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Really girls,†Sibyl went on, “Dad has +that cistern furnished like a room. You +walk down a little ladder, and sit on a regular +chair—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But isn’t it dark?†Ruth wanted to +know.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Oh, no. One whole side of the cover is +glass, a side that is back away from the +opening,†Sibyl told them. “No one would +ever notice the glass there. And besides +that, father had cut the concrete away, over +on one side of the bowl, and there he made a +little skylight. You would never notice +that either, as there are bushes all around +it,†she said.</p> + +<p class='c009'>By this time Ted and Buster were demanding +to be heard. They had tried to +get a hearing with the older folks, but +according to Ted “the buzzing there was +worse than a bee fight.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And say, Nan,†he called out now, “I +just want to know about—about what Nero +was after down the cellar, you know.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Mr. Sanders was trying to make his way +toward the girls just then, so Nancy delayed +answering Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And say, Ted,†Mr. Sanders began. +“About your dog. You needn’t worry that +anyone will take him from you. That man +who spoke to you used to be care-taker at +the old stone house. And he was supposed +to look after Nero, whose real name is Jason. +That’s the fellow who went after the Golden +Fleece you remember.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Jason?†repeated Ted. “Sounds like +an auto fixer. I like Nero best.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“All right, son,†and Mr. Sanders gave +Ted a friendly slap on the shoulders. +“Nero he shall be. But as I was saying, +the man who was expected to care for your +dog hadn’t done so, and he’s got sort of +worried lately and wanted to get him back.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“He can’t have him,†Ted defended +stoutly.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“No, that’s right; he can’t. And I told +him so. He knows now that the dog is in +good hands, and that I’ll answer any questions +the Ellors family care to ask about +him.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Ted’s face was now beaming with joy. +He had been so worried about Nero that he +simply wouldn’t let the animal out of his +protective sight for days past.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And Mr. Sanders,†he insisted, “night +before last Nero saved us from a flood. A +water pipe broke right over there and Nero—made +us all get up—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Night before last!†exclaimed the +professor.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Yes; and Nancy turned off the +water—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“That was the night I had my precious +little air-meter right under this chimney,†+said Mr. Sanders very slowly, “and if water +had trickled through the floor, down onto +that, it would have been ruined.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Then, just as Ted says,†Nancy spoke, +“Nero really did save it, for there was a +regular flood around this hearth.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“You must have seen me leaving the +grounds that afternoon,†Mr. Sanders admitted. +“I was sure you did, but I wasn’t +ready to tell my story—just then. But Ted, +I’ll have to get you a fine collar for Nero—â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>The girls were begging Nancy to make an +announcement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Go on,†urged Ruth. “They’re all talking +together and no one will listen unless +you get up on the step.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>With this and considerable more urging, +Nancy finally mounted the step. She smiled +shyly at her mother as she passed along, for +Mrs. Brandon, like the other “principals,†+was having a busy time of it.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I just want to say,†Nancy began with a +little quaver in her voice, “that we’ve prepared +some little cakes and punch as samples +of our cooking class work, and we’ll be glad +to have you all stay and try them.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was real applause at this, and mentioning +the cooking class—was a signal for +another outburst of comment from the +ladies. They all believed in girls doing +something during summer, and they did not +believe in girls “wasting†an entire +vacation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I think we ought to give a cheer for the +girls,†Mr. Sanders proposed. “They have +kept things going pretty lively around here +this summer, just lively enough to save me +from having been discovered.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And I’d like to say a word,†ventured +timid Miss Manners. But the girls would +not permit her to do so, Nancy, especially +being fearful that the little lady’s gratitude, +for the domestic science class and for +Mrs. Brandon’s hospitality might become +embarrassing.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Any how,†said Buster to Ted, “we can +have our dog.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“And a dandy new collar,†appended Ted.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was waiting a chance to finish her +announcements, and in a little lull she again +called out:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Mr. Sanders and Miss Sanders are entertaining +tomorrow evening at the Waterfall +House. Every body is invited! And +you will be treated there to some real samples +of our cakes!â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Now I call that lov-el-lee,†declared +Miss Townsend, shaking her new hat at +every syllable. “And these cakes,†(the +girls were passing them) “are de-lic-ious.â€</p> + +<p class='c009'>Nancy was very happy. She tugged at +her mother’s arm and cuddled her head +against the loving shoulder, just as she had +always done in her great moments.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“Isn’t it lov-ell-lee, Mums,†she +whispered.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“A complete—success!†murmured the +mother.</p> + +<p class='c009'>And the next morning half, if not all, of +Long Leigh trooped up the hill to inspect +the wonderfully outfitted and “infitted†+cistern, that had so long escaped notice, on +the grounds of the old, stone house.</p> + +<p class='c009'>“I was going to look down that cistern +first chance I got,†Nancy confessed. +“But being successful is such a busy—business,†+she joked, “that I think it will be +a delightful change to begin a real vacation +with mother tomorrow.â€</p> + +<div class='c012'>THE END</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nancy Brandon, by Lilian Garis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANCY BRANDON *** + +***** This file should be named 45497-h.htm or 45497-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/4/9/45497/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Nancy Brandon + +Author: Lilian Garis + +Illustrator: Thelma Gooch + +Release Date: April 26, 2014 [EBook #45497] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANCY BRANDON *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: They had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + NANCY BRANDON + + By + + LILIAN GARIS + + _Author of_ + "JOAN'S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE," "GLORIA AT BOARDING + SCHOOL," "CONNIE LORING'S AMBITION," + "BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER," + "CLEO'S MISTY RAINBOW," ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY + + THELMA GOOCH + + + + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + _Copyright, 1924_ + By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY + Springfield, Massachusetts + _All Rights Reserved_ + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS + + I. THE GIRL AND THE BOY + II. DINNER DIFFICULTIES + III. BELATED HASTE + IV. NEW FRIENDS + V. ORIGINAL PLANS + VI. FAIR PLAY + VII. THE SPECIAL SALE + VIII. FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS + IX. THE BIG DAY + X. STILL THEY CAME + XI. THE FAILURE + XII. THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE + XIII. BEHIND THE CLOUD + XIV. A PLEASANT SURPRISE + XV. TALKING IT OVER + XVI. JUST FISHING + XVII. THE CAVE-IN + XVIII. INTRODUCING NERO + XIX. A DISCOVERY + XX. THE MIDNIGHT ALARM + XXI. FOR VALUE DECEIVED + XXII. TARTS AND LADY FINGERS + XXIII. THE STORY TOLD + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + NANCY BRANDON: ENTHUSIAST + + + CHAPTER I + + THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + +The small kitchen was untidy. There were boxes empty and some crammed +with loose papers, while a big clothes basket was filled--with a small +boy, who took turns rolling it like a boat and bumping it up and down +like a flivver. Ted Brandon was about eleven years old, full of +boyhood's importance and bristling with boyhood's pranks. + +His sister Nancy, who stood placidly reviewing the confusion, was, she +claimed, in her teens. She was also just now in her glory, for after +many vicissitudes and uncertainties they were actually moved into the +old Townsend place at Long Leigh. + +"You're perfectly silly, Ted. You know it's simply a wonderful idea," +she proclaimed loftily. + +"Do I." There was no question in the boy's tone. + +"Well, you ought to. But, of course, boys--" + +"Oh, there you go. Boys!!" No mistaking this tone. + +"Ted Brandon, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. To be so--so mean to +mother." + +"Mean to mother! Who said anything about mother?" + +"This is mother's pet scheme." + +"Pretty queer scheme to keep us cooped up all vacation." He rocked the +basket vigorously. + +"We won't have to stay in much at all. Why, just odd times, and +besides--" Nancy paused to pat her hair. She might have patted it +without pausing but her small brother Ted would then have been less +impressed by her assumed dignity, "you see, Teddy, I'm working for a +principle. I don't believe that girls should do a bit more housework +than boys." + +"Oh, I know you believe that all-righty." Ted allowed himself to sigh +but did not pause to do so. He kept right on rocking and snapping the +blade of his pen-knife open and shut, as if the snap meant something +either useful or amusing. + +"Well, I guess I know what I'm talking about," declared Nancy, "and now, +even mother has come around to agree with me. She's going right on with +her office work and you and I are to run this lovely little shop." + +"You mean _you_ are to run the shop and _I'll_ wash the dishes." Deepest +scorn and seething irony hissed through Teddy's words. He even flipped +the pen-knife into the sink board and nicked, but did not break, the +apple-sauce dish. + +"Of course you must do your part." Nancy lifted up two dishes and set +them down again. + +"And yours, if you have your say. Oh, what's the use of talkin' to +girls?" Ted tumbled out of the basket, pushed it over until it banged +into a soap box, then straightening up his firm young shoulders, he +prepared to leave the scene. + +"There's no use talking to girls, Ted," replied his sister, "if you +don't talk sense." + +"Sense!" He jammed his cap upon his head although he didn't have any +idea of wearing it on this beautiful day. The fact was, Teddy and Nancy +were disagreeing. But there really wasn't anything unusual about that, +for their natures were different, they saw things differently, and if +they had been polite enough to agree they would simply have been fooling +each other. + +Nancy smiled lovingly, however, at the boy, as he banged the door. What +a darling Ted was! So honest and so scrappy! Of all things hateful to +Nancy Brandon a "sissy" boy, as she described a certain type, was the +worst. + +"But I suppose," she ruminated serenely, "the old breakfast dishes have +got to be done." Another lifting up and setting down of a couple of +china pieces, but further than that Nancy made not the slightest +headway. A small mirror hung in a small hall between the long kitchen +and the store. Here Nancy betook herself and proceeded again to pat her +dark hair. + +She was the type of girl described as willowy, because that word is +prettier than some others that might mean tall, lanky, boneless and +agile. Nancy had black hair that shone with crow-black luster in spite +of its pronounced curl. Her eyes were dark, snappy and meaningful. They +could mean love, as when Ted slammed the door, or they could mean +danger, as when a boy kicked the black and white kitten. Then again they +could mean devotion, as when Nancy beheld her idolized little mother who +was a business woman as well, and in that capacity, Nancy's model. + +A tingle at the bell that was set for the store alarm, sent the girl +dancing away from the looking-glass. + +"Funniest thing about a store," she told herself, "there's always +someone to buy things you haven't got." + +The catch was on the screen door and, as Nancy approached it, she +discerned outside, the figure of an elderly woman. It was Miss Sarah +Townsend from whom her mother had bought the store. + +"Oh, good morning, Miss Townsend. I keep the door fastened when I'm +alone, as I might be busy in the kitchen," apologized Nancy. + +"That's right, dear, that's right. And I wouldn't be too much alone if I +were you," cautioned the woman who was stepping in with the air of +proprietorship, and with her little brown dog sniffing at her heels. +"Don't you keep your brother with you?" + +"Ted? Oh yes, sometimes. But he's a little boy, you know, Miss Townsend, +and he must enjoy his vacation." Nancy was making friends with Tiny, the +dog, but after a polite sniff or two Tiny was off frisking about +happily, as any dog might be expected to do when returning to his +old-time home. + +Miss Townsend surveyed Nancy critically. + +"Of course your brother is a little boy," she said, "but what about you? +You're only a little girl." + +"Little! Why I'm much stronger than Ted, and years older," declared +Nancy, pulling herself up to her fullest height. + +The woman smiled tolerantly. She wore glasses so securely fixed before +her deep-set eyes that they seemed like a very feature of her face. She +was a capable looking, elderly woman, and rather comely, but she was, as +Nancy had quickly observed, "hopelessly old-fashioned." + +"We haven't anything fixed up yet," said Nancy apologetically. "You see, +mother goes to business and that leaves the store and the house to me." + +"Yes. She explained in taking our place that she was doing it to give +you a chance to try business. But for a girl so young--Come back here, +Tiny," she ordered the sniffing, snuffing, frisky little dog. + +"If I'm going to be a business woman I've got to start in," interrupted +Nancy. "They say it's never too early to start at _housework_." + +"But that's different. Every girl has to know how to keep house," +insisted Miss Townsend. She was busy straightening a box of spools that +lay upon the little counter, but from her automatic actions it was +perfectly evident that Miss Townsend didn't know she was doing anything. + +"I can't see why," retorted Nancy. "Just look at mother. What would she +have done with us if she hadn't understood business?" + +Miss Townsend sighed. "Being a widow, my dear--" + +"But I may be a widow too," breezed Nancy. "In fact I'm sure to, for +everyone says I'm so much like mother. Do let me fix that box of spools, +Miss Townsend. Someone came in for linen thread last night and Teddy +looked for it. I'm sure he gave them a ball of cord, for all the cord +was scattered around too." She put the cover on the thread box. "Boys +are rather poor at business, I think, especially boys of Teddy's age," +orated the important Nancy. + +Miss Townsend agreed without saying so. She was looking over the little +place in a fidgety, nervous way. Nancy quickly decided this was due to +regret that she had given the place up, and therefore sought to make her +feel at ease. + +The little brown dog had curled himself up in front of the fireplace on +a piece of rug, evidently his own personal property. The fireplace was +closed up and the stove set back against it, out of the way for summer, +and handy-by for winter. + +Nancy smiled at the woman who was moving about in a sort of aimless +restlessness. + +"It must seem natural to you to be around here," Nancy ventured. + +"Yes, after thirty years--" + +"Thirty years!" repeated Nancy, incredulously. "Did you and your brother +live here all that time?" + +"Yes." A prolonged sigh brought Miss Townsend down on the old hickory +chair that stood by the door, just out of the way of possible customers. + +"Brother Elmer and I kept on here after mother died. In fact, so far as +I was concerned, we might have gone on until we died, but there was a +little trouble--" + +"Just like me and my brother, I suppose," intervened Nancy, kindly. "We +love each other to death, and yet we are always scrapping." + +"In children's way, but that's different, very different," insisted Miss +Townsend. "With me and Elmer," she sighed again, "it became a very, very +serious matter." + +"Oh," faltered Nancy. Things were becoming uncomfortable. That kitchen +work would be growing more formidable, and Nancy had really wanted to +settle the store. She would love to do that, to put all the little +things in their places, or in new places, as she would surely find a new +method for their arrangement. She hurried over to the corner shelves. + +"I hope no one comes in until I get the place fixed up," she remarked. +"Mother doesn't intend to buy much new stock until she sees how we get +along." + +"That's wise," remarked Miss Townsend. "I suppose I know every stick in +the place," she looked about critically, "and yet I could be just as +interested. I wonder if you wouldn't like me to help you fix things up? +I'd just love to do it." + +Now this was exactly what Nancy did not want. In fact, she was wishing +earnestly that the prim Miss Townsend would take herself off and leave +her to do as she pleased. + +"That's kind of you, I'm sure," she said, "but the idea was that I +should be manager from the start," Nancy laughed lightly to justify this +claim, "and I'm sure mother would be better pleased if I put the shop in +order. You can come in and see me again when I'm all fixed up," (this +gentle hint was tactful, thought Nancy) "and then you can tell me what +you think of me as the manager of the Whatnot Shop." + +Miss Townsend was actually poking in the corner near the hearth shelf +where matches, in a tin container, were kept. She heard Nancy but did +not heed her. + +"Looking for something?" the girl asked a little sharply. + +"Looking?" Yes, that is--"Tiny keep down there," she ordered. "I can't +see what has got into that dog of late. It was one of the things that +Elmer and I were constantly fussing over. Tiny won't let any one touch +things near this chimney without barking his head off. Now just watch." + +As she went to the shelf back of the stove the dog sprang alongside of +her. He barked in the happy fashion that goes with rapid tail wagging, +and Nancy quickly decided that the dog knew a secret of the old chimney. + +[Illustration: Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove.] + +Again Miss Townsend pretended to take things out of the stove, and Tiny +all but jumped into the low, broad door. + +"Now, isn't that--uncanny?" asked the woman, plainly bewildered. + +"Oh, no, I don't think so," said Nancy. "All dogs have queer little +tricks like that." + +"Do they? I'm glad to hear you say so," sighed Miss Townsend, once more +picking up a small box of notions. "You must excuse me, my dear. You see +the habit of a life time--" + +"Oh, that's all right, Miss Townsend, I didn't mean to hurry you," spoke +up Nancy. "But the morning goes so quickly, and mother may come home to +lunch." This possibility brought real anxiety to Nancy. If she had only +slicked up the kitchen instead of arguing with Teddy. After all the +plagued old housework did take some time, she secretly admitted. + +But Miss Townsend laid down the unfinished roll of lace edging, although +she had most carefully rolled all but a very small end, walked over to +Nancy, who was just attempting to dust out a tray, and in the most +tragic voice said: + +"Nancy, I think you really have a lot of sense." + +Nancy chuckled. "I hope so, Miss Townsend." + +"I mean to say, that I think you can be trusted." + +"Well," stammered Nancy, forcing back another chuckle, "I hope so, to +that too, Miss Townsend." She was surprised at the woman's manner and +puzzled to understand its meaning. The dog was again snoozing on the +rug. + +"Let's sit down," suggested Miss Townsend. + +"Oh, all right," faltered Nancy, in despair now of ever catching up on +the delayed work. + +"You see, it's this way," began the woman, making room for herself in +the big chair that was serving as storage quarters for Teddy's +miscellany. "Some people are very proud--" + +Nancy was simply choking with impatience. + +"I mean to say, they are so proud they won't or can't ever give in to +each other." + +"Stubborn," suggested Nancy. "I'm that way sometimes." + +"And brother and sister," sighed Miss Townsend. "I never could believe +that Elmer, my own brother, could, be so--unreasonable." + +"Why, what's the matter?" Nancy spoke up. "You seem so unhappy." + +"Unhappy is no name for it, I'm wretched." The distress shown on Miss +Townsend's face was now unmistakable. Nancy forgot even the unwashed +breakfast dishes. + +"Can I help you?" she asked kindly. + +"Yes, you can. What I want is to come in here sometimes--" + +"Why, if you're lonely for your old place," interrupted Nancy. + +"It isn't that. In fact I just can't explain," said Miss Townsend, +picking up her hand bag, nervously. "But I'm no silly woman. We've +agreed to sell this place to your mother and I'm the last person in the +world to make a nuisance of myself." + +"You needn't worry about that," again Nancy intervened, sympathetically. + +"You are a kind girl, Nancy Brandon, and I guess your mother has made no +mistake in buying the Whatnot Shop for you. You'll be sure to make +friends, and that's what counts next to bargains, in business," declared +the woman, who had risen from the big chair and was staring at Nancy in +the oddest way. + +"If I had a chance--" again the woman paused and bit her thin lip. She +seemed to dread what she evidently must say. + +"I'll be busy here tomorrow," suggested Nancy briskly, "and then perhaps +you would like to help me. But I really would like to get the rough dirt +out first. Then we can put things to rights." + +"The fact is," continued Miss Townsend, without appearing to hear +Nancy's suggestion, "I have a suspicion." + +"A suspicion? About this--store?" + +"Yes, and about my brother. He's an old man and we've never had any real +trouble before, but I'm sorry to say, I can't believe he's telling me +the truth about an important matter. That is, it's a very important +matter to me." + +"Oh," said Nancy lamely. She was beginning to have doubts of Miss +Townsend's mental balance. + +"No, Elmer is a good man. He's been a good brother, but there are some +things--" (a long, low, breathful sigh,) "some things we have individual +opinions about. And, well, so you won't think me queer if I ask you to +let me tidy the shop?" + +"Why--no, of course not, Miss Townsend." + +"Thank you, thank you, Nancy Brandon," emotion was choking her words. +She was really going now and Tiny with her. "And perhaps it would be +just as well not to say anything about it if my brother should drop in," +concluded the strange woman. + +"Oh, do you suppose he will?" asked bewildered Nancy. "I mean, will he +drop in?" + +"He's apt to. Elmer is a creature of habit and he's been around here a +long time, you know." The dark eyes were glistening behind the gold +framed glasses. Miss Townsend was still preparing to depart. + +Nancy opened the screen door and out darted Tiny. + +"Good-bye, my dear, for the present," murmured Miss Townsend, "and I +hope you and your mother and your brother will--be happy--here," she +choked on the words and Nancy had an impression of impending tears. "We +wouldn't have sold out, we _shouldn't_ have sold out, but for Elmer +Townsend's foolishness." + +Back went the proud head until the lace collar on Sarah Townsend's neck +was jerked out of place, a rare thing indeed to happen to that prim +lady. + +"Good-bye," said Nancy gently, "and come again, Miss Townsend." + +"Yes, yes, dear, I shall." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + DINNER DIFFICULTIES + + +Nancy jerked her cretonne apron first one way and then the other. Then +she kicked out a few steps, still pondering. When Nancy was thinking +seriously she had to be acting. This brought her to the conclusion that +she should hurry out to the porch and look after Miss Townsend, but she +had decided upon that move too late, for the lady in the voile dress was +just turning the corner into Bender Street. + +Nancy's face was a bed of smiles. They were tucked away in the corners +of her mouth, they blinked out through her eyes and were having lots of +fun teasing her two deep cheek dimples. She was literally all smiles. + +"What a lark! Won't Ted howl? The dog and the--the chimney secret," she +chuckled. "And dogs know. You can't fool them." She came back into the +store and gazed ruefully at the squatty stove that mutely stood guard. + +"I don't suppose mother will want that left there all summer," Nancy +further considered. "It might just as well be put out in the shed, and +the store would look lots better." + +She could not help thinking of Miss Townsend's strange visit. The lady +was unmistakably worried, and her worry surely had to do with the +Whatnot Shop. + +"But I do hope we don't run into any old spooky stories about this +place," Nancy pondered, "for mother hates that sort of thing and so do +I--if they're the foolish, silly kind," she admitted, still staring at +the questionable fireplace. + +"What-ever can Miss Townsend want to be around here for? No hidden +treasures surely, or she would say so and start in to dig them up," +decided the practical Nancy. The clock struck one! + +"One o'clock!" she said this aloud. "Of course it isn't," laughed the +girl. "That clock has been going since the moving and it hasn't unpacked +its strike carefully. But, just the same, it must be eleven o'clock, and +as for the morning's work! However shall I catch up?" + +One hour later Ted was in looking for lunch. He had been out "exploring" +and had, he explained, met some fine fellows who were "brigand scouts." + +"I'm goin' to join," he declared. "They're goin' to let me in and I'm +goin' to bring a lot of my things over to the den." + +"Den?" questioned Nancy. "Where's that?" + +"Secret," answered Ted. "An' anyhow, it isn't for girls." This was said +in a pay-you-back manner that Nancy quickly challenged. + +"Oh, all right. Very well. Just as you say, keep it secret if you like," +she taunted, "but I've got a real one." The potatoes were burning but +neither of the children seemed to care. + +Ted looked closely at his sister and was convinced. She really was +serious. Then too, everything was on end, no dinner ready, nothing done, +the place all boxes, just as they were when he left. Something must have +been going on all morning, reasoned Ted. + +"Good thing mother didn't come home, Sis," he remarked amicably. "Say, +how about--chow?" + +"Chow?" + +"Yes. Don't you know that means food in the military, and I'm as starved +as a bear." + +"Well, why don't you get something to eat? I understood we were to camp, +share and share alike," Nancy reminded him, giving the simmering +potatoes a shake that sent the little pot-cover flying to the floor. + +"That was your idea. But mother said you had to be sure we ate our +meals," contended Ted. "I'll get the meat. It's meat balls, isn't it?" + +"It will be, I suppose, when _I_ make them," said Nancy, deliberately +shoving everything from one end of the table with a sweep that rattled +together dishes, glasses and various other breakable articles. + +There was no doubt about it, Nancy Brandon did hate housework. Every +thing she did was done with that degree of scorn absolutely fatal to the +result. Perhaps this was just why her mother was allowing her to try out +the pet summer scheme. + +"I'd go mad if I had to stick in a kitchen," Nancy declared +theatrically. "I'm so glad we've got the store." + +"But we can't eat the store," replied Ted. "Here's the meat. Do get it +going, Sis. I've got to get back to the fellows." + +"Ted Brandon! You've got to help _me_ this afternoon. Do you think, for +one instant, I'm going to do everything?" + +"'Course not, I'll do my share," promised the unsuspecting boy. "But +just today we've got something big on. Here's the meat." + +"Big or little you have just got to help me, Ted. Look at this place! It +seems to me things walk out of the boxes and heap themselves up all +over. Now, we didn't take those pans out, did we?" + +"I don't know, don't think so. But here's a good one. It's the meat +kind, isn't it?" + +"Yes. Give it here." Nancy took from his hand a perfectly flat iron +griddle. "I'll fix up the cakes if you make place on the table. We'll +eat out here." + +"All right." Ted flew to the task. "But you know, Sis, mother said we +might eat in that sun porch. It's a dandy place to read. Look at the +windows." + +Nancy had flattened the chopped meat into four balls and was pressing +them on the griddle. + +"There. What did you do with the potatoes?" + +"Nothing. I didn't take them." + +"But we had potatoes--" She lighted the gas under the meat. + +"Sure. I smelled them burning." + +"Well, hunt around and see if you can smell them now," ordered Ted's +sister. "I can't eat meat without potatoes." + +Ted dropped his two plates and actually went sniffing about in search of +the lost food. Meanwhile Nancy was standing at the stove, a magazine in +one hand and the griddle handle in the other. Her eyes, however, were +not upon the griddle. + +Presently the meat was sizzling and its odor cheered Ted considerably. + +"Don't let's mind the potatoes," he suggested. "I can't find them." + +"Can't find them? And I peeled three! We've _got_ to find them." + +"Then you look and I'll stir the meat." + +"It doesn't have to be stirred." But Nancy stood over the stove just the +same. + +"Then what are you watching it for?" + +"So it won't burn, like the potatoes." + +"Maybe they all burned up." Ted didn't care much for potatoes. + +"Oh, don't be silly. Where's the pan?" + +"Which pan?" + +"Oh, Ted Brandon! The potato pan, of course!" + +"Oh, Nancy Brandon! What potato pan, of course! Has it got a name on +it?" + +Nancy dropped her magazine on a littered chair, in sheer disgust. She +realized the meat was cooking; (it splattered and spluttered merrily on +the shallow griddle,) and she too was hungry. Ted might be satisfied to +eat just bread and meat, but she simply had to have freshly cooked +potatoes. Wasn't housework awful? Especially cooking? + +There was a jangle of the store bell, actually some one coming at that +critical moment. + +"Oh, dear!" groaned Nancy. "What a nuisance! I suppose I'll have to +go--" + +"But the meat?" Ted was getting desperate. + +"It's almost ready." Nancy wiped her hands on the dish towel and hurried +to the store. + +"A man!" she announced, as she went to open the screen door. + +Ted left his post and cautiously stole after her. A customer was a real +novelty and Ted didn't want to miss the excitement. A pleasant voice +filled in the moment. A gentleman was talking to Nancy. + +"I'm glad to find some one in," he was saying. "Since my friend, Elmer +Townsend, left here I've been rather--that is, I've missed the little +place," explained the man. Ted could see that he was very tall and +looked, he thought, like a school teacher, having no hat on and not much +hair either. + +"We've just been unpacking," Nancy replied. She was conscious of the +confusion in the store as well as she had been of things upset in the +kitchen. + +"Oh, yes," drawled the man, stepping behind the counter. "It will take +you some time to go over everything. But you see, Mr. Townsend and I are +great friends, and I know where most of the things are kept. You don't +mind if I take a look for a ball of twine?" + +"No, certainly not," agreed Nancy. + +"I can get you that," spoke up Ted. "I had it out last night," and he +jumped behind the counter to the littered cord and twine box. + +Nancy pulled herself up to that famous height of hers. She +smelled--something burning! + +"Ted!" she screamed. "It's a-fire! The kitchen! I see the blaze!" + +"The meat!" yelled Ted, springing over the low counter and following his +sister toward the smoke filling place. + +"Oh-h-h-!" Nancy continued to yell. "What shall we do!" + +"Don't get excited," ordered the stranger. "And don't go near that +blazing pan. Let me go in there," and he brushed Nancy aside making his +way into the untidy place, which now seemed, to the frightened girl, all +in flames. + +"The meat--gosh!" moaned poor Ted, for the stranger had opened the back +door, and having grabbed the flaming pan with that same towel Nancy had +tossed on the chair, he was now tossing the blazing pan as far out from +the house as his best fling permitted. + +"There!" he exclaimed, brushing one hand with the other. "I guess we're +safe now." + +"Oh, thank you, Mister, Mister--" Nancy waited for him to supply the +name, but he only smiled broadly. + +"Just call me Sam," he said pleasantly. + +"Sam?" echoed Ted. + +"Yes, sonny. Isn't that all right?" asked the stranger. + +They were within the cluttered kitchen now and, as is usually the case +with girls of Nancy's temperament, she was much distressed at the looks +of the place. In fact, she was making frantic but futile efforts to +right things. + +"What's the matter with Sam?" again asked the man, curiously. + +"Oh, nothing," replied Ted. "Only it isn't your name." + +"No? How do you know?" persisted the stranger, quizzically. + +"You don't look like a Sam," said Ted, kicking one heel against the +other to hide his embarrassment. He hadn't intended saying all that. + +The man laughed heartily, and for the moment Nancy forgot the upset +kitchen. But the dinner! + +"I hope your dinner isn't gone," remarked the stranger who wanted to be +called Sam. + +"Oh, no," replied Nancy laconically, avoiding Ted's discouraged look. +"That was only some--some meat we were cooking." + +"Can't keep house and 'tend store without spoiling something. But I feel +it was somewhat my fault. Suppose we lock up and trot down to the corner +for a dish of ice cream?" he suggested. "It's just warm enough today for +cream; don't you think so?" + +"Oh, let's!" chirped Ted. A hungry boy is ever an object of pity. + +"You go," suggested Nancy, "but I think I had better stay here." + +"Oh, no. You've got to come along. Let me see. If you call me Uncle Sam +what shall I call you?" + +"I'm Nancy Brandon and this is my brother Ted," replied Nancy. "But I'd +like much better to call you by your real name." + +"Real name," and he laughed again. "I see we are going to be critical +friends. Now then, since you insist Sam won't do suppose we make it +Sanders. Mr. Sanders. How does that name suit?" and he clapped Ted's +shoulders jovially. + +"Then Mr. Sanders, you and Ted go along and get your cream. I really +must attend to things here," insisted Nancy. "We are all so upset and +mother will expect us to have things in some sort of order." + +"Oh, Sis, come along" begged Ted. "I'll help you when we get back. It +won't take a minute." + +Hunger is a poor argument against food, and presently the back door was +locked, the front door was locked, and the two Brandons with the man who +called himself Mr. Sanders, because they refused to call him Uncle Sam, +were making tracks for the ice cream store. + +Burnt potatoes, burnt meat with ice cream for dessert, thought Nancy. +But she was still convinced that business was more important than +housekeeping. + +"Glad we didn't burn up," remarked Ted, as he trotted along beside Mr. +Sanders. + +"Never want to throw water on burning grease," they were advised. "And +always keep a thing at full arm's length, if you must pick it up. Of +course, if you turned out the gas and pushed the pan well in on the +stove it would eventually burn out, but think of the smoke!" + +"You bet!" declared Ted, as they reached the little country ice cream +parlor. Two girls, whom Nancy had seen several times since she came to +Long Leigh, were just leaving the place and she thought they looked at +her very curiously as they passed out. Then, she distinctly heard one of +them say: + +"Fancy! With him!" + +And Nancy knew she had made some sort of mistake in accepting the +well-intentioned invitation. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + BELATED HASTE + + +Instinctively Nancy sought a sheltered corner of the ice cream room. She +was greatly embarrassed to have come along the road with a stranger whom +she knew nothing about, and now she was determined to leave him alone +with Teddy. There must be something odd about him, to have drawn that +remark from the girls. Nancy looked at him critically from her place +below the decorated looking glass, and decided he did appear queer to +her. + +"But I'm just starved," she told herself, "and I've got to have +something to eat." The girl in the gingham dress, with a great wide +muslin apron, took an order for cake and cream and a glass of milk. +Fortunately, Nancy had her purse along with her. That much, at least, +she had already learned about being a business woman. + +Teddy was chatting gaily with the man down near the door. They seemed to +be having a great time over their stories, and Nancy rightly suspected +the stories concerned Ted's favorite sport, camping. + +She ate her lunch rather solemnly. Everything seemed to be going wrong, +but the escape from fire, with the frying meat on a shallow griddle, was +surely something to be thankful for. + +Oh, well! Only half a day had been lost, and she really couldn't have +done more when Miss Townsend took all that precious time with her +lamentations. + +Miss Townsend! Nancy sipped the last of her milk as she reflected on the +little dog's interest in the old fireplace. Of course, Miss Townsend +would come again, and Tiny would always be along with her. And Nancy +hadn't yet told Ted about that experience. + +"Just buying a country store didn't seem to mean buying a lot of freaks +along with the bargain," Nancy speculated. "And now here's Mr. Baldy who +wants to be called after Uncle Sam, going right in back of my counter +and helping himself--" + +"Ready, Sis!" called out Teddy, as he waited for Mr. Sanders to pay his +bill. + +"You go along, Ted," called back Nancy. "I've got to stop some place, +but I'll be there in time to open the door for you." + +Ted never questioned one of those queer decisions of Nancy's. He knew +how useless such a thing would be; so off he went with the man in the +short sleeved shirt, while Nancy tarried long enough to give them a fair +start. + +Then, easily finding a way through the fields, she raced off herself, +although getting through thick hedges and climbing an occasional rail +fence, proved rather tantalizing. + +In front of the store she found Mr. Sanders just leaving Ted. They were +both talking and laughing as if the acquaintance had proved highly +satisfactory, but it irritated Nancy. + +"Now, I suppose, _he'll_ come snooping around," she grumbled. "Well, +there's one thing certain, I'm not going to keep an old-fashioned +country store. No hanging around my cracker barrels," she told herself, +although there was not, and likely never would be a cracker barrel in +the Whatnot Shop. + +Once more left to themselves, the burnt dinner was not referred to, as +Ted helped at last to clear up the disordered kitchen. Not even the lost +potatoes came in for mention as brother and sister "made things fly," as +most belated workers find themselves obliged to do. + +"Here, Ted, get the broom." + +Ted grabbed the broom. + +"No, let me sweep. You empty those baskets of excelsior." + +"Where?" + +"Where?" + +"Yes. Can we burn it?" + +"No, never. No more fire for us," groaned Nancy. "Just dump the stuff +some where." + +"But we can't, Sis," objected Ted. "Mother 'specially said nothing could +be dumped around." + +"Well, do anything you like with it, but just get it out of the way," +and Nancy's excited broom made jabs and stabs at corners without quite +reaching them. + +Ted was much more methodical. He really would do things right, if only +Nancy would give him a chance. Just now he was carefully packing the +excelsior in a big clothes basket. + +"You know, Nan," he remarked, "Mr. Sanders is awfully funny." + +"How funny?" asked Nancy crisply. + +"Oh, he knows an awful lot." + +"He ought to, he's bald headed," answered Nancy, implying there-by that +Mr. Sanders was an old man and ought to be wise. + +"Is he?" asked Ted innocently. + +"For lands sake! Ted Brandon!" exclaimed Nancy. "Can't you think what +you're saying? Is he what?" + +The thread of the argument thus entirely lost, Ted just crammed away at +the excelsior. + +"I'm just dying to get at the store," said Nancy next. "I want to fix +that all up so that mother will buy more things to put in stock." + +"She's going to bring home fishing rods. I'm goin' to have a corner for +sport stuff, you know," Ted reminded the whirl-wind Nancy. + +"Oh, yes, of course, that's all right. But we'll have to see which +corner we can spare best. The store isn't any too big, is it?" + +"Big enough," agreed the affable boy. "And I'll bet, Nan, we'll have +heaps of sport around here this summer. There's fine fellows over by the +big hill. That's more of a summer place than this is, I guess." + +"Where does your friend Uncle Sam live?" + +"You mean Mr. Sanders. Why, he didn't say, but he went up the hill +toward that old stone place." + +"Yes. I wouldn't wonder but he would live in an old stone place," echoed +Nancy sarcastically. + +"Why, don't you like him?" + +"Like him?" + +"I mean--do you hate him?" laughed Ted. His basket was filled and he was +gathering up the loose ends of the splintered fibers upon a tin cover. + +"I don't like him and I don't hate him, but I do hope he won't come +snooping around _my_ store," returned Nancy. + +Teddy stopped short with a frying pan raised in mid air. He swung it at +an imaginary ball, then put it down in the still packed peach basket. + +"Now, Nan," he protested, "don't you go kickin' up any fuss about Mr. +Sanders. He always came around here; he's a great friend of the +Townsends." + +"Ted Brandon!" Nancy flirted the dust brush at the gas stove, "do you +think I am going to take all that with this store? Did we buy all the +Townsends' old--old cronies along with the Whatnot Shop?" + +"There's someone," Ted interrupted, as the store bell jangled timidly. + +"Oh, you go please, Ted," begged Nancy, who had glimpsed girls' skirts +without. "I'm too untidy to tend store this afternoon." + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + NEW FRIENDS + + +Nancy never looked as untidy as she really felt. In fact, she always +looked "interesting and human," as her friends might say, but she was +sensitive about the disorder she pretended to despise. Now, here were +those two girls! She simply could not go in the store as she looked. + +"You're all right," Ted insisted, as they both listened to the jangling +bell. "You look good in that yellow dress." + +"Good?" she took time to correct. "You mean--something else. And it +isn't yellow," she countered. "But please, Ted, you go. There's a dear. +I'll do something for you--" + +Ted started off dutifully. "But I won't know," he argued. + +"Run along, like a dear," whispered Nancy, for persons were now within +the store, she could easily hear them talking and could even see their +reflections in the little hall mirror. + +Ted went. He was such a good-natured boy, and Nancy was glad to notice +once more "so good-looking." + +After exchanging a few questions and answers with the girls in the +store, Ted was presently back again in the kitchen. + +"Blue silk!" he sort of hissed at Nancy. "They want--_blue silk_." + +"We haven't any. Tell them we're out of it." + +Ted went forth with a protest. + +A few seconds later he again confronted Nancy. + +"Blue _twist_ then. What ever on earth is blue _twist?_" + +"We haven't any!" Nancy told him sharply. "We're all out of sewing +stuff, except black and white." + +"Oh, you come on. They're just laughin' at me. It's your store. You go +ahead and 'tend it." Ted was on a strike now. He wasn't going to be that +kind of store keeper. Twist and silk! + +"But I'm so dirty," complained Nancy, brushing at her skirt and then +patting her disordered hair. She had been rushing around at a mad rate +since noon hour and naturally felt untidy. + +"Well, any how, go tell them," suggested Ted. "They're just girls like +you. You needn't worry about your looks." His eyes paid Nancy a decided +compliment with the careless speech. Evidently she was not the only one +who found good looks in the family. + +Out in the store the girls were waiting, and when she finally walked up +to them, Nancy was instantly at ease. + +"Oh, hello!" greeted the stouter one. She was genuinely pleasant and +Nancy at once liked her. "You're the girl we've been trying to meet. +This is Vera Johns and I'm Ruth Ashley. We live over on North Road and +we've been wanting to meet you." + +"I'm Nancy Brandon," replied Nancy pleasantly, "and I'm glad to meet +you, too. I was wondering if I would get acquainted away out here. Won't +you sit down? Here's a bench," brushing aside the papers. "It takes so +long to get things straightened out." + +The girls murmured their understanding of the moving problem, and after +Teddy had called out from the back door, that he was going "over to see +the fellows," all three girls settled down to chat. + +"Is it really your own store?" asked Ruth. She had reddish-brown hair, +gray eyes and the brightest smile. + +"Yes," replied Nancy. "Just a little summer experiment. You see, I +perfectly despise housework and mother believes I should learn something +practical. I just begged for a little country store. I've always been so +interested reading about them." + +"How quaint!" murmured Vera Johns. Her tone of voice seemed so affected +that Nancy glanced quickly at her. Was she fooling? Could any girl mean +so senseless a remark as "How quaint!" to Nancy's telling of her +practical experiment? + +"Do you mean," murmured Nancy, "why, just--how quaint?" + +"Yes, isn't it?" Vera again sort of lisped. At this Nancy was convinced. +Vera was that sort of girl. She would be apt to say any silly little +thing that had the fewest words in it. Just jerky little exclamations, +such as Nancy's mother had taught her to avoid as affectations. + +Vera's hair was of a toneless blonde hue, cut "classic" and plastered +down like that of an Egyptian slave. Her eyes, Nancy noticed were a +faded blue, and her form--Nancy hoped that she, being tall herself, did +not sag at all corners, as did Vera Johns. + +"I think it's a wonderful idea," chimed in Ruth, "to have a chance +really to try out business. Just as you say, Nancy, we learn to wash +doll dishes as soon as we can reach a kitchen chair. Then why shouldn't +we learn to make and count pennies as early as we possibly can?" + +"Do you hate housework too, Ruth?" Nancy asked, hoping for the joy of +finding a mutual understanding. "Are you also anxious to try business?" + +"I hate housework, abhor it," admitted Ruth, dimpling prettily, "but +mother says we just have to get used to it, so we won't know we're doing +it. You would be surprised, Nancy, how easy it is to wash dishes and +dream of babbling brooks." + +"Really!" That was Vera again. "I adore dishes, but I won't dream of +bobbling brooks, ever." + +"Bobbling," repeated Ruth. "That's good, Vera. I suppose they bobble +more than they babble. But I guess you're not much of a dreamer, Vera," +she finished, in a doubtful compliment. + +Nancy was amused. Ruth was going to be "good fun" and Vera was already +proving a pretty good joke. Their acquaintance was surely promising, and +Nancy responded fittingly. + +She had time to notice in detail each of these new friends. Ruth was +dimply and just fat enough to be happily plump. She also was +correspondingly sunny in her disposition. She wore her hair twisted into +three or four "Spring Maids" and it gave her the effect of short, curled +hair. Her summer dress was a simple blue ratine, and Nancy admired it +frankly. + +Vera was affected in manner, in style, in dress and every way. Her hair +was so arranged Nancy couldn't be sure just how it was done, but it +looked like a model in a hairdresser's window. Also, she wore, bound +around it a Roman ribbon, with a wonderful assortment of rainbow colors. +Her costume was sport, with a very fancy jacket and a light silk and +wool plaid skirt. That she had plenty of money was rather too obviously +apparent, and Nancy wondered just how she and Ruth were connected. + +They were inspecting the newly acquired little store. + +"And you are the manager, the proprietor--" + +"The clerk and the cashier," Nancy interrupted Ruth. "I've always loved +to play store, so now, mother says, she hopes I'll be satisfied. But +this is a very old-timey place. I don't see how the Townsends ever made +it pay." + +"Miss Townsend is a queer old lady," replied Ruth. "I guess of late +years they didn't have to worry about making things pay in the store." + +"Why Ruthie!" exclaimed Vera. "Don't you know every body says they went +bankrupt?" + +"Oh, that," laughed Ruth. "I guess Mr. Townsend lent out his money and +couldn't get it back handy." + +"But he and his sister had a perfectly desperate fight over it," +insisted Vera, eyes wide with curious interest. + +"Desperate," repeated Ruth, as if trying to give Nancy a cue to Vera's +queer vocabulary. "I can imagine their sort of desperate fight. Sister +Sarah would say to Brother Elmer: 'Elmer dear, you really can't mean a +thing like that,'" imitated Ruth, "and Brother Elmer would clasp and +unclasp his thin hands as he replied: 'I'm sorry, Sister Sarah, but it +looks that way.'" + +Ruth and Nancy laughed merrily as the little sketch ended. + +"That's about how desperate those two would fight," Ruth declared. + +"Then why did they sell out?" demanded Vera. "Every body knows they lost +everything." + +"We haven't actually bought the place," Nancy explained, "just have an +option on it. You see, we had to go to the country every summer, and +mother thought this might suit us. It is so convenient for her to +commute, and Ted and I can't get into a lot of mischief in a place like +this. So it seems, at least," she hastened to add. + +"Well, if you let your brother go around with that queer old fellow we +saw him with today, he may get into mischief," intimated Vera, +mysteriously, with a wag of her bobbed head. + +"Mr. Sanders? What's the matter with Mr. Sanders?" demanded Nancy, +rather sharply. + +"Oh talk, talk, and gossip," Ruth interposed. "Just because he sees fit +to keep his business to himself--" + +"You know perfectly well, Ruth, that is more than gossip," insisted +Vera. + +"What is? What's the mystery?" again demanded Nancy, dropping her box of +lead pencils rather suddenly. + +"Well," drawled Vera, getting up with a tantalizing deliberateness, "if +you were to see a person in front of you one minute and have him vanish +the next--" + +A peal of laughter from Nancy broke in rudely upon Vera's recitation. + +"All right," Vera added, in a hurt tone. "Don't believe me if you don't +want to, but just wait and see." + +"Disappearing Dick?" chanted Nancy gaily. "Do you mean to say he's one +of those so-called miracle men?" + +"Oh, no, nothing of the sort," protested Ruth. "But there is +something--different about him. A lot of people say he does disappear, +but of course, there's nothing uncanny about it. It's probably just +clever," Ruth tried to explain. + +"Rather," drawled Vera. + +And Nancy could not suppress an impolite but insistent chuckle. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + ORIGINAL PLANS + + +During the next half hour the girls busied themselves playing store. +Ruth was almost as keenly interested in the little place as was Nancy, +herself, but it was noticeable that Vera was more curious. She poked +into the farthest corners, even opening obscure little cubby-holes that +Nancy had not yet discovered. All the while they talked about the +Townsends and the mysterious Mr. Sanders, declaring that something +around the Whatnot Shop held the clue to the Townsend disagreement, and +Mr. Sanders' mysterious power of disappearing. + +"I think it's the funniest thing," ruminated Nancy, clapping the wrong +cover on the white thread box, "here we came away out here to be +peaceful, quiet and studious. Mother looked for a place just to keep Ted +and me busy, and then we run into a regular hornet's nest of rumors." + +"Don't you know," replied Ruth, "that still waters run deepest?" + +"But I didn't know we had to take on a whole Mother Goose set of fairy +tales with a little two cent shoe-string shop," protested Nancy. "Of +course it will serve me right if I get into an awful squall. My +rebellion against the long-loved house-work idea, is sure to get me into +some trouble, isn't it?" + +"Who doesn't rebel secretly?" admitted Ruth. "Isn't it fairer to up and +say so than to be always hoping the dishpan will spring a leak, and +dish-towels will blow away?" Ruth was making rapid strides in gaining +Nancy's affection. She was so unaffected, so frank, and so sensible. + +Vera wasn't saying much but she was poking a lot. Just now she was +fussing with some discarded and disabled toys. She held up a helpless +windmill. + +"Imagine!" she said, simply. + +"Well, what of it?" asked Ruth. "It was pretty--once!" + +"Pretty! As if anyone around here would ever buy a thing like that." + +"Let me see it," Nancy said. "I'm sure Ted would love 'a thing like +that.' He'd spend days tinkering with it." Nancy took the red and blue +tin toy and inspected it critically. As she wound a tiny key a little +bell tinkled. + +"Lovel-lee!" cried Ruth. "That's a merry wind. Or is it a tinkle-ly +wind? Anyway it's cute. Save it for the small brother, Nancy. And I +think he's awfully cute. Here's something else for his camp," she +offered, handing Nancy over a red, white and blue popgun. + +"Great!" declared Nancy. "Ted has been too busy to rummage yet, but he's +sure to be thrilled when he does go at it. Yes, I think Ted is cute, and +I hope the disappearing man won't cast a spell on him," she finished, +laughing at the idea, and meanwhile inspecting the toy windmill. + +"You can joke," warned Vera, "but my grandmother insists that what +everyone says must be true, and everyone says Baldy Sanders is +freakish." + +"Baldy," repeated Nancy gaily. "I noticed that. But he has enough of +eyes to make up for the lost hair. I never saw such merry twinkling +eyes." + +"Really!" Vera commented. "I never notice men's eyes." + +"Just their bald heads," teased Ruth. "Now Vera, if Mr. Sanders is a +professor, as some folks claim, and if he ever gets our class in +chemistry, I'm afraid you would just have to notice his merry, twinkling +eyes. Anyhow," and Ruth cocked up a faded little blue muslin pussy cat, +"he's merry, and that is in his favor. What are you doing with that +windmill, Nancy?" + +"Inspecting it. It's a queer kind of windmill. Look at the cross pieces +on top and this tin cup." + +All three girls gave their attention to the queer toy. It was, as Nancy +had said, different from the usual model. It had cross pieces on top +instead of on the side, and one piece was capped off with a metal cup. + +"I'll save it for Ted," Nancy concluded. "But I hope it isn't dangerous. +It takes boys to find out the worst of everything. Just before we moved, +most of our furniture is in storage you know," she put in to explain the +scarcity of things at the country place, "Ted went up to the attic and +found an old wooden gun. It would shoot peas, and what those boys didn't +shoot peas at wasn't worth mentioning. I'll put the freak windmill away +for him, though. It looks quite harmless." + +"Oh, I think it's just joyous to have a shop," exclaimed Ruth, "and if +you'll let me, Nancy, I'll come in and 'tend sometimes." + +"I'd love to have you," replied Nancy earnestly. "I did expect my chum, +Bonny Davis, to visit me, but she's gone down to the shore first. +Bonny's lots of fun. I'm sure you'd like her if she does come," declared +Nancy, loyally. + +"I like her name," Ruth answered. "What is it? Bonita?" + +"No, it's really Charlotte, but she's so black we've always called her +Bonny from ebony, you know. Now Vera, what have you discovered?" broke +off Nancy, looking over to the comer in which Vera was plainly +interested. "Anything spooky?" + +"Not spooky," replied Vera, "but I never saw such odd looking fishing +things. No wonder the Townsends went bankrupt. Here are boxes and boxes +of wires and weights, and I don't know what all. Oh, I'll tell you!" she +exclaimed, in a rare burst of enthusiasm. "Let's have a fishing sale?" + +"And sell fish!" teased Ruth. + +"No," objected Nancy, taking Vera's part. "I think a special sale of +fishing and sport supplies would be great. Let's see what we've got +toward it." + +"It would draw the boys and that's something," joked Ruth. "But I'll +tell you what, Nancy, you had better be careful what you try to sell to +the young fishermen around here. They're pretty particular and rather +good at the sport. I like to fish myself." + +"Oh, I'd love to," declared Nancy. "Where do you go?" + +"Dyke's pond and sometimes the old mill creek," replied Ruth. "But we +only get sunnies there. There's perch in the pond, though." + +This led to discussing the fishing prospects in brooks, ponds and other +waterways around Long Leigh, until it was being promptly decided that +Ruth and Vera should very soon introduce Nancy to the sport. The idea of +having a sale of the outfit at the shop was also entered upon +enthusiastically, until the afternoon was melting into shadows before +the girls realized it. + +"But what ever you do," Ruth cautioned Nancy, "don't let any one induce +you to take the Whatnot out of the window. That's the sign of this old +shop that's known for miles and miles." + +"I think a cute little windmill would be lots nicer," suggested Vera. +"That Whatnot is--atrocious." + +"Windmill!" repeated Ruth. "But we don't sell windmills." + +"Certainly not. Neither do we sell Whatnots," contended Vera. + +"But we sell the things that are on the Whatnot," argued Ruth. "And +besides Whatnot stands for _What Not!_" + +It was amusing Nancy to listen to their assumed partnership. They were +both talking about "_our_ shop" and insisting upon what "_we_ sell." +This established at once a comradeship among all three, and Nancy was +convinced that her own desire to go into business was not, after all, +very queer. Other girls, no doubt, shared it as well, but the difference +was--Nancy's mother. She was the "angel of the enterprise," as Nancy had +declared more than once. + +"And I'll tell you," confided Vera, quite surprisingly, "if you'll let +me, I'll help you with your housework. I don't mind it a bit, and you +hate it so." + +"Oh, that's just lovely of you, Vera," Nancy replied, while a sense of +fear seized her, "but I really must do some of it, you know. Even a good +store keeper should know how to cook a little," she pretended, vowing +that her house would be in some kind of order before Vera ever even got +a peek into the living rooms. + +When they were finally gone Nancy stood alone in the little store, too +excited to decide at once which way to turn. She liked the girls, +especially Ruth, and even Vera had her interesting features. At least +she said odd things in an odd way, and her drawl was "delicious," Nancy +admitted. Of course she was gossipy. There was all that nonsense about +Mr. Sanders. As if any human being could really disappear. Ted would +just howl at the idea, Nancy knew, and if the man were really a +professor of some sort, that ought to make him interesting, she +reflected. At any rate, he was, the girls had said, a friend of the +Townsends, and Nancy would make it her business to ask Miss Townsend +about him the very next time she came into the store. + +Her mind busy with such reflections, Nancy hooked the screen door, (the +shop was not yet supposed to be open for business) and turned toward the +upset kitchen. + +"I've just got to do something with it," she promised, "before mother +comes. I wish Ted would hurry along home. Of course, he's a boy and boys +don't have to worry about kitchens." + +Nevertheless, as Nancy dashed around she did make a real effort to +adjust the disordered room, for her pride was now prompting her. +Whatever would Vera Johns say to such a looking place? And was all this +fair to a mother so thoughtful and so good-natured as was Nancy's? + +"I begin right here at this door," she decided, feeling she had to begin +at a definite spot, "and I just straighten out every single thing from +here to the back door." + +Peach baskets idling with the odds and ends of packing, Ted's red +sweater, Nancy's blue one, Nancy's straw hat that she felt she must have +within reach and which therefore had been "parked" on the floor, safe, +however, under a big chair, and a paste-board box of books that she also +didn't want to lose track of, the portable phonograph cover, the +phonograph itself was reposing safely on the corner of the sink where +Ted had been trying a new record; all these and as many more +miscellaneous articles Nancy was briefly encountering in her general +clearing up plan "from one door to the other." + +But she forged on, the old broom doing heroic duty as a plough cutting +through the debris. Finally, having gotten most of the stuff into a +corner, she undertook to scatter it in a way peculiar to one with +business, rather than domestic, instincts. + +"I'll need the baskets, all of them, when I'm settling the store," she +promptly decided, "and I'll get Ted to put the box of books in there +too, so I can read while I'm waiting. Then the phonograph--That can go +in there just as well, it may draw customers." At this Nancy laughed, +but she picked up the little black box, it had been her birthday +present, and put it right on the small table under the old mantle in the +store. A phonograph in the store seemed attractive. + +"I guess we'll find the store handy for lots of things," Nancy was +thinking, for the difference in the size of their old home, and the +limits of this new one, was not easy to adjust. + +With a sort of flourish of the broom at the papers and bits of excelsior +that were still an eyesore about, Nancy at length managed to "make a +path," as she expressed it, through the kitchen. + +"And I'll gather some flowers to greet mother with," she insisted. +"There's no reason why we shouldn't make a pretty room of a kitchen like +this, with one, two, three, good sized windows," she counted. + +But the glorious bunch of early roses must have felt rather out of +place, trying to conserve their wondrous perfume from contamination with +the remains of a smudgy odor from burnt potatoes--which by-the-way, had +not yet come to light, not to say anything of the real fire smell of +burnt meat, that ran over from a pan-cake griddle into a seething gas +flame. + +"Oh, those flowers!" exhaled the triumphant Nancy, pushing the dishpan +away so as not to bend the longest stalk, which was brushed against it. +"Won't mother just love it here?" + +After all, is not the soul of the poet more valuable than the skill of a +prospective housewife? + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + FAIR PLAY + + +Mrs. Brandon was such a mother as one might readily imagine would be the +parent of Nancy and Ted. In the first place she was young, so young as +to be mistaken often for Nancy's big sister. Then she was lively, a real +chum with her two children, but more important than these qualities, +perhaps, was her sense of tolerance. + +Fair play, she called it, believing that the children would more surely +and more correctly learn from experience than from continuous preaching. +Perhaps this was due to her own experience. She had been a girl much +like Nancy. She had not inherited the so-called domestic instinct; no +more did Nancy. To that cause was ascribed Nancy's unusual disposition +toward business and her dislike for all kitchens. + +"Those roses!" she breathed deeply over the scented mass Nancy had +gathered. "Aren't they just um-um? Wonderful?" + +"I knew you would like them, mother," responded Nancy happily. "I'm +sorry we couldn't get things slicked up better today, but we were so +constantly interrupted." + +"You will be, Nan dear. It is always just like that when business runs +into housework." + +"Oh, but say, Mother," interrupted Ted. "It's just great here. There's +the best lot of boys. And we've got a camp, a regular brigand camp--" + +"Look out for mischief, Teddy boy," replied his mother fondly. "I want +you both to have a fine time, but a little mischief goes a long ways +toward spoiling things, you know," she warned, earnestly. + +"Oh, I know. I'll be careful. We won't have any real guns nor knives, +nor swords--" + +"Ted Brandon! I should hope not!" cried Nancy. "Real guns and swords and +knives, indeed! If you go out playing with that sort of ruffian--" + +"But they aren't. We don't have them. No real firearms at-all," +protested Ted. "And the boys are nice fellows." + +"But just imagine what I would do if you came in hurt. And mother away +and everything," reasoned Nancy foolishly, as if she enjoyed the +sensation. "It is not like it was when Anna was with us. Mother," Nancy +asked, "don't you really think we should have someone in Anna's place?" + +"No, girlie, I don't," promptly replied the mother, who was just taking +from the gas oven a deliciously broiled steak. "While we had Anna you +never had a chance to find out all the simple things that you didn't +know. Anna was an ideal maid, but maids are not educators and none of us +can learn without being given a chance. Ted, please get the ice water. +And I would try, Nancy, to have every meal, no matter how simple it is, +served either on the side porch or in the dining room," counselled Mrs. +Brandon. "Nothing so demoralizes us as upset kitchen meals." + +"Yes, mother, I know that," admitted Nancy, who, with her mother nearby +for inspection, was daintily arranging the salad. "As a matter of fact, +I lose things in the kitchen. Imagine losing the potatoes, pan and all!" + +A hearty laugh followed the recalling of Nancy's and Ted's dinner +disaster. But even to that accident Mrs. Brandon insisted that her +daughter was one of the girls who must learn by experience, so there +were no long arguments given to point out her weakness. + +"But Anna is coming back, isn't she?" Ted pleaded. A boy wants to be +sure of his meals in spite of all the educational processes necessary +for training obdurate sisters. + +"Yes, dear. I expect she will be back to us in the autumn, and I'm sure +she will be benefited by her vacation," said Mrs. Brandon. "Anna does +not really have to work now. The salary and light expenses of maids soon +place them in a position to retire, you know," she pointed out +practically. + +"And besides," chimed in Nancy, "it's lots of fun to live all alone for +the summer, at least. Why, if Anna were here she would be forever poking +in and out of the store, and really mother," Nancy's voice fell to a +very serious tone, "when I get things going, I intend to make _you_ take +a vacation. I'm going to make that store _pay_." + +"That's lovely, girlie," replied the mother, "and I'm sure you and Ted +are going to be wonderful little helpers. Now, come eat dinner. You must +be ravenous. Here, Nancy, carry along the beans with the butter. Make +each hand do its share to help out each foot, you know," she teased. + +"But I'm starved," declared Ted, making a rather risky dive for the +three dinner plates and hurrying into the little dining room with them. +"That ice cream was good while we were eating it, but it doesn't last +long, does it, Nan?" + +This brought up the story of Mr. Sanders' treat, and as her children +related it, each outdoing the other in vivid description and volumes of +parentheses, Mrs. Brandon listened with but few interruptions. When the +story was told, however, she gave her version of the gossip concerning +the stranger. + +"He is really a professor, I'm sure," she stated, "for Miss Townsend +told me that much. Of course professors can be as queer as other +folks--" + +"Queer?" interrupted Ted, holding his plate out for another new potato. + +"Yes, they are often odd," admitted his mother, smiling at the boy's +joke. "But then, too, we expect to depend upon their intelligence for +reasonable explanations." + +"Mother, anyone would know you were a librarian, the way you talk," said +Nancy. "I suppose we act booky too, only we can't realize it ourselves. +Ted, your knife is playing toboggan--" + +"I'm too starved to notice," said Ted. "Hope you won't lose the potatoes +and burn the meat again, Sis," he added, "I can't stand starvation." + +"I didn't do it, _we_ did it," insisted Nancy. "I'm sure we were both +getting dinner--" + +"But about Miss Townsend, dear," her mother forestalled their argument. +"Did she say she regretted agreeing to sell?" + +"No, mother; that's the queer part of it all," Nancy replied. They were +now settled at their meal and could chat happily. "She acted so +mysterious about everything. And you should see her little dog, Tiny, +sniff around! Honestly, I thought he'd sniff his little stumpy nose off +at the fireplace. By the way, mother, can't we have the old stove moved +out into the back storeroom? We don't want it standing around all summer +waiting for a blizzard next Christmas, do we?" + +"No. But I'm afraid we will have to put off that sort of work until my +vacation, Nancy. You must remember, dear, we have only agreed to let you +run the little store practically as it is, to sell out Miss Townsend's +stuff and to give you some experience." + +"Oh, yes. I know," said Nancy a little ruefully. "But mother--" she +hesitated. Then began again, "Mother, I simply can't have the girls come +in and have things so upset, and I won't, positively won't have Miss +Townsend fussing around--" + +"You can't be rude to her, Nan," the mother said rather decidedly. "And, +after all, there is nothing here she doesn't know about." + +"Well, there seems to be," sighed Nancy, "or else what did she start +right in to search for? And the very first time she met me, too." + +"Perhaps her brother lost some papers, or something like that," +suggested Mrs. Brandon. "I _do_ know he is a little odd in his manner." + +"But if it were only that she wouldn't need to act so mysteriously about +it, would she, mother?" + +"And the dog," put in Ted. "He couldn't know about papers, could he? +Dogs are awfully wise, I know that much, and I'm going to get one--" + +Paying no attention to Ted's last sentence, Nancy continued to deplore +Miss Townsend's threat of more visits to her shop. + +"And the girls, that is Vera, said that she and her brother had a +quarrel about the place before they left," Nancy continued. "Vera is +talkative, but I could see myself that Miss Townsend was awfully unhappy +about something." + +"Yes," snapped Ted, again allowing his fork to rest in the prohibited +sliding position from his plate, "and she's the one who talks about Mr. +Sanders, too. That girl Veera--" + +"Vera, Ted. Just like very," said Nancy critically. + +"Yeah," groaned Ted. "Just like scary, too. That's what she is, scary. +And the fellows say Mr. Sanders is a first-rate scout, a real scout. +They say he's even a scoutmaster--" + +"Did they say anything about his habit of disappearing?" asked Nancy, +quizzically. + +"Now, Nan. You know very well that isn't so. It couldn't be. How could +any one dis-sa-peer?" inquired Ted, emphatically. + +"That wasn't the question, brother," insisted Nancy. "I just asked you +if the boys spoke of his reputation as Disappearing Dick?" + +This was too much for Ted, and again his mother was forced to intervene. + +"Anyway," the boy managed to interject, "if they did say something about +it they didn't say he was a spook, like your old Very-scary girl told +it." + +"Ted Brandon! Nothing about spooks! We never even mentioned them, that I +remember. But they said that Mr. Sanders lived somewhere around here but +no one knew where, that he went right up the hill to the stone house and +never went in the house nor in the barn nor anyplace but just +disappeared," rattled off Nancy. + +"Why daughter!" protested Mrs. Brandon, "how perfectly absurd. I'm +surprised that you should listen to such truck." + +"But of course I don't believe it, Mother, it's just funny, that's all," +explained Nancy, who had begun to carry the dishes to the kitchen quite +as if she just loved to do it. + +According to their new schedule, both Ted and Nancy were expected to do +their part in the clearing of the table, and washing the dishes, and as +this was a beautiful summer evening, the children "fell to" very +promptly. + +"It's too lovely to stay inside," remarked Nancy. "You'll come out with +us, won't you Mother? There's heaps of things you haven't yet had a +chance to see around here," she pleaded. + +"But we really must get things in order," declared the mother. "You and +Ted hurry along with your work--Ted will dry and you wash tonight, +Nancy, and meanwhile I'll sort of dig in--" + +"Mother! You can't. You have just got to have your evenings free," +protested Nancy. "You need lots of fresh air out here--" + +"I know, dear, but after all we are just ordinary mortals and we must +live as such. That means--civilization, around here," laughed Mrs. +Brandon, who was already "digging in." + +"I'll put these pans away first." She paused. "Whatever is this? I do +declare, children, here are your lost potatoes, packed away in among the +empty pans. Now, who could have done that?" + +"Ted did," replied Nancy. "He was sorting the tins. But Mother," she +said, in a grieved tone, "I know I did waste a lot of time today." + +Nancy was carrying out a tray but she had stopped abruptly. No +punishment could be greater to her than the loss of a summer evening out +of doors, except it was her mother's loss of that self-same evening. + +"I'm so sorry," she sighed. "I know I did idle my time today, Mother +dear, but I can't bear to have you--pay for it." + +"Nonsense, dear, I don't mind. Really the exercise will do me good," +insisted Mrs. Brandon. "Just attend to the dishes and you won't know +these quarters presently. I'm glad we found the potatoes," she said, but +Nancy was now too serious to joke. + +A call from the side porch checked their argument. It was Ruth calling +to Nancy. + +"Come along!" she shrilled through the screen door. "There's going to be +a band concert--" + +"Oh, I can't, Ruth," Nancy called back. "I must do--" + +"You _must_ go, dear," interrupted her mother. + +At this Ruth came in to wait. Ted was already off--he did not need to be +coaxed to give up his task, and when dishes were not being washed surely +they could not be dried. + +But Nancy felt guilty. In fact the band concert, novelty though it was, +with firemen and a baseball team making up the "scrambled" programme, +was not loud enough to still the voice of regret. + +"I can't bear to think of mother doing, now on this beautiful evening, +what I should have done today," she confided to Ruth, as they waited +between numbers. + +"I'll help you tomorrow," offered Ruth kindly. "And I won't bring Vera. +She's rather critical--" + +"I'll be up at daybreak," resolved Nancy, really determined now to get +the little country home in order. + +A band concert in Long Leigh was plainly an important event, and the +numbers of persons crowding about the band-stand on the village green +attested hearty appreciation for the musical efforts. The firemen, +however, seemed to draw out the heaviest applause, but that was because +old Jake Jacobs, the best piccolo player around, had been training them. +Still, there was Pete Van Riper, the drummer on the baseball side of the +platform. He certainly could drum, and the small boys around kept +calling to him in baseball parlance such encouragements as "Make it a +homer, Pete! Hug the mat! Hit her hard!" and such outfield coaching. + +Ruth had met a number of her friends and some she introduced to Nancy, +but the concert was spoiled for Nancy. She could see and actually feel +her mother working in that little country place to which she had come, +just to give Ted and Nancy a happy vacation. + +When her worry was becoming so keen that she felt she must ask Ruth to +go home with her, there pushed into the crowd an old man in a +broad-brimmed straw hat, although the sun was well out of all mischief. + +"Look!" whispered Ruth. "There's Mr. Townsend! And that's Mr. +Sanders--with him!" + +Just then the two men stepped over to the little mound where the girls +were. They did not see the girls, but Mr. Sanders drew Mr. Townsend to a +sudden stop in a space directly in front of Nancy and Ruth. + +"I tell you, Sanders," Mr. Townsend said, in a voice not at all suitable +for his surroundings, "the whole town is talkin'. They say all kinds of +things and you had better out with the whole thing." + +Mr. Sanders laughed as if he enjoyed the joke. + +"Keep cool, keep cool, friend," he said. + +But Mr. Townsend was by no means keeping cool, and he said so, sharply. + +"And I've left my home, got my sister on her ear, made a poor man's name +for myself--" + +Mr. Sanders grasped his arm with a sudden movement, perfectly evident to +the astounded girls. + +"When you are tired of your bargain, Elmer Townsend," he said, "just let +me know." + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE SPECIAL SALE + + +They had worked like slaves, according to Nancy, while Ted insisted he +was too tired even to eat. + +"But it's going to be a grand success," promised Ruth. "I can hardly +wait until morning for the doors to open." + +"Sale now going on!" chanted Isabel, a friend of Ruth's, who had come in +to help. "Ladies and gentlemen! Step this way for your fish lines!" she +called out, testing the possibilities of the next day's special sale. +"Here's where you get your fish-hooks that never slip, and your tackle +that always tacks, and as for sinkers--" + +"You'll sink, first shot," Ruth interrupted, from her perch on the +stepladder, where she was waving a Japanese lantern as if that flimsy +article had anything to do with fishing tackle. + +"Oh say! Look here! Who took my best reel?" cried Ted. "I want that for +myself. It was in a dollar box--" + +"Then it's got to be sold," called back Nancy. She was sitting on the +counter counting fish lines, a dozen to each box. + +"Sold nothing!" retorted Ted. "I'd like to know why I can't have the +best--" + +"You can, Teddy dear," Ruth told him. "You have been a perfect lamb to +help us all afternoon, and I never did see two legs do more trotting +than yours have done since Nancy locked the front doors and put us all +to work like prisoners. You may certainly have the reel, and there's a +wonderful pole back of the empty cigar boxes--there on that first shelf. +See it? It's in a gray case--" + +"Ruth Ashley! Whose store is this?" Nancy pretended to be very severe +but her jolly little laugh filtered through the words in giggles and +titters. "If you are going to give things away, why not start in with +the perishables? There's a basket of apples, Ted himself bought out of +the general fund, and unless they can be sold as bait, I don't see what +we're going to do with them." She had counted out all the fish lines and +was resting against the old-time candy glass case, now neatly filled +with post cards and stationery supplies. + +They had had a merry time getting the Whatnot Shop ready for the first +special sale, and girl-like, had expended a lot of energy upon pretty +effects in the arrangements of articles. Mrs. Brandon "chipped in" as +Ted expressed it, and Nancy was able to supplement her stock +considerably. She had also made a very attractive poster for the big +front window, in fact, it was so attractive that Ruth put another sign +right alongside of it which stated: + + This poster, handmade, for sale + Price $2.00 + +"We always sell our charity posters," she insisted, "and they are never +as pretty as this. Just look at that fish. What is he, Nancy? A cat-fish +or a pickerel?" + +"I'm totally ignorant of the varieties," replied Nancy grandly. "But I +like the flecks on his back so I made him up flecked." + +"The fellows will be here awfully early," Ted warned the girls, "so you +better be ready to sell, quick as the door's opened." + +"We'll be here," sang out Ruth. "And Ted, be sure to tell them this is a +strictly cash sale. No charging and no refunds. If you buy a fish pole +and find it's a curtain rod you've got to go fishing with the curtain +rod. Nancy, here's those fancy little colored bags to fool the poor fish +with. Where do you want them put? Some place very safe, for they're +easily broken, you know," Ruth cautioned. + +"Right here in the show case," Nancy directed. "They're too cute to be +stuck away on a shelf. Ted, you better run off and have some fun. I +don't want mother to think we've been stunting your growth. You know how +particular she is about exercise." + +"Exercise!" repeated Isabel. "As if the poor child hasn't been +stretching every muscle to its utmost all afternoon. Take my advice, +Ted, and lie down. I'll make an ice bag out of an old bathing cap--" + +But Ted was not waiting to hear Isabel's kind, if foolish, offer. His +merry shout as he rounded the corner, however, spoke decidedly against +ice bags as well as couches. + +"Let's quit," suggested Nancy. "Honestly girls, I thought housework was +tedious, but I can't see much difference. I believe I'll be winding fish +lines all night, I've got them tangled in my brain." + +"Then you're the one for the ice bags," pronounced Isabel. "I love to +make them and I love to put them on pretty heads. Here Ruth, let's put +her on the couch. I think she looks a bit feverish." + +Kicking and protesting Nancy was forced to get down from "her perch," +and stretch out on the little leather couch in a favorite corner of the +sun porch. Then, while Ruth literally held her there, Isabel cracked +ice, put it in a green rubber bathing cap, that leaked like a sieve, +tied it up most imperfectly, and presently clapped it on Nancy's head. + +"Oh, please! It's leaking! I'm all wet. Isabel, you're freezing my--my +thinker!" yelled Nancy, as she struggled to free herself from her +playful companions. + +"That's the idea," replied Isabel. "We've got to freeze your thinker to +make you forget your fish lines. Here now, dearie," she mocked "lie +perfectly still--" + +"You're spoiling my pretty new gown," yelled Nancy, referring to the +oldest and most faded gown she could find that morning, in preparation +for the extra work. + +But Isabel held the bag in the general direction of Nancy's forehead, +while little icy cold streams tinkled down her neck and into her ears. +Ruth served as body guard, and almost kept Nancy on the couch, her feet, +arms, and other "loose ends" hanging over untidily. + +The store bell was jerked suddenly and violently. + +"Oh me, oh my!" groaned Nancy, jumping up so as to smash the ice bag to +the floor, cut its string loose and send the remaining chunks of ice +flying. "I can't go. Ruth, will you--" + +"Love to," chanted Ruth, starting off promptly. + +"Look at the puddle," bewailed Isabel, but Nancy interrupted her. + +"No one, simply no one can come in to-day. Do run out, Belle and +restrain Ruth. Just listen to her sweetest tones--" + +Isabel went. She liked to "'tend store" and each possible customer +represented to her, as well as to Ruth, a possible adventure. + +"No, I'm not the proprietor," Nancy heard Ruth saying. + +"No, she really can't see you," was Isabel's contribution. + +A man's voice, full, rich, persuasive, was speaking in so low a tone +that his words did not convey meaning to the listening Nancy. + +She listened! She crept nearer, and finally realizing that both Ruth and +Isabel were not being able to dismiss the stranger, she attempted to +right her rumpled self, to pat the unruly hair into place, and not +knowing that her forehead looked like a beefsteak from the ice freeze, +she sauntered out into the store. + +"This is Miss Brandon," announced Ruth as she entered. "She is the +proprietor." + +Nancy found herself in the presence of a very important looking young +man. His Panama hat was on the counter, his suitcase was on the floor, +and he stood in the most attentive, courteous attitude, bowing as if she +were meeting him in a reception room. + +"I've heard of your store, Miss Brandon," he said. "In fact, its fame +has travelled far and wide, and I'm here representing a Boston firm of +sporting goods. I would like you to see--" + +"Really," faltered Nancy, "this is only sort of a play store. We are +doing it for a vacation experience." + +"Exactly the thing," insisted the young man, who was not polite to the +point of affectation but simply polite as a gentleman. "I know this +territory pretty well, and you will possibly be surprised at the class +of customers who will, doubtless, seek you out. The motor people come +along here from Gretna Lake. There's good fishing on that lake, and +fishing supplies have a way of giving out suddenly when the +inexperienced handle them. If you will let me--" he was tackling the +suitcase. + +"But you see," protested Nancy, much embarrassed, "I really have no +authority to--buy. Mother is not here--" + +"You assume no obligation," insisted the man. "As this is your store we +are glad, in fact anxious, to leave you a sample line. If you sell them +you make a very fair commission, if you do not I pick them up and try +something else on my next trip." + +He opened the case, and presently was displaying a bewildering line of +such fishing tackle and general sport supplies as Nancy had never +dreamed of. Ruth and Isabel were fascinated. They suggested, in spite of +their better judgment, that Nancy stock up with the pretty little trout +flies, the feathery kind tied to fish hooks. Then Ruth thought they +ought to have at least one box of the dry flies, the sort that floats +without the hook, and before they knew it the salesman had deposited +upon the counter, goods worth so much money, that Nancy could only gasp +at the transaction. + +"But I haven't any place--" + +"This little case, if I may suggest," said the salesman, "is admirably +suited. You could move your cards to the far end, couldn't you?" + +"Oh, yes," chimed in Ruth, "and Nancy, just see the lovely window card!" +She was holding up a big folder that had been neatly packed in, folded +in sections, within the suitcase. "Why, it will be wonderful to have +such goods, and I'm sure the summer folks from Breakneck Hill will just +buy us out as soon as they hear we have such splendid stuff." + +"I think you are right," replied the salesman. "But as you seem +doubtful, Miss Brandon, I'll return later and talk with your mother, if +you wish." + +Nancy considered quickly. Her mother should not be annoyed with such +details; also, the special sale was to be a matter left entirely with +the girls and Ted. He was claiming and entitled to a share in certain +articles. So she answered: + +"I don't think that will be necessary. Mother won't object, I guess, if +I don't have to sign anything--" + +"Nothing whatever," she was assured. + +"But how did you find out about us?" asked Isabel. "This is such a tiny +store and it is on the back road, really." + +"The tiny store on the back road with the quaint name Whatnot Shop is +more attractive than a big public place," replied the salesman. He had +handed Nancy his card and she saw that his name was W. S. Webster. "As a +matter of fact, one of our firm was passing here in his car, and he left +me the memorandum. But I've heard of the special sale of fishing tackle +out on the Long Leigh road from perhaps a half dozen persons." + +The girls gasped, simultaneously. They were overwhelmed. If their fame +had thus travelled afar, what would the day of the sale bring them? + +"Very well," stammered Nancy, trying once again to keep her wet dress +out from her neck while she worried over the effect of that besprinkled +garment. "I'll be glad to do what I can with the goods, but really, I +had no idea of going in for such, such important articles." + +"If you will let me say so," remarked Mr. Webster in a gentlemanly way, +"I think you girls have the right idea. So many putter around with art +stuff these days, that they don't realize the big chances they are +missing in business. Some of America's brainiest women are heads of our +wholesale firms, and they make more money than movie queens," he +finished pleasantly. + +When he was finally gone and the door well bolted this time, the three +girls joined hands and danced around like a kindergarten class. + +"Me for the movie queen!" sang out Isabel. "You, Nance and Ruthie, can +sell fish hooks. Just watch this pose and see if I couldn't pass in a +beauty contest--" + +There was a racket, a very noisy one, at the side door. + +"It's Ted!" exclaimed Nancy, apprehensively. + +"And he's got a crowd with him." + +"They can't come in," Nancy declared. "We are not going to show goods or +take any advance orders." + +"Oh me, oh my!" cried Ruth. "No wonder the fine looking drummer said +that the brainiest girls in America were in business." + +"He didn't," contradicted Nancy. "He said women." + +"Very well, Nancy. Just you wait. Go sit down on a big stump in the +woods and wait. By and by you'll be a woman." + +Then, in spite of all their eloquence, in marched Ted heading a parade +of the "fellers." And what could Nancy do but show them the +arrangements. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + FISH HOOKS AND FLOATERS + + +"Mother! Are you awake?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"There's someone knocking--" + +"I'm getting up." + +The knocking continued. + +"Hey there, Nan!" called out Ted. "Get up and answer that noise. See +what your old sale did! Wake us all up--" + +"Ted, hush! Be quiet, Mother's going down--" + +"You ought to go. It's your bargain day." + +As usual Ted was charging Nancy with delinquency. He wasn't really +quarreling, but just talking, as Nancy defined it. Mrs. Brandon had been +dressing when the early knock first sounded, so that she was able to get +down stairs almost directly afterward. + +A dread, a sort of feeling that something might happen in regard to that +expensive outlay of goods left by the travelling salesman, seized Nancy. +She crept to the top of the stairs to listen, but all she could hear was +a man's voice; his words were lost behind the closed doors. + +She ventured down to the second landing. Her mother was chatting +pleasantly with whoever the early visitor might be, and at the sound +Nancy's spirits rose. + +"He's no collector," she decided, turning quickly back to her room and +starting at once to dress. She must be ready early. All signs pointed to +an early patronage, and although Ted had declared he would be up at +daybreak, it was all right, Nancy concluded, for him to sleep until +seven o'clock. + +Her mother was calling in a subdued voice. + +"Nancy, I'll get breakfast now, as I hear you stirring," she said. "I +want to leave things ready for your lunch today, so I came down early." + +"All right, Mother," Nancy replied over the balustrade. "I'll be down +soon. Who called?" + +"Is Ted awake?" Mrs. Brandon was still restraining her voice. + +"He was, but he isn't," half whispered Nancy. "Wait, I'll run down and +help, then come up and dress later--" + +Curiosity was too much for Nancy's patience, so she merely tucked her +hair tidily into a cap, and in slippers and robe joined her mother who +was preparing breakfast. + +"Who was it?" she asked breathlessly. + +"Why, your famous Mr. Sanders," replied Mrs. Brandon, indifferently. "He +wanted a little model of some sort, a windmill, it looked like. I +happened to spy it--" + +"The funny little windmill!" Nancy exclaimed. "Why, we were wondering +what that was. Did he say it was a model?" + +"Not exactly, but I judged it was. At any rate, dear, you mustn't always +be looking for mystery in Mr. Sanders' doings. I would call him a very +pleasant gentleman. Here, dear, stir this cereal. I want you and Ted to +make sure you get enough proper food." + +Nancy stirred the meal, which was receiving a preliminary start before +being put over the hot water in the double-cooker. + +"But you see, Mum," she remarked very quietly, "he is queer. Whatever +could he want a thing like that for? And why did he come for it so +early?" Nancy asked. + +"He wanted it because it has something to do with his line, is the way +he expressed it, and he came early because he has been away and just +heard of your sale. If he waited later, he explained, the little +windmill might have been swept away in the tumult," Mrs. Brandon +replied. This seemed to satisfy Nancy's inquiries, but secretly Mrs. +Brandon herself was just a little puzzled about Mr. Sanders. For +instance, it had been very clear to her that he just laughed off, rather +than explained, the purpose of the possible model. Something "in his +line," which he had forgotten to take away when the Townsends moved, +seemed vague, to say the least. + +Nancy was now eating her breakfast with her mother. She confessed to +having waked more than once during the night, in anticipation of the big +day. + +"And I'm going to send you a little surprise treat for lunch," her +mother confided. "I want you and the girls to enjoy yourselves in spite +of your self-imposed business tasks, so I'm sending out some--ice +cream!" + +"Oh, Mumsey--love!" exclaimed Nancy, jumping up and in giving her mother +a bear hug almost spilling the last spoonful of grape fruit. "Aren't you +too ducky! We'll have a regular party, and I'll ask--How many have you +ordered for?" she demanded abruptly. + +"Two quart bricks. That's counted twelve servings," replied her mother. +"Of course, one brick is for Ted, and you must help him a little." + +"Of course, Mumsey-love," promised Nancy. "We'll get every body out and +close up shop from one until two, and have a regular party!" + +From that time until Nancy was almost, but not quite, ready "for the +fray," as she expressed it, she kept herself in a flutter of excitement. +Her mother went into town as usual on the seven forty-five trolley, and +even then there was a waiting list at the front door of the shop, +children peering in the two broad windows which looked out onto the +old-fashioned long porch. + +"Come on, Ted, hurry-up," begged Nancy as her brother tarried over his +breakfast. "The girls won't be here until eight, and you've got to go +outside and try to keep those boys quiet. They'll be coming through the +window if you don't." + +"Oh, that's Buster, making all that racket," declared Ted, getting +another look at the paper which he was not supposed to read at the +table. "I'll go out and talk to them, in a minute," he promised +laconically. + +"Please do, then," begged his sister. "You take it as easy as if we +didn't have a big responsibility." + +"What responsibility?" he asked, actually deciding to move his plump +little self from the table. "I can't see what you're all so excited +about." + +"Of course you can't. But I'll tell you. Everybody, for miles and miles, +knows about this sale, and we've got to get busy." Nancy was peering +anxiously out of the side window. "I do hope," she said again, "that the +girls will get here soon." + +"Is that Very-scary girl coming?" asked Ted. He was trying to set his +blouse straight around his sun-burned neck. + +"You mean Vera. She's gone away for a while--" + +"I hope she stays away," snapped Ted. "I can't seem to like her--" + +"I'm sure that's too bad," mocked Nancy. "She would feel dreadfully bad +to hear that." + +"Oh, don't be funny. Listen! They're hammering on the door. You had +better open it or they'll break the glass," cautioned the boy. + +"Dear me, Ted," exclaimed the excited Nancy, "I can't go; perhaps you +had better open it. Why didn't you fix up a little," she argued, looking +critically at the usual vacation boy. "You might at least have put on a +white blouse." + +"To sell fish hooks?" roared Ted. "That's a grand idea. Why, Nan, the +fellows would think I was giving a party--" + +The noise at the front of the store was now becoming so insistent that +both brother and sister found it imperative to respond. + +"Come on," said Nancy, sighing rather miserably. "We may as well face +it. But don't let them back of the rope. We can't wait on more than a +few at a time." + +At that Nancy and Ted entered the store. + +"Look--at--them!" gasped Ted. + +Faces were pressed against the windows, the door, against every inch of +outside space that could command a view of inside the store, and they +looked so funny, the flat noses, the white spots on cheeks, the opened +mouths, humping against the glass! + +"Hello! Hello!" shouted Ted as Nancy fumbled with the door lock. "What +do you think this is? A circus?" + +Then, as Nancy opened the door, there was the unavoidable falling in! + +"Please!" she begged. But the boys seemed actually massed as for some +game. + +"Hey there!" urged Ted. "Whoever doesn't behave can't get waited on +a-tall!" + +But his words had no effect upon the eager urchins. + +"I want that rod over there!" shouted Rory Jennings. He was tall, big +and noisy. + +"That's mine--that beaut in the window," insisted another. Ted called +him Shedder, or something that sounded like that. + +"Hey, please, missus please," begged a lad so freckled Nancy couldn't +see anything else but freckles. "Please missus," he entreated, "couldn't +you just hand me over that crab net? That's all I want." + +"Hey there! Stop crowdin'," ordered a boy who was using all his strength +to make matters worse. "She can't wait on us if you don't give her a +chanst." + +There were easily twenty-five or thirty youngsters in the crowd, and +Nancy felt quite helpless to supply all their wants at once. The fact +that goods were offered at the very lowest figure possible, that a +twenty-five cent ball of fish line was marked ten cents, of course, +accounted for the rush. Many boys could get hold of a dime, but a +quarter was not so easy to pick up, it seemed. + +Then, too, the advertising, one boy telling the other, had done much to +make the sale known; hence the early morning rush. + +"Now don't muss everything up!" ordered Ted, for a group of boys had +laid hold of the fish-hook box, and it was impossible for Nancy to get +it back. + +"You must not take things away from the counter," she protested, for at +that moment the box of sinkers was being carted off to the door, by Jud +Morgan and Than Beach. They said they only wanted to pick out a couple +where there was more room, but it was plainly a risky way to make their +selection. + +"Dear me!" sighed Nancy to Ted. "Please look out and see if the girls +are coming. These boys will have everything upset--" + +But the girls were coming, in fact they were just then elbowing their +way in from the front door. + +"Hello--hello--hello!" called out Ruth joyfully. "Isn't this grand! +Going to buy us out first thing--" + +"Oh, land sakes!" wailed Nancy. "I've been in here fifteen minutes and I +haven't sold a stick. We should have charged admission." + +Isabel looked on rather importantly. Evidently she knew or thought she +knew how to handle a crowd of boys. + +"You've got to get in line!" she announced. + +A laugh, a whole series of laughs was her answer. + +"Do you hear me?" she insisted, raising her voice to suit the occasion. + +"Sure, we hear you. Want us to clap?" answered impudent Sammy Larkins. + +"Now see here," Ruth attempted to order. "If you boys really want to buy +anything you have got to stand back and take turns--" + +No sooner had that order been given than everybody made a dash for the +first place in line, and the tumult that followed all but drove Nancy +under the counter. + +"Say, look here! Want us to put you all out?" demanded Ted, in unassumed +indignation. + +"Try it!" tempted Buster, pretending to roll up sleeves he didn't have. + +"But don't you want to see the things?" cried out Ruth in desperation, +for those boys were tumbling around the floor and actually fighting, at +least they made that kind of noise, it seemed to the girls. + +"Su-ure!" came a chorus. + +Then Nancy had an inspiration. She got up on the high stool that stood +by what used to be Miss Townsend's desk and she immediately commanded +attention. + +"I'll tell you," she began, "if you all sit down on the floor just where +you are, the window sills or any place, I'll tell you about some of the +most interesting things we've got here. They are not for sale, but they +belonged to a sea captain--" + +The magic word had the desired effect. At the word "sea captain" that +crowd of boys, dropped "in their traces," and it was then Nancy's duty +to unfold to them some wondrous tale. + +For boys like a story--when it's about a sea captain even if they are +out to buy bargain fishing tackle. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE BIG DAY + + +As Ted said afterwards: "It was some story!" + +Nancy stood there on the stool, dangling an old rusty knife which she +had just spied among the box of unclassified articles, and she told +those boys a yarn, a regular old salt-yarn, which she frankly admitted +was pure fiction. + +But how they listened! As Ruth expressed it: "How _hard_ they listened!" + +No more jostling, nor pushing nor underhand squabbling. Every boy among +them wanted to hear all that story, and consequently he was taking no +chances on missing any of it. + +"And when the old sea captain looked into the poor half-frozen face of +that baby he had picked up, lashed to an icy--an icy plank," Nancy +trilled, becoming so interested in her subject she almost forgot the +make up of it, "then he remembered," she went on, "the big Newfoundland +dog, Jack, who had fallen back into the sea exhausted from his long +swim." + +She stopped. The boys said "Gosh," and "Gee Whiz." Buster said "Jingo!" +and there were probably many other subdued and impulsive exclamations of +the crisp boyish variety. + +One little fellow who was sniffing audibly, piped up a question over +Than's shoulder. + +"Say miss," he said. "Say Miss--Nancy," he corrected himself, "could a +feller buy that there knife?" + +"Why," flushed Nancy, "the knife hasn't anything to do with the story--" + +"Naw!" came a chorus. "'Course not!" + +"It was a corkin' good story," applauded Nort Duncan, clapping grimy +hands. + +"But you said the ole captain cut the ropes with a rusty knife--" the +little fellow insisted. + +"Now look here, boys," called out Ruth suddenly. "You are all settled +down, nice, quiet and orderly. Suppose we begin to see what you want to +buy. There are three of us to serve you, and if we divide you up in +three groups, I'm sure we can give every single one of you the biggest +bargain you ever got in fishing tackle." + +After that, something like order prevailed, for most boys are not devoid +of a sense of honor, not by any means, and surely after Nancy's story +they owed her attention and politeness. + +Ted helped. He was able to hand out the poles and took pride in doing +so. They were, most of them, nice shiny, new bamboo canes, and it didn't +matter how long it took him to please a customer. In one hour, however, +he had sold ten at fifty cents, five at seventy-five cents and two at a +dollar each. Ted was delighted, and secretly agreed with Nancy that +"business was the thing." + +Meanwhile the girls were busy, and happy. Ruth had taken charge of the +sinkers and hooks. Isabel was having a fine time with the crab nets and +fancy reels, the nickel kind with the stem winders, while Nancy acted as +general supervisor and director of the entire stock. + +Things were going merrily and few disagreements marred the proceedings +(not to count the scooping up of fellows' caps in trying out crab nets, +or the occasional protest from someone who would resent being poked with +new fish poles), when there appeared at the door a very pleasant +looking, in fact a very "good-looking" young girl. + +"That's Sanders' girl," said a boy into Nancy's ear. "You know the +feller that--disappears," he hurried to explain. + +Nancy had neither time nor opportunity to ask questions so she turned to +meet the very blue eyes of the young girl in question. + +"Don't let me interrupt you," said the stranger. "I can wait," and she +stepped aside to let Tom Preston get change from a precious one dollar +bill. + +Nancy noticed that the young lady had all the known signs of college +life. She wore a worsted tam o' shanter (in summer), she also wore a +sweater to match, with a tan golf skirt and--heavy stockings, ending in +good, strong, walking Oxfords. If these signs were not collegian, +thought Nancy, then the girl must be an actress which she obviously was +not. + +But she had so much personality, that was it, Nancy promptly decided +while still counting out change for eager boys. Also, Nancy reasoned, +she had such pronounced individuality, that one did not observe +separately her brown hair, her blue eyes and her lustrous, fine healthy +skin. She just looked perfect, at least to Nancy, who always loved the +athletic type. + +"Sanders' girl!" Nancy was thinking. She didn't know he had a daughter, +but the girl looked like him, especially around her firm, determined +mouth. + +Ruth left her boys and was now offering to wait on Miss Sanders. + +"I'm Sibyl Sanders, you know," she told Ruth, "and I just dropped in to +see if I couldn't pick up something for dad." + +"We're having quite a sale," replied Ruth pleasantly. "When things thin +out a little I should like to introduce you to Nancy Brandon. This is +her idea of a vacation," Ruth added quizzically. + +"Isn't it splendid?" replied Sibyl, brightening with enthusiasm. "I just +ran up to Long Leigh to see dad. He insists upon spending a lot of time +up here," she continued, "and I feel I must look after him a little. I +wonder if you have any pieces of wire or light springs, around? He has +use for that sort of material." + +"Wire, springs!" Nancy heard the request and a joke, that the +disappearing man might slide away on wires and springs, flashed +humorously through her mind. But again she found no chance even to +whisper the joke to Isabel, for there were still boys demanding change. + +In the course of an hour, however, the youngsters were all "cleared +out." Their wants had been supplied, and the girls, with Sibyl, were +chatting away about the first results of the sale. + +"If they don't go trying things out and then want us to change them," +worried Nancy. "I told them positively we would exchange just absolutely +not--a--thing," she declared, most emphatically. + +"Let's see how much we took in," suggested Isabel. "I had no idea that a +lot of small money could be so fascinating." + +"Indeed it is," Sibyl rejoined. "I've had experience at college sales, +and it always seemed to me the peanut money was the most interesting to +handle." + +This brought on some talk of her college, for just as Nancy had guessed, +she was a college girl. Finally, when the receipts were all counted and +it was found that the boys, they who came in the first squad, had +actually bought seventeen dollars worth of goods. + +"It doesn't seem possible!" Ruth exclaimed, "and just look at the +bushels of pennies!" + +"And we had better prepare for the next arrivals," suggested Isabel. +"The lake folks will be along presently on their morning drives." + +"And the early golfers returning from the links," added Ruth. "Guess we +better tidy things up a little. Those boys certainly can upset a place." + +Isabel had found a roll of picture wire and three small screen door +springs. These Sibyl bought without giving the slightest hint of the +possible use her father was apt to put them to. Neither Isabel nor Ruth, +however, paid as much attention to the odd purchase as did Nancy. + +"I do wonder," Nancy remarked as Isabel tied up the goods for Sibyl, +"what has become of Miss Townsend?" + +"Oh, haven't you heard?" exclaimed Sibyl. "She's been quite ill." + +"No, I hadn't," said Nancy, considerately. "I'm so sorry. What has been +the trouble?" + +"Worry, chiefly, I guess," and a sort of sigh seemed to accompany +Sibyl's words. "It was too bad she had such a dispute with her brother," +she continued, "and yet, they really didn't seem to dispute, just to +disagree, but they have both such old-fashioned, gentle natures that +they consider it disgraceful to dissent from the views of loved ones. +Oh, well!" this time the sigh was unmistakable, "I suppose even the most +gentle can hardly expect to go through life without differences. I only +hope they do not hold my daddy in any way responsible," she said +seriously. + +"Why, how could they?" faltered Nancy, in honest bewilderment. + +"Oh, of course they couldn't," replied Sibyl hastily, as if regretting +her remark. "But you see, daddy and the old gentleman have been such +close friends that Miss Townsend might fancy daddy influenced her +brother. But I must be running along," she added a little hurriedly. +"I'm so glad to have met you, Nancy, and I hope your sale will be a +tremendous success." + +"It surely will be," chimed in Ruth, while Isabel and Nancy joined in +the good-byes. + +"Hasn't she wonderful eyes!" was Nancy's first remark following Sibyl's +departure. + +"I got the surprise of my life," declared Ruth, "when I saw Sibyl +Sanders saunter in. There, that sounds like a new song, doesn't it? But +you know, girls, she is almost as mysterious as her dad, the way she +comes and goes--" + +"But doesn't anyone up and ask them where they live?" asked Nancy in +evident astonishment. + +"Never get a chance," chimed in Isabel. "If we were to go out now and +follow her up the hill, I'll venture to say we would get a good sample +of the disappearing stunt--" + +"But we haven't time, dears," chirped Nancy. "Look! Here come three +autos. Now, ladies, step lively," and the way they stepped was lively +enough to be called trotting. + +"Yes, sure enough," Ruth agreed, "they _are_ coming here, and they're +here!" + + + + + CHAPTER X + + STILL THEY CAME + + +Before the girls could pull their faces straight a young man dashed up +the steps and was in the store. + +"Well, this is great!" he declared heartily. "I see by your window card +you carry Mackinaw's goods and I haven't been able to get them nearer +than the city." He was addressing all three who stood together back of +the counter like a trio in a comedy. The young man looked critically at +the show goods in the show counter--the supply left by the travelling +salesman. + +"Here they are, sure enough!" he exclaimed. "Just give me a half dozen +of those plugs, and of those dry flies, and a dozen of those bobbers--" + +Nancy set out the boxes and the customer helped himself. He knew exactly +what he wanted, and the girls marvelled at his quick selection of the +fancy colored artificial minnows, the little feather flies, used to +decoy the poor fish, and the bobbers, of which article Nancy had as +pretty a selection as might have been in a really large shop. + +"You don't know what an accommodation this is," went on the young man, +putting down a twenty dollar bill to pay for his purchases. "No, don't +bother to put paper on the boxes," he objected, as all three attempted +to wrap the goods. "I'll put them right in the car. You see, I'm at the +fishing club over on the lake, and when we want supplies there we _want_ +them instantly," he concluded. + +And he was gone before the surprised clerks had time to realize that the +sale had almost cleared out all the fancy tackle, and there were coming +in at the door two elderly gentlemen, who looked exactly as if they +would want fancy flies. + +One of the gentlemen poked his head in the door so comically, the girls +all giggled. + +"Well!" he exclaimed. "So it _is_ a shop. Thought it might be a Sunday +School fair and I'd get roped in," he chuckled, stepping inside +cautiously. "Sorry, but I didn't come to buy. Can you direct me to +Professor Sanders' office?" he asked, while politely removing his hat. + +"His office? Why, he hasn't any office that I know of," faltered Nancy, +surprised at the question. + +"He has messages sent to the ticket office at the station," volunteered +Ruth. + +"Oh, I see," replied the man, seeming to "see" more than the girls did. +"Then, we'll go over to the station--" + +So saying the man backed out of the door smiling pleasantly as he +departed. + +"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Nancy. "Our Disappearing Dick is going to +have callers. I wonder if he'll perform for them?" + +"Those are important looking men," Isabel commented. "Did you see their +car?" + +"Wasn't it fancy?" agreed Ruth. "Perhaps Sibyl will get a ride home." + +"I don't think you folks can be very good detectives around here," Nancy +criticized, "or you would have found out what so many people mean by +saying that Mr. Sanders disappears." + +"Now, listen," quoth Ruth, in a most confidential tone, "I don't call +myself sensational, and in fact, people at Long Leigh generally have the +name of minding their own business; but there is something mighty queer +about Mr. Sanders." She paused while Nancy waited for further +explanation. "He does _not_ live in the old gray house, for father's men +went through the entire place the other day, he's in real-estate you +know," she explained, "and there wasn't a thing to show that the old +house had been opened since they inspected it last." + +"Couldn't he camp in the barn or somewhere outside the house?" queried +Nancy. + +"No; the barn was locked up tight as tuppence," insisted Ruth. "But he +seems to hang out somewhere on that hill, just the same," she added. + +"I know!" exclaimed Nancy. "He goes up in a tree with the wires and +springs," and she sprang up and down without either. "Some day I'm going +up there and I bet _I'll_ solve the mystery," she promised gaily. + +"Let us know when you're going, Nan," suggested Ruth. "We wouldn't want +to have you swallowed up by--the fairies." + +"Say," whispered Isabel, her eyes set in what looked like alarm, "do you +know, I saw a little woman come up and down our side steps a half dozen +times this morning--" + +"Oh!" and Nancy laughed merrily. "That would be little Miss Manners, the +dressmaker who lives in the tiny bungalow under our window. You see, +Mother wouldn't really let us keep store without some supervision. She's +pretty particular, and declares there is no telling who might pop in--" + +"And hold us up for our cash box--!" Ruth added so mirthfully as to +suggest a good time in the danger. + +"Well, any how," continued Nancy, "Mother insists that Miss Manners look +in quite often to see that everything is all right. She's as quiet as a +mouse--" + +"I should say she is," Isabel confirmed. "In fact, I didn't want to +frighten you or I should have told you someone was sneaking in," she +added, folding up a tape line as she spoke. + +"Oh, Miss Manners is so quaint, as Vera would say," Ruth contributed, +"that I think she ought to be a partner, if a silent partner, in the +Whatnot Shop." + +"Yes," agreed Nancy, "it does seem as if this shop should belong to +little old people like Miss Townsend, and I guess that's why Miss +Manners is so interested. You see, girls, I'm still a very poor +housekeeper, and our maid, Anna, won't be back until fall. After I get +tired playing store, I suppose," and she sighed heavily, "I'll be +expected to start in playing house." + +"But if you run the shop as you have done this morning," Isabel +interposed, "don't you suppose your mother will think you're a real +genius at business?" she inquired. + +"You can't fool my mother on geniuses," replied Nancy, who like her +companions was putting away the odds and ends of things that had been +scattered in the morning's adventure. "Mother is an expert, and she sort +of knows--me." This last was said in a way implying a very doubtful +compliment for Nancy. "I've been almost a genius at art, for instance. +When I was five years old I could draw a goose with my eyes shut." + +"How about it when your eyes were open?" asked Ruth, quizzically. + +"It was usually a little fat pig, then," Nancy admitted, amid an +outburst of girlish laughter. + +"Nancy," interrupted Isabel, "here's the ice cream man." + +"Ours," declared Nancy. "Now we'll whistle for Ted and his boys and shut +up shop for lunch. Isabel, will you please open the side door? We'll +take a tray over to Miss Manners and then sit down and enjoy ourselves." + +"Here's Ted and his friends now," announced Ruth. "They seem to know it +is ice cream time." + +"That will save trouble," Nancy remarked. And presently the big sale was +all but forgotten in preparations for the feast of ice cream, with other +suitable summer lunch supplies. + +Isabel took an attractive tray over to solicitous and attentive Miss Ada +Manners, while Nancy and Ruth attempted to satisfy the demands of Ted +and his ice cream loving friends. The noon day was much warmer than the +morning had indicated, and this coupled with the sale excitement, went +far to make the little party a tremendous success, just as Mrs. Brandon +had planned it to be. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE FAILURE + + +The days were slipping by, and Nancy found herself entangled in a rather +confused vacation. True, she had already reaped real benefit from the +big sale and from the subsequent days' sales in her shop, but was it +really being a vacation? + +It must be admitted that Nancy had a tendency to stubbornness, but since +that peculiarity very often marks the first stages of a strong +character, her mother wisely allowed her to continue to try things out +for herself. The Whatnot Shop was not proving in any way a +disappointment, but it was most certainly giving Nancy work, so that she +was not free to come and go with the other girls, in spite of Miss +Manners frequent and generous offers to "'tend store" for her. + +A bright spot on her calendar not very far off, was the coming of Mrs. +Brandon's vacation. Soon she would be at home, free to do all the +precious things a devoted mother plans to do in the little interval of +freedom so long looked forward to and so quickly spent. + +"When you are home," Nancy would continually plan, "I'm going to do +that," referring to any one of a number of things being postponed. + +Today it was raining; a sudden summer shower was drenching everything as +if rain had never had such a good time before, and a charity sale, in +which all the girls were interested, was to be held that afternoon. +Everyone, including Nancy, expected to attend, and she with others had +promised to donate a cake. + +But how it rained! And Nancy had planned to go into town to the fancy +bakers to get her cake. Hour after hour she hoped the rain would cease, +until it became too late for a telephone delivery, and still Nancy could +not go out in the downpour. + +"If I could only bake it," she reflected, as she once more gazed +gloomily out of the windows at the dripping world. "It's easy enough to +bake a cake," she told herself, "and, of course, I could follow the +recipe in mother's cook book." + +Still Nancy had misgivings concerning such an experiment. A cake for a +sale should be good, of that she was certain, and for that very reason +she had previously decided to buy one at the French Pastry Shop. + +"Well," she sighed, "I may as well try it. It is sure to clear up just +when the girls are due to call for me, and I simply couldn't go without +a cake." + +First locking the store, and making up her mind that no call, however +insistent, would tempt her to leave her task, Nancy promptly set about +baking her cake. It was no trouble to find the cook book, Mrs. Brandon +had found a small shelf suitable for that in the open pantry. Also, the +required ingredients were all at hand, and the creaming of the butter +and sugar, according to the first rule, Nancy executed with something +like skill, for she had strong young hands and the spoon in her grasp +quickly beat the butter and sugar together in a perfectly smooth paste. + +[Illustration: Nancy promptly set about baking her cake.] + +Then she put the flour in the sieve. In doing this she made a slight +mistake, for no pan nor plate had been placed under the sieve and +consequently a pretty little layer of the sifted flour showered out upon +her table before she could get a receptacle under the utensil. + +"I had better measure over again," Nancy decided, feeling that the +uncertainty of guessing at the lost flour might spoil her cake. So this +time she put in her baking powder, salt and flour, and sifted all into a +little pudding pan. Separating the eggs, yolks from whites, was not +quite so easily accomplished, but even that was finally managed, and now +Nancy knew it was time to light the gas oven. + +Next, three-fourths of a cup of milk was added to the creamed butter and +sugar, the egg yolks added to that and all well beaten. Then the flour +was carefully turned in, while beating all together Nancy felt really +elated at the prospect in sight. + +"I'm sure this will be fine," she was congratulating herself, "perhaps +even better than a store cake. And I know how to make the maple +icing--I'm glad I have done that much before, at any rate," she admitted +ruefully. + +The soft yellow mixture did indeed look promising, but now came the time +to fold in the whites of the eggs. + +"Fold in," repeated Nancy, somewhat puzzled. "How shall I fold it in?" + +She looked at the batter and she looked at the frothy egg whites. To +fold that in would surely mean to spoil all the nice, white, snowy mound +of froth. Nancy hated to do it, but she finally spilled it into the bowl +full, and started to beat it all over again. The batter seemed rather +thin and Nancy decided to add a little more flour. Just here was where +her inexperience threatened disaster, but the trial so fascinated the +little cook that she did a few other things not proposed by the recipe, +but all of which seemed reasonable to her. + +The oven was now sizzling hot, and Nancy quickly turned her mixture into +two tins, which she neglected to grease, and slipped them into the oven. +With a sense of satisfaction she turned to and really cleared up all the +utensils--something very commendable indeed in Nancy Brandon. With +watching the clock and getting Ted's lunch set out on the little porch +table, while she also managed somehow to start her own personal +preparations for the afternoon, Nancy was, as she would say, kept on the +jump. + +But the cake didn't burn, and she took it from the oven on the dot of +thirty minutes. + +"It will have to cool, I suppose," Nancy guessed, "and while it's +cooling I'll make the icing. It looks pretty good but it has got a lot +of holes in it," was her rather skeptical criticism, as she inspected +the two layers of golden pastry. But the cake, even after a thorough +cooling which consumed more time than could be spared, would not leave +the tins! + +Nancy tried a knife--that broke a great rough corner off. Then she got +the pancake turner and slipped it under as well as she could, but alas! +The thing actually splashed up in a regular explosion of crumbs! + +"Ruined!" groaned Nancy. "I can never fix that!" + +Her disappointment was cruel. To see a perfectly good and such a +fragrant cake go to pieces when finished, after all the work of getting +it that far was nothing short of a tragedy. + +Tears blinded Nancy Brandon. + +"I might have known," she sighed, "I just couldn't have such good luck +with cooking." + +The rain was almost over. Ted would soon be in, but Nancy just couldn't +help crying. It was so hard not to succeed when she had been counting so +especially on that afternoon's fun. Perhaps she could get Ted to go to +town for her after all. But upon serious consideration she decided +against that plan. She simply wouldn't go now under any circumstances. +Her eyes were red and she wanted a good cry even more than the fun of +the sale. In fact, she couldn't help crying and she wasn't going to try. + +When an hour later the girls called, Ted told them what was strictly +true. Nancy was in bed with a sick headache and she couldn't go. +Carrying their messages of sympathy upstairs to Nancy, along with a +plate full of broken cake and a glass of ice cold lemonade, Ted tried to +cheer his disconsolate sister, but even then she had not discovered that +the whole trouble was merely her neglect of greasing those cake tins. +The cook book didn't direct so simple a thing as that and, of course, +poor Nancy just hadn't noticed that her mother did it. She was usually +too concerned about the remnants of cake dough being left in the bowl, +to observe how the batter was being put in the pans. + +"Does it ache hard?" asked Ted, sitting beside his sister and referring +to her head. + +"Yes, it does, Ted, but this lemonade is splendid." + +"I can make good lemonade," Ted admitted. "And your cake is swell, only +it sticks awful. I got it out with the pie server," he told Nancy +simply. + +"Yes. I couldn't get it to come off the pan at all. Well," and Nancy +moved to get up, "I suppose I won't feel any worse down stairs. What +color dress did Ruth have on?" + +To the best of his limited ability Ted described the girls' costumes and +then, determined to drive away Nancy's blues, he started in to recite in +detail his great experience of that morning. + +"Now Nan," he began, "you can say all you like, but Mr. Sanders does +disappear. _I saw him!_" + +"_You_ saw him disappear!" + +"Yes, sure as shootin'. We were all running down the hill, trying to get +to the station before that big shower, when I said to Tom, 'there's Mr. +Sanders, comin' up.' He said he saw him too, and we kept on runnin', +when I was just goin' to shout hello, and true as I tell you, Nan, there +wasn't any Mr. Sanders anywhere in sight!" + +"Ted Brandon!" + +"Yep, that's just what I'm telling you. We all saw him go, but no one +saw where to." + +And presently even the lost pleasure and the spoiled cake were soon +forgotten in their discussion of Ted's remarkable story. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE VIRTUE OF RESOLVE + + +But something had happened to Nancy. The cake failure represented to her +much more than a simple episode, for it had suddenly summed up all the +awful possibilities of untrained hands. It was well enough to make +excuses, to claim business and even artistic talent, for Nancy could +draw and color, and was among the best in her class as an art student, +but the fact now bore down upon her with undisguised horror! She could +not do what other girls could do. She could not even bake a cake. + +"And just as mother so often told me," she reflected bitterly, "it is +not at all a question of preference but of simple, civilized living. +What _I_ don't do and should do someone else _must_ do, and that's +anything but fair play on my part," Nancy sadly admitted. + +"Aren't you going to open the store, Nan?" Ted asked her. "There's been +someone knocking a long time and now they're going away--" + +"Oh, never mind," she answered indifferently, "I'm going to get tea +ready so mother won't have to bother. She does it like an angel when I +plead store business, but I guess, Ted, the old store--" + +"Isn't all it's cracked up to be," Ted helped her out rather willingly, +for he had not, at any time, shared her enthusiasm in the little +business venture. + +Nancy sighed dramatically. She was feeling rather sorry for herself and +that is always a symptom of wounded pride. It was the same day, in early +evening, of the picnic and cake experience, and her crying spell still +stirred its little moisture of hurt emotions. Ted couldn't bear to see +his sister cry, ever, and he was now all attention and sympathetic +interest. + +"I wish, Nan, you'd just sell out. The store would make a swell gym, and +we scouts need a place just like that--" + +"Ted Brandon! Do you think _I_ would quit just because a thing is hard! +Why, I should think you would remember how hard mother works," she +declared, in a sudden outburst of virtue. "And the harder it is the more +reason to--to do it," she floundered. + +"Oh, yeah, sure," agreed Ted amicably. "Of course that's so. Want me to +set table?" + +"Thanks, Ted, I wish you would. I'm going to try a cooked custard, I +mean a top of the stove custard. If I can cool it by putting the dishes +flat on the ice," Nancy reasoned aloud. + +"But they'll melt right through, if they're hot," Ted reminded her. "I +know my taffy pan did--" + +"Well, perhaps I'd better not try it then, as it's so late," Nancy +decided, relieved to find a genuine excuse. "Suppose we have toasted +crackers with cheese on top? Mother always likes that and _that_ can't +go wrong." + +Fortified with a new determination, Nancy went at her task, and in less +time, much less time than she usually required, succeeded in preparing +not only an appetizing but a really tempting meal. Ted arranged the +crisp lettuce leaves while Nancy cut the tomatoes, which she "nested" in +the lettuce, prettily. The toasted cheese-crackers were in the oven and +as this was not only a favorite dish with the Brandons, but is also a +favorite with many others, it might be well to know how Nancy prepared +it. + +She buttered saltines, enough to cover the bottom of a flat pan, the pan +usually used for "Johnnie Cake," then, on top of the cracker layer, she +showered, plentifully thick, grated cheese; another layer of crackers +and another shower of cheese. Next, she wet the layers with just enough +milk to moisten the crackers. The pan was then allowed to stand long +enough for the crackers to absorb the milk, after which the preparation +was baked in a quick oven. A delicious brown cheese-cake was the result, +and it "didn't go wrong." + +"I'm glad I can do that much, at any rate," Nancy half-complained, +half-praised. "And Ted, you have made the table look lovely. I shall be +so sorry when the roses are gone--" + +"Say Sis," broke in Ted abruptly, "you know I was telling you about how +Mr. Sanders disappeared." + +"Were you?" Nancy was polishing her water glasses. + +"Sure, I was. When you had the headache and was crying. Don't you know?" + +"Oh, yes, I do remember," admitted Nancy. "But it's too foolish, Ted--" + +"Foolish nothing! I tell you I saw him go," Ted declared in a voice that +admitted of no argument. + +"How funny!" cried Nancy. "Do _you_ really believe in that stuff, Ted?" +she asked quizzically. + +"Oh, say!" Ted was too disgusted to attempt explanation. That any one +should doubt _his_ eyes was beyond his understanding. + +"Well, I'll tell you," Nancy condescended. "I'm going to call on Miss +Townsend soon, that is, mother and I are, because Miss Townsend has been +sick, you know," she elucidated. "Then, I'm just going to ask her +straight all about that weird story." + +"As if she'd tell," scoffed the boy. "Why, her own dog never left her +house since she's been sick, if you want to know. What do you make out +of that?" + +"Cute doggie," replied Nancy, now shutting off the gas stove to await +her mother's coming. "And another thing, Ted, I wish you could see how +that dog acts around this place." + +"I'm just thinking that maybe Miss Townsend is acting sick just to get +back here," hazarded Ted. "I hope mother won't give in, if she is, for I +like it here, don't you, Nan?" + +"Love it! Here's mother! Quick Ted, the ice water. There, let's hide!" + +The joy of a thing well done was Nancy's reward for her extra efforts. +The little meal was indeed a credit to her, and that it gave her mother +unmistakable pleasure was Nancy's greatest satisfaction. + +"I am always sure that you can do it, little girl," her mother told her, +as they all three turned in to clear away the table things, "but I also +know you have to find things out for yourself. How did you manage it all +so nicely?" + +"Well, I didn't mean to tell you," Nancy sighed, "but I might just as +well." + +"Better," chimed in Ted mischievously, as he scurried around to do his +part in the clearing up ceremony. + +"All right," Nancy agreed affably. "I had better tell you, Mother. You +see, it was the day of the sale--the church sale the girls were all +going to. And I expected to get my cake at the French Bakery." + +"And you couldn't on account of the rain," Mrs. Brandon helped the +recital along. + +"It never stopped for one half hour," Nancy added. "So I tried, that is +I just _tried to make_ a cake." + +She drew in her lips and puckered her pretty face into a wry misgiving +expression. Nancy was looking very pretty in her rose colored linen +dress (the one her mother had finished off with peasant embroidery), and +her dark eyes were agleam now with enthusiasm and interest. + +Frankly she told her mother the story of her spoiled cake, and how they +all three laughed when the mother explained why it had failed--just +because Nancy didn't know enough to grease the tins! + +Ted, all this time, was casting suspicious glances first at Nancy then +at his mother. He seemed to be enjoying a secret that even his glances +were not imparting to the others. + +"You may run along, Ted," his mother told him, as she always excused him +just a little earlier than she and Nancy were prepared to finish. "I +guess you can call your part complete. Here dear. I'll put the sweeper +away. You run, I hear some code whistling at the side window." + +"All right, Mother, but I can chase the sweeper in the pantry as I go," +Ted offered. "But I wanted to tell you." He sidled up to his mother very +confidentially, "I think Nancy's good and sick of the store." + +"Why Ted!" His mother showed complete surprise at the frank declaration. +Nancy was not within hearing so Ted ventured further. + +"Yep," he continued. "I'll bet she chucks it up pretty soon, and if she +does, Mother, could we fellers have it?" he pleaded. + +"You boys have it?" + +"Yeah; for a gym. Fine and dandy. We've got a lot of things to exercise +with--" Nancy was back from the ice box now so Ted could say no more. +The next moment he darted off to the boys who were calling, his own +vociferous answer shrilling the path he made as he rushed out. + +Nancy remained silent for some minutes and neither did her mother seem +inclined to talk. Mrs. Brandon put the center piece on the table and +Nancy straightened the window shades, replaced the fruit dish on the +little table near the cool window, and suddenly remembered to wind the +clock. + +"That's Ted's business, dear," her mother reminded her. "You see, even a +boy must get some training in these little household matters. He too +lives in a house." + +"Oh, yes," agreed Nancy. "And isn't it strange that I always remember +his part while I so often forget my own?" + +"No, not strange," her mother said gently. "Ted's little schedule is new +and novel to you, therefore interesting; yours is old and monotonous to +you, therefore irksome." Mrs. Brandon managed to get her arm +affectionately over her daughter's shoulder. "But don't be discouraged, +dear. You may make a star housekeeper in the end," she prophesied. + +"Oh dear. I'm afraid not, Mother," and Nancy sighed heavily. "It seems +to me I get tired of everything. I thought it would be wonderful to earn +money," she faltered, "and I suppose because I always liked to play +store I thought it would be just as much fun to have a real store. But +Mother," and she snuggled against the sympathetic breast, "Mother, I do +want to help you--" + +"And you have," brightened Mrs. Brandon. "You have no idea what miracles +I have worked with your extra dollars, earned in that little store." + +"Really, Mother?" + +"Yes, indeed. In fact I am thinking of taking a real vacation when my +little two weeks come around. I had expected to do some extra work--" + +"In your vacation?" exclaimed Nancy. She had squatted her mother down in +the arm chair and was herself resting on the side cushion. "Indeed, I +should say not," she scoffed, pouting prettily. + +"But if we buy this little summer place, dear, we must do a lot of +certain things," explained her mother vaguely. + +"Then I'm not going to get tired of the store," determined Nancy, +suddenly. + +"Yet Nannie, we might do very well to rent it," suggested Mrs. Brandon. +"A business place is worth something, you know." + +"Rent it? To whom?" + +"I think it would cure Miss Townsend of her imaginary ills, to have a +chance to come back--" + +"Oh, Mother, somehow I shouldn't like to have her around," faltered +Nancy. "She's sweet and quaint and all that," conceded Nancy, "but she +gives one the creeps. She sort of brings ghosts along with her when she +comes here. And her dog! Why, he'd bark us all to death if we ever let +him in to fight with the chimney place." + +Mrs. Brandon laughed good-naturedly. "I've felt rather against +considering the plan myself," she admitted, "for as you say, dear, we +would feel like intruders with Miss Townsend established in the store. +Well, we don't have to think about it now, at any rate," she decided. +"Come along for a walk. I'm afraid you haven't been out much today and +that's one thing that would really worry me, dear. I don't want you to +stay indoors to take care of the store," her mother admonished. "We +don't pretend to carry real necessities that people might expect to buy +from us, and such stock as we do keep can be had at our convenience, as +well as at theirs," she finished definitely. + +"You are perfectly right, Mother," Nancy answered emphatically. "And +that's one thing I don't like about business. Everybody just thinks _we_ +are their servants, and they even become rude when I tell them I haven't +got something they happen to want." + +"Oh, yes, I know. But I wouldn't worry about that. It all adds to the +value of the lesson, you know. Just be sure you are right, keep a cool +head and a steady hand," her mother laughed, "then, let the other folks +lose their patience if they are foolish enough to do so. But listen," +she paused attentively. "Here comes Miss Manners. And she seems to be in +trouble. I'll let her in." + +The little lady was indeed in trouble for her face, small and somewhat +pinched with threatening years, showed, as she entered the room, the +unmistakable signs of weeping. + +"Oh dear," she sighed brokenly, as Nancy pulled out the rocker for her, +"I don't know why I should come to you folks, for I'm sure," she gulped +back her interrupting sobs, "you must have troubles enough of your own. +But I just had to talk to somebody--" + +"Talk away," replied Nancy's mother cheerily. "You know that is the best +way to conquer one's own troubles--to attack them with the troubles of +someone else." + +"Maybe that's so," replied Miss Manners, brushing back a stray strand of +her graying hair, "but I don't just see how that is going to help me," +she faltered. + +"Tell us yours," urged Nancy, "and then we will be better able to +judge." Nancy sat back in her own chair, quite prepared now for a new +chapter in the current events of Long Leigh. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + BEHIND THE CLOUD + + +Poor little Miss Manners! Hers had been a brave struggle, and as Nancy +and her mother listened to the brokenly told story, they were easily +ready to pardon the little lady's show of emotion. + +"So you were worried about your rent, principally?" Mrs. Brandon +prompted her, kindly. + +"Yes. You see when I had to give up teaching on account of my health, I +naturally turned to sewing," she explained. "If I had only been a +teacher in a public school, instead of a private school, I shouldn't +have been left without some means," she complained, sorrowfully. + +Nancy was watching her in silent contemplation. What a "sweet" little +woman she was. The type always called little and sometimes referred to +as "sweet" because of that indefinable quality usually associated with +flowers. + +"You should not have worried so," Mrs. Brandon assured her. "You have +done a great deal for us--I never could have left the children here +alone without feeling sure of your watchful kindness, you know." + +"Now Mrs. Brandon," said Miss Manners, in a rather dictatorial tone, "I +have done nothing at all for you, and I want to assure you that Nancy +and Ted require very--little--watching." + +"And I want to say," spoke up Nancy, "that Miss Manners is the very +nicest kind of a watch--a watch-woman," she laughed. "We never hear or +see her when, perhaps, we are noisy and--and rackety." + +"I was afraid," continued Miss Manners, without apparently heeding +Nancy's intended compliment, "that you might have been alarmed about the +silly stories current around here. I mean, that especially about Mr. +Sanders." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Brandon encouragingly. "We have heard queer tales of +his remarkable powers, but I can't say they have alarmed us, Miss +Manners." + +"You have too much sense, I'm sure, for that," she conceded. "But when +one comes into a strange place and hears such stories, especially, when +they have something to do with this little place--" + +"What could they have to do with _this_ place?" Nancy questioned +sharply. "Surely, he doesn't do any disappearing around here." + +Both the older folks laughed at that. + +"No, not exactly," replied Miss Manners, "but you see, they say he +influenced old Mr. Townsend until he spent his own and his sister's +money. But for my part," she hurried to add, "I could never believe that +Mr. Sanders is anything but a perfectly upright gentleman, and in no way +responsible for the sad state of the Townsends' business affairs." + +"Then _you_ don't believe any of the stories about him, do you?" pressed +Nancy. "Even Ted insists he saw him--fade away." + +The little woman, who seemed for the moment to have forgotten her +troubles, looked from mother to daughter. It was so easy to interpret +her thoughts. She was measuring Nancy's courage. + +"Oh, you don't need to be afraid of frightening me, Miss Manners," Nancy +assured her, "I'm only waiting for a chance to investigate the +disappearing story. I've been so sure _I_ could solve the mystery, that +the girls will soon be calling me a boaster if I don't start out to do +something. What do you think, really, Miss Manners?" she pressed +further. + +"Well, I hate to say so, but I can't deny there is something curious +about Mr. Sanders. I have often watched him around this house, when he +and Mr. Townsend were such friends, and really," she paused as if the +admission were most distasteful to her, "I must say, the way those two +men ran around the house--" + +"Ran around! Those two old men!" cried Nancy, sitting up very straight +in sudden interest. + +"Yes, actually. I mean out of doors, of course," Miss Manners explained. +"But they would first fuss around the outside chimney--you know the +mason work runs to the ground on my side of this house, I mean the side +next to my bungalow," she emphasized, "and there is an old-fashioned +opening there. I suppose they used to take ashes out that way when they +used the old grate fires." + +"Oh, I know!" cried Nancy excitedly. "That's why Miss Townsend's dog +made such a fuss over the fireplace in the store!" + +"Yes. They always had Tiny with them and the dog seemed as--crazy as the +men," Miss Manners remarked. + +"Don't you suppose they were working at something?" Mrs. Brandon +suggested, sensibly. + +"I did think so, of course; but Miss Townsend seemed to fear all sorts +of things; yet she never would put her fears into sensible words," Miss +Manners told them curiously. + +"But how could that be connected with the foolish story of Mr. Sander's +disappearing trick?" Mrs. Brandon wanted to know. + +"You see, it was all so unusual--I mean Mr. Sanders coming in here a +stranger, and not living any place that folks could find out. Then, when +he came down to Mr. Townsend here, got him all excited over some secret, +got him to draw his money from the bank, and finally worked poor Miss +Townsend into a state of nervous breakdown, why, naturally the people +around suspected almost everything--even to calling him a magician," +Miss Manners said, with a timid little smile. + +"I couldn't give credence to any of it," replied Mrs. Brandon decidedly. +"I have met Mr. Sanders and share your opinion; that he is a perfect +gentleman." + +"Well, I've talked a long way from my own story haven't I?" Miss Manners +sighed again, as she blinked against impelling thoughts. "You see, I +have no friends at hand, and when I did so large an order of hand-made +handkerchiefs--it took me months to do them--I depended upon that money +for the summer. But the lady I made them for was called hurriedly +abroad, on account of the sudden illness of her husband, and she never +gave a thought to my precious twenty-five dollars," the little lady +sighed ruefully. + +"She went away and owed you all that money!" Nancy exclaimed. "However +could she have forgotten?" + +"My dear child, we are all selfish when in trouble I suppose," said Miss +Manners charitably. "But I did fully expect to hear from her before +this, and my next rent will be due in three days. I just came in to +consult with you, not to borrow. I wondered if you knew of anything I +could do--" + +"Certainly I do," Nancy almost shouted. "You can start a little private +school, a class in domestic science right in my--in our store," she +exclaimed. "I know at least a half dozen girls who will be glad to take +a month's course, and we'll all pay you in advance. They always do in +private schools!" + +The women both appeared speechless as Nancy rattled on. The idea was +plainly fascinating. A domestic science class for the girls who hated +housework, as Nancy did! How much better than idling an entire vacation! + +"Why, I just wonder--" + +"You needn't wonder, Mother," Nancy interrupted, "I tell you, it's just +perfectly wonderful, the idea, I mean. I'll learn, I'll learn, I'll +learn," she chanted, "and then maybe I'll find out a pleasant way--" + +"You are right, daughter," spoke up Mrs. Brandon. "When you learn to do +things as they should be done, you will find the work interesting. I +have been sorry, Miss Manners, that my home has had to get along without +a great deal of my time," she turned to her visitor, "as you know I have +had to attend business and leave things to my maid. For, after all," she +said evenly, "only a mother can teach a daughter, and I have not been +with Nancy long enough--" + +"You have too, Mumsey, and it's all my very own fault," Nancy confessed. +"You often showed me how to do things, and you always told me I would +have to pick things up when I threw them down, but I just didn't care. I +didn't think it made any difference." Nancy was actually joyous in her +confession, showing the positive relief one is apt to experience when +the mind is suddenly freed from a heavy weight. + +"I really think Nancy's idea is a good one," said Mrs. Brandon. "There +is no real reason why you should be tucked away next door to us when we +need you in here, and we've got more room than we know what to do with." + +"Oh, joy!" Nancy was positively dancing now. "We can have Manny in here +with us all the time? May I call you Manny?" she asked. "It's the cutest +name." + +"That's queer," replied the little lady, a soft color showing through +her pale skin. "My girls at Raleigh always called me--Manny--" + +Then the plans were unfolded, and such plans as they were! + +"I feel like a fairy with a magic wand" declared Nancy. "My little store +is just like--a magic carpet or something." + +"But I don't want to impose--" Miss Manners began. + +"You're a positive blessing," Nancy insisted. "The only trouble is--we +can't learn sleuthing in your class and I've just got to find out Mr. +Sanders' secret before I'm many days older. I honestly think, Mother, +the idea of that foolish story going around without anyone--running it +down, as Ted would say, is getting on my nerves." + +And every one enjoyed a good laugh at the idea of Nancy Brandon having +nerves. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + A PLEASANT SURPRISE + + +It was all very exciting, but Nancy didn't want to think that she was +really glad to get rid of her precious Whatnot Shop. Ted openly declared +"he told her so," as boys will, but she politely drew his attention to +the fact that she had fulfilled her contract, that she had earned money, +quite a lot of money, in fact, and in now turning the shop over to Miss +Manners she was following her mother's advice. + +It was a few days later than that evening when she and her mother +offered the use of the shop to the little seamstress, and now they were +preparing to call on Miss Townsend. + +"Suppose she says _she_ wants it back," faltered Nancy, just patting her +dark hair back into the desired soft little bumps. "What would we say, +Mother, if she just begged us to let her have it?" + +"Why dear, we could let her have a part of it, perhaps. She could come +in and sell out what little stock you have, while Miss Manners is +getting ready for her class." + +"Oh, but," pouted Nancy, "I would just hate to have her do that. If you +ever saw the way she snooped around, Mother. And the way that dog +acted!" Nancy's manner was very decidedly one of opposition to Miss +Townsend and her dog. + +"Well, come along, dear," her mother urged, "we must not stay late. I +have some notes to write up and I don't want to lose sleep over them." + +Whatever else bothered Nancy Brandon, an evening's walk through the +country roads of Long Leigh, in a beautiful summer twilight with her arm +locked tightly in her mother's, was balm enough to soothe and heal every +slightest hurt and anxiety. + +"Mother-love," she actually cooed, in the softest little voice she could +command, "I just love it tonight, don't you?" + +"Perfect," replied the happy mother, pressing lovingly upon the +imprisoned arm. "And I am so glad, daughter-love, that you want to give +up your business." There was a humorous little twist given to that last +word, for Nancy's business was and had been something of a practical +joke among the Brandons. + +"Let's walk around the old house," suggested Nancy, for they were at a +fork in the road and needed to choose a way to Miss Townsend's. "Then, +maybe we will discover something about Mr. Sanders' quarters." + +But just as they were about to turn into the lane that led past the old +stone house, Ted hailed them from the hilltop. + +He wanted to know where they were going. He wanted to know if he could +go along, and as they managed to make signs that gave at least a +negative answer to this last request, they found themselves on the open +road, walking directly away from the old stone house. + +"We won't be long, Ted," his mother assured him, as he reached them, +"and you can, if you want to, go over to Norton Duncan's. We will give +you a call as we come back, and then we will all go home together. The +side door key is in the regular place though, if you would rather go +home--" + +"Oh, no I wouldn't. I'll stay out 'til nine, and Nort and I'll practice +drill," proclaimed Ted. "We're going to have a regular test drill soon, +and he's my partner." + +This being a satisfactory arrangement, Ted went to Nort's while Nancy +and her mother continued on to the little country hotel, where the +Townsends had taken up their abode. + +"I do hope," murmured Nancy, "that she won't upset our plans. I just +can't see, Mother, why you bother about her at all," she complained. + +"The place is ours for this summer to do as we please with it, Nancy," +her mother replied, "but just the same, it is a little business courtesy +to show to Miss Townsend. We have the option on the place, and I fully +intend to buy it, but the shop was so dear to Miss Townsend's heart, +that I feel we ought to, at least, tell her what we plan to do for the +month." + +"You're so, generous, Mother," sighed Nancy. "I wish _I_ were more like +you." + +Her mother smiled and squeezed the young hand that rested so confidently +upon her own arm. + +"Don't worry, dear," she answered. "You know what dear grandma always +said when you got into little troubles?" + +"Yes," replied Nancy, "that my heart was in the right place if my head +was a little shaky." + +"Yes, that's it. And don't we miss grandma? She might just as well come +out here with us, but I was afraid of bringing her to the old-fashioned +little house. Well, here we are at our hotel," Mrs. Brandon broke off, +as they came in sight of the long white building, with its unmistakable +hotel piazza. + +In the row of rockers on the porch sat a row of men on one side and +almost a row of women, or "ladies" on the other. Country folks, with a +few city interlopers, composed the patronage of the Waterfall House, it +was quite evident. + +Nancy and her mother smiled at the faces and half-greeted them, as they +passed into the office, and after asking for Miss Townsend's rooms, +followed the boy along the red carpeted hall, and up a stairs carpeted +with what once had been red. They journeyed on until they reached a +little turn in the second hall. Before this their guide halted and +pointed out a door that bore the number twenty-seven. + +Nancy's heart would have jumped a little apprehensively had it been a +less healthy young heart, but as it was, she merely kept very close to +her mother until the boy turned on his heel and whistled a returning +tune. + +"Maybe she's sick in bed," Nancy was thinking, just as the door was +opened in response to her mother's knock. + +"Why! Mrs. Brandon!" she heard a voice exclaim. "And Nancy!" as Miss +Townsend bowed them in. "How glad I am to see you! Do come right in. +Here, take this chair, it's so comfortable. Nancy, sit by the window," +she was pushing a chair over to the girl, "and you can see the people +passing. Well, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you both." + +Nancy was so surprised she almost exclaimed aloud. There was the "sick" +Miss Townsend fairly beaming, in, what surely looked like, very good +health. The little dog was frisking around and Nancy had scarcely seated +herself in the chair by the window when he pounced up on her lap, and +after "kissing her" several times, finally subsided into a small, brown, +woolly ball, cuddled into a little nest formed from the soft folds of +Nancy's blue voile skirt. + +"I'm so glad to see you are better, Miss Townsend," Mrs. Brandon +presently said. "You have been ill, we heard." + +"Yes indeed, but I'm better now, really a new woman, you might say," and +Miss Townsend now seated herself comfortably on the small green sofa +near them. "But it was just worry. Worry is a pretty bad ailment, isn't +it?" she asked, smiling a contradiction to anything like worry affecting +her just then. + +"You are real cozy here," Mrs. Brandon ventured. + +"Yes, it's quite pleasant, but I've just come back from a trip to the +sea shore. I guess that is what helped me most," conceded Miss Townsend. + +Like Nancy, Mrs. Brandon also, was much surprised at Miss Townsend's +exuberant spirits. It was perfectly plain that some good fortune had +befallen the lady since she had paid that mournful visit to Nancy. + +"You see," she began, as if in answer to their unmasked questions, "our +business affairs are being all straightened out and Brother Elmer is +getting back the money he loaned. Of course I didn't understand, and it +is one of those affairs a woman isn't supposed to understand." This was +said in that sort of tone that conveys deep and mysterious meaning. + +"I'm awfully glad of that," Mrs. Brandon assured the woman in her brand +new heliotrope one piece dress. It was quite modish, indeed, and without +question, very becoming to Miss Townsend. + +"Oh, yes," went on the hostess, "I was so worried for a long time. You +see, I really couldn't have faith in a business deal that I was not +privileged to know the details of. I have been a business woman all my +life," she insisted, "and I'm not afraid to tackle any business deal," +at this she dangled her amethyst beads self-consciously. "But Elmer and +Mr. Sanders!" Her hands went up protestingly. "They just used every +dollar. Well--" she broke off suddenly, "it's all right now, so why +should I fuss about it. You didn't come to hear of my troubles, I'm +sure." + +At this point Mrs. Brandon divulged the real purpose of her visit. Nancy +was having a great time with Tiny. He was awake now and evidently eager +to show off. He stood up and begged, jumped down and "prayed" and +otherwise disported himself most wonderfully. The distraction afforded +Nancy a welcome chance to sit aside and take little or no part in the +elder's conversation, but she was, as Ted would have said, "all ears to +it." + +"Why, I think that's a perfectly splendid idea," she heard Miss Townsend +say, in reference to the plan of giving the store over to Miss Manners. +"And I must say you are very generous, Mrs. Brandon," she complimented. +"As a matter of fact, fancy-store business is not what it used to be. +More folks now take to the mail order plan, especially in winter. Why, +there were months when I didn't see the color of a 'green back' in that +place," she admitted. "Yet, I couldn't help loving the old place. I had +been in it so long," she concluded earnestly. + +"I met Mr. Sanders' daughter, Miss Townsend," Nancy spoke up, determined +to bring up that subject, "and I think she's a perfectly splendid girl." + +"Isn't she though! But she couldn't help but be smart with such a +father." This last little speech was indeed a compliment to the absent +Mr. Sanders. + +"But where does he live?" demanded Nancy, without any attempt to cloak +her question with indifference. + +"Live? Why, my dear child, he lives here! Just moved in, and I do +declare, the man needs some comfort after all he's been through. If +Elmer comes in before you go I'll have him bring Mr. Sanders in. We are +all the best of friends now," declared the incomprehensible little woman +on the green velour sofa. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + TALKING IT OVER + + +"You haven't really sold out?" Ruth demanded incredulously. + +"Going, going, going, gone!" sang back Nancy. "Manny is a wonder. She +just sells and goes on with her preparations, and girls, when my store +is all cleaned out I wouldn't wonder but we'll have a model class room, +instead of the Whatnot Shop." Nancy was flitting around like some full +grown elf. The three girls, Isabel was with them, were out on the broad +sloping grounds surrounding Ruth's home, and it was perfectly plain that +Nancy was already enjoying her freedom from business. + +"I think it's splendid," Isabel joined in. "We took millinery last +August, you know, so we don't want any more hat making. Mother is simply +thrilled, as Vera would say, and you know, Nan, Vera is due back +Tuesday. I guess the stores ran out of post cards and she couldn't live +at Beverly without cards. I've got enough of mine to paper our attic +room." + +"And you'd never guess," enthused Nancy, "that salesman who came in with +the fishing tackle for our big sale, you know, is going to send Manny a +gas range! Just think of it, a gas range for us to use, to practice +cooking on." + +"For nothing?" Ruth inquired. + +"For the advertising. It seems, a demonstrator for a special line of gas +ranges used to go to Raleigh, that's Manny's old school, and, of course, +when the salesman came in to sell and _we_ weren't buying," she was +drawling her words to assume an imposing air, "of course," she +continued, "he became deeply interested in our plans, and at once +offered to send his friend, the lady demonstrator, out to make plans +with Manny." + +"And we're to be demonstrated," chimed in Isabel, imitating Nancy's +twang. "I choose pie. I want my picture 'took' curling the edge of a +lemon meringue," and she executed a few very 'curly' steps to +illustrate. + +There was no denying it. Nancy was happy on these the first days of her +real vacation. It had been splendid, of course, to have twenty-five +dollars of her very own to offer to advance Miss Manners, to clear up +the rent worry, but the store had not been all fun, she was willing to +admit that. + +"And do you know, girls," Nancy confided, "we, mother and I, had some +doubts about the way Miss Townsend would take the news? Do sit down, +Belle," she broke off. "How can I tell a story while you're doing +hand-springs?" + +"These are flip-flaps," insisted Isabel. "Just watch this one." + +She was leaning with both hands on a long low bench, and the "flip" +consisted of a violent spring of both feet from the ground. After +bringing the feet down again with the unavoidable jerk, she performed +the "flop" by pivoting around until she sat on the bench and stuck both +her feet out straight in front of her. + +"It's very pretty," commented Nancy. "But if you want to hear my story +you have got to flop. I insist upon a sitting audience." + +This demand restored comparative quiet and Nancy continued with her +narrative. + +"I was telling you about Miss Townsend," she went on. "You just should +see that lady. She's all 'set up.' We understood she was a nervous +wreck--" + +"She was," interrupted Ruth, "but I heard mother say her brother's +business affairs are being mysteriously adjusted. Maybe that's why she +has become rejuvenated." + +"Yes, that's exactly it," snapped Nancy. "And how the great, grand trick +worked is one of the stories we have missed. I never saw such a place as +Long Leigh for floating stories that no one can explain. Miss Townsend +talked all around her good luck, but never touched it. Of course, I +couldn't be so rude--" + +"Of course _you_ couldn't," mocked Isabel. + +"Just the same," retorted Nancy, "I did ask right out straight, without +hint or apology, where--Mr. Sanders lived." + +"And you got snubbed for your pains," flung in Ruth. + +"Nothing of the kind, I became informed for my pains," asserted Nancy. + +"Land sakes tell us!" pleaded Isabel. "First thing you know I'll hear +our car, and miss the--mystery." + +"Well," began Nancy, deliberately and provokingly, "I asked her: 'Where +does Mr. Sanders live?' And just as I was gulping hard to control my +emoting emotions, Miss Townsend shook her necklace like a dinner bell, +and said softly--" + +Nancy paused. The girls were threatening to throw her over the bench +into the flower bed but she seemed about ready to divulge the secret, so +presently they desisted. + +"Well," she said, "Miss Townsend answered, 'Mr. Sanders lives right here +in this hotel. He moved in yesterday and the poor man needed the change +after all he's been through.' Now girls," pouted Nancy, "did you ever +see anything as mean as that? Just when I'm free to dig up the wild and +woolly mystery, our hero goes and rents a room in the Waterfall House," +and she affected a pose intended to excite pity, but in reality causing +mirth. + +"I see it all!" cried Isabel, jumping up on the bench and laying a +sprawled hand over the heart location. "All, girls, all." Her voice was +droning like a school boy reciting the Charge of the Light Brigade. +"What happened was this!" + +"This!" interrupted Ruth, pinching Isabel's ankles until she literally +fell from her perch. + +"Whow!" yelled Isabel. "Can't one elocute without being plucked by cruel +hands? I tell you, girls, we have lost a lot of fun in not keeping up +with our little brothers." This was said in a very different and quite +serious tone. "If you were to ask Ted, Nancy, very confidentially, what +is or was the secret of the hidden treasure place, I'm almost sure he +would tell you. He _knows_!" she declared loudly, "and so does my +brother Gerard know, but _he_ won't tell me." + +"Then it is or was a question of hiding a treasure," reflected Nancy. +"I'm so sorry it is only that. I perfectly hate treasure mysteries, +they're so horribly common. I had in mind some sort of great, grand, +spooky, now-you-see-me and now-you-don't trick. That would have been +heaps more fun than just the old hidden treasure business. Well, at any +rate, _we_ seem to have missed it, for Mr. Sanders is really living at +the hotel," she wound up finally. + +"Is that any reason why we shouldn't find out the secret?" demanded +Ruth. "It seems to me we would be better able to do so, now that every +one else has suddenly grown rich, and there's no more danger of getting +folks into trouble by prying into their business. I just wish Sibyl +Sanders would come up again. I fancy she would be just tickled to tell +us the whole thing," declared Ruth. + +"I must trot along," Nancy suddenly announced. "And girls, please don't +forget about the first lesson in domestic science, to be held at the +residence of--" + +A loud and insistent honking of a motor horn interrupted Nancy's +flattering announcement, and presently all three girls were scampering +down to the roadside to pile into Gerard's Duryea car, for Isabel's +brother was taking them for a ride into town, ostensibly to do some +important family errands, but really to have one of those unplanned +jolly times that go to make up the happy summer time. + +"I must be back by five," warned Nancy. But her companions only pushed +her back further in the over crowded car-seat as they sailed along. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + JUST FISHING + + +Some days later the Whatnot Shop was being dismantled, that is the +shelves were being treated to a great clearing off, and the +old-fashioned glass cases were being lined with white oilcloth, +preparatory to Miss Manners' Domestic Science Class storing their +samples of food therein. + +Gradually Nancy's sense of honor was coming back into its own, for not +only her mother but also her girl friends were constantly reassuring +her. + +"There's nothing small nor frivolous about changing one's mind for the +better," they told her. "In fact," said the mother, "that one is willing +to do so, is very often a mark of progress. If we didn't change our +minds how could we grow wiser?" + +"But I thought I'd just love business," Nancy complained. "I was crazy +to keep store and now I'm crazy to start something else." + +"Which is perfectly normal and entirely reasonable for any healthy young +girl," her mother insisted. "Can you imagine girls being as staid and as +old fashioned as their mothers?" + +"Moth-thur!" Nancy sort of moaned, "If ever I could be as _new_ +fashioned as my mother I shouldn't mind how old nor how young I might +be. And you are a love not to scold me. I know you are glad to see Manny +so happy setting-up her school, and I know you will be better satisfied +to have her there, facing the fierce public, than allowing me to do so. +Not that I had any trouble with the dear public," Nancy mocked. "And not +that Brother Ted wasn't always within a few miles call if I needed him. +But, at any rate, Mums, I did make some real money, didn't I?" she +cooed, quite birdlike for Nancy. + +A clean little, yellow bankbook was offered for evidence by Mrs. Brandon +at this question, for being a business woman, she knew the value of +personal interest in every part of a business undertaking, and so, early +in the experiment, she had brought Nancy into the City Bank and there +attended to the formalities of opening her bank account. + +"Mother, you keep the book, please," Nancy begged just now, as Mrs. +Brandon offered it to her. "I know I ought to be very careful and not +forget where I put things, but somehow I do. And I would hate to lose +that precious book," she murmured, touching her mother's cheek with her +lips as she made the appeal. + +"Very well, daughter," Mrs. Brandon conceded, "but you simply must learn +to remember, and the way to do that is think of a thing as you do it," +she advised. + +Nancy was, however, already improving in such matters. Being obliged to +find things for herself, instead of calling out to Anna, the maid, as +she had been in the habit of doing, was teaching a lesson that words had +never been able to convey to her. + +It now lacked but three days of the opening of the class, and in these +days Nancy and Ted were planning to have a great time fishing, +exploring, and hunting. By "hunting" they meant looking for Indian +relics along the river bank, for Ted insisted there really were such +articles to be found there, if one were only patient enough in the +search. + +This was the day set for fishing, and Ted was just now coming up to the +back door with a tin can slung on a string, and that, in turn, was slung +over his shoulder on a pole. + +"Got lots of them!" he called out. "Nice fat ones, too. We can catch big +fish with such worms as these," and he set down the outfit to display +his freshly dug bait. + +"Well, I'm not going to put them on the hook," protested Nancy. "I don't +mind handling the slippery little things, but I can't murder them. +You'll have to bait my hook, Ted, if you want me to go," she insisted. + +"Oh, all right," growled Ted, merely pretending to protest, but really +just showing his boyish contempt for such girlish whims. "I'll put them +on for you. But do hurry, Nan," he urged. "This is a dandy morning to +fish. Hardly any sun at all." + +Calling good-bye to Miss Manners, who, even, this early, was at work in +the store, Nancy was soon ready to start off with her brother on the +fishing trip. She was clad in her oldest gingham, and wore her most +battered big straw hat, nevertheless she looked quite picturesque, if +not really pretty even in this rough attire; for Nancy was ever a +striking looking girl. + +"Think we ought to take your old express wagon, Ted?" she asked, +jokingly. + +"What for?" demanded the boy in surprise. + +"To carry them home in," laughed Nancy. But even then Ted didn't see the +joke. + +Presently they were trudging along the heavily shaded road that wound in +and out around Bird's Woods until it would stretch along side Oak's +Pond, where the fishing was to be done. + +"It's fine to have you come, Nan," remarked the boy, wagging his bare +head and slapping his fish bag against his bare legs. Ted was wearing +old clothes himself, and his trousers had not been trimmed any too +evenly, for one leg ended above the knee and the other leg ended below +the other knee. But he looked about right as a fisher-boy, his cheeks +well tanned, his brown eyes sparkling and his browner hair doing pretty +much as it pleased all over his head. + +"I'm mighty glad to come, Ted," Nancy was saying in reply to his gentle +little compliment. "It is great to be off all by ourselves, although, of +course, I have good enough times with the girls," she amended, loyally. + +"Me too," added Ted, "I have lots of sport with the fellows but this is +better," he concluded, as Ted would. + +Arrived at a spot where the pond dug into a soft green bank, rounding +into a beautiful semi-circular basin, brother and sister there camped. +Ted insisted that Nancy take the choicest seat, a smooth spot on the big +tree that must have been felled years before, and which had found +comfortable quarters on the edge of the jolly little stream. Sympathetic +ferns stretched their soft green fronds along the sides of the naked +wood, as if they wanted to supply the fallen tree with some of the +verdure of which it had been cruelly bereft, and even a gay, flowering +swamp lily, that wonderful flaming flower that holds its chalice above +all other wood blooms, bent just a little toward the one branch of that +tree that still clung to the parent trunk. + +Nancy squatted down expectantly. Ted had baited her hook and she was now +casting out her line in the smooth, mysterious stream, clear enough on +the surface, but darker than night beneath. She had removed her "sneaks" +and stockings, so that she might enjoy the freedom of dipping her toes +into the little ripples that played around the log. + +"I don't care whether I catch anything or not," she remarked, "it's +lovely just to sit here and fish." + +"We'll catch, all right," Ted assured her. "This is a great place for +fish--regular nest of them in under these rocks." He shifted a little on +his perch, which was on a live tree that leaned out of the stream. + +Presently Nancy developed a song from the tune she had been humming: + +"Singing eyly-eely-ho! Eyly-eely-ho!" + +"Got to keep quiet when you fish," Ted interrupted her. + +"All right," agreed Nancy affably. "But that tune has been simmering all +day and I just had to let it light up. Say Ted," she began all over +again, "did you hear about your friend, Mr. Sanders, getting rich?" + +"Rich? I'm glad of it. He's all right," the boy declared, flipping his +line to a new spot. + +"Yep-py, rich," Nancy repeated. "He's living at the hotel." + +"Oh, I knew that," scoffed the boy, airily. + +"Did you? Then why didn't you tell me?" + +"Secret," snapped Ted, shutting his lips with a snap that even a +venturesome fish might have heard. + +"And the Townsends--they are quite prosperous too," Nancy pressed +further. + +"Ye-ah." Ted was not encouraging the confidence. + +For a few moments neither of them spoke again. Then Nancy's line began +to draw, to pull out into a straight line. + +"Easy!" whispered Ted. "You've got a bite! Don't yank it. Wait until +he's on, good and tight!" + +They waited, breathless. Then Ted, the experienced, gave the signal, and +Nancy, the amateur, drew very gently on her pole. Up, up, but still +under water, until suddenly the water surface freed the capture, and +something black, shiny, snaky, dangled violently from the upheld line! + +"Oh, Ted, quick! It's a snake! Look a snake!" cried Nancy, getting to +her feet finally, after slipping several times on the smooth log. + +"Look out," yelled Ted, for the black slimy thing dangling on Nancy's +line seemed to be making directly for her face, as it swung back and +forth and darted violently toward the shore. + +"Oh-h-h-h-h!" Nancy screamed. "He's going for--" But she was taking no +further chances, instead, she flung her pole, line and hook and catch, +as far from her as a single fling could send it. The pole floated +contentedly but the slimy thing was again hidden in its beloved waters, +although it must have still been impaled upon the tortuous hook. + +Ted looked a moment at the lost outfit. + +"Nancy," he said gloomily. "You're crazy. That was a fine, fat eel, and +they're hard to catch that way. And look at--your--pole." + +"I'll get it," decided the surprised girl, instantly slipping down from +the log and leaning out over the stream. + +"Don't!" yelled Ted. But the warning was given too late, for as Nancy +stepped on what seemed to be grass, she found herself thrust into the +water, deep enough to frighten her of something worse than a snake. + +"Oh!" she yelled again. "I've got to swim out, I'll smother in the bog +if--I--don't." And so saying she flung her body free from the deep +marsh-grass, and struck out in an emergency stroke toward the open +stream. + +"Go up to the cove!" Ted yelled. "Just around that pine tree! I'll meet +you there!" + +The light clothing she wore was not much more cumbersome than some +bathing suits are often found to be, so that Nancy, a capable swimmer, +was now pulling surely toward the cove, while Ted was racing, as best he +could in the heavy undergrowth to meet her as she would land. + +But just as Nancy turned in to a clear little corner to make her +landing, she heard a muffled call. + +"Help! Help!" came the indistinct cry. + +Ted was abreast of her and he too heard the call. + +"It's over in the sand dunes," he yelled, as Nancy stepped ashore and +shook some of the heavy water from her clothing. "Quick, Nancy, the +fellows went to play Indian there!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE CAVE-IN + + +There was no time to think of wet garments as Nancy raced after Ted +toward the sand dunes. + +"Quick," he urged. "They're the little fellows, Billy and Jack, and they +must be under the sand." + +Just beyond the trees and undergrowth that surrounds Oak's Pond, a +stretch of sand hills offered the youngsters an ideal playground. A few +scrubby pines managed to draw from the dry soil enough vitality for a +very much impoverished growth, and it was from the direction of the +trees that the feeble call was now heard, at protracted intervals. + +"There!" pointed out Ted. "There's the shack. They must be in a cave-in +near it." + +His surmise proved correct, for quickly as brother and sister could +reach the spot, they found every evidence of a cave-in and a sand +deluge. + +"We're here," Ted called. "That you Billy?" + +"Oh, yeah," came a pitiful little squeak. "We're smoth-rin' to death. +Quick--please--quick." + +"There's a board," Ted ordered, at once taking charge of the rescue. +"You can dig with that, Nan. I'll dig with my hands." + +Exactly like a very eager dog that digs with all fours when he wants to +get in or out of a pit, Ted went to work. The light sand flew in clouds +as he pawed and kicked, so that compared with his efforts Nancy's +board-shovelling seemed provokingly slow. + +"Oh, this is no good!" she finally burst out. "I can do that, too," and +without a thought but for the rescue, Nancy dropped to the position Ted +was working in, and was soon digging and kicking until her clouds of +sand rivalled his. + +"Oh! Oh!" came repeated calls and groans. "We--can't--breathe. Move the +board! It's pressing--" + +"We're coming. We're coming," Nancy called back. "Don't get frightened; +you can't smother now." + +But it was not easy to reach the imprisoned youngsters, for a collapsed +sand hill is as slippery to control as a rushing water fall. Every time +the rescuers thought themselves within reach of a board, an avalanche of +sand would tumble upon it and bury the end they tried to grasp. + +At last Nancy grabbed hold of a big stick that protruded from the hill. + +"Here Ted," she called. "Get this! It's under a board--" + +Raising the stick carefully they did, at last, lay hold of one of the +collapsed boards, the "roof" under which the youngsters had been caught. + +"Care-ful," warned Ted. "Raise it! Don't pull it out!" + +It was heavy, for sand pressed itself into great weight, in spite of its +infinitesimal atoms. At last the rescuers were able, with care and +skill, to raise the board, then another, until finally the bare feet of +two small badly frightened boys, led directly to the entire persons of +the same little victims. + +"Oh my! Mercy me!" gasped Nancy. "They do look awful, Ted! Quick let's +get them water!" + +"Jack is the worst," replied her brother. "Nan, see if your skirt is wet +yet. You could squeeze a little water on his face--" + +The garment that had been dripping a few minutes before was still damp +enough to permit of being "squeezed," and standing over the pale face of +little Jack Baker, Nancy managed to extract some drops at least, to coax +back life into the almost unconscious boy. + +Billy dragged himself out, although he was barely able to do so, and as +quickly as little Jack showed signs of life, Ted and Nancy between them +carried him down to the water's edge. + +They were just about to bathe his face and hands when a canoe drifted +into sight around the cove. + +"Mr. Sanders!" called Ted. "There's Mr. Sanders," he repeated, and his +voice was reaching the occupant of the canoe, for the bark was now +headed directly for land. + +First aid and other common sense treatment was soon being administered +to both Billy and Jack by Mr. Sanders, Ted and Nancy, and when the +cave-in victims were finally entirely resuscitated, it was decided that +Mr. Sanders should carry them up stream in his boat, and so enable them +to easily reach their homes, at the head of the pond. + +"You've been having some experience this morning," the man remarked to +Nancy as he waited for the boys to climb in the big long boat. "Can't I +give you and Ted a lift too? There's room enough if everybody obeys +canoe rules," he said pleasantly. + +"Oh, that would be fine," Ted replied, while Nancy was thinking of what +to say. "Sis fell in the pond after her fishing tackle," Ted added. +"That was our first adventure." + +"That must be what I picked up," interrupted Mr. Sanders pointing out +Nancy's pole with the cord wound around it, lying in the bottom of the +boat. + +"Yes, that's mine," admitted Nancy, "and I'm glad to get it back for it +was a special pole--one I got for a premium from a Boston store," she +explained. + +"Well, pile in," ordered Mr. Sanders, "and you little 'uns' had best not +frighten your folks with the cave-in story," he warned. "Better to be +careful next time," he finished laughingly. + +When all were securely ensconced in the long, graceful bark, Nancy was +given the extra paddle and allowed to ply it alongside Mr. Sanders. In +the joy of that unusual privilege, (for she was seldom allowed in a +canoe,) the accidents were quickly lost thought of, even Jack and Billy +venturing to trail their fingers in the stream, while Ted sitting in the +stern took chances on throwing out his line now and then just for the +fun of feeling it pull through the quiet waters. + +As they sailed along, conversation was rather scattered, consisting +mainly of snatches of questions and answers between Nancy and Mr. +Sanders. The two little boys had scarcely spoken since their rescue, and +now within sight of home, they were just beginning to assume normal +courage. + +Suddenly Nancy started to titter. There was no apparent cause for her +change of mood, but the more she bit her lip, looked out toward shore, +bent her head toward her paddle and otherwise strove to divert herself, +the more the titter gathered and broke into a laugh, over her helpless +features. + +"Funny, isn't it?" remarked Mr. Sanders drolly. + +"Silly, but I just can't help laughing," she admitted. "It's at the +idea--" + +"I wonder if I couldn't guess," interrupted the man with the strong +brown arms. "It's about me, isn't it?" + +"Yes," admitted Nancy, slowly. + +"And about--about my supposed magic powers." He stopped and enjoyed a +light laugh himself. "Wouldn't it be tragic if I should disappear just +now?" he said so suddenly, that Nancy jerked her paddle out of the water +and stared at him with a sort of guilty flush. + +"The idea--" she faltered. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" roared the big man swinging toward the shore where Jack +and Billy were to land. "That's a great story, isn't it? But I'll tell +you," he lowered his voice in a tone of confidence, "I am altogether to +blame for that fantastic yarn, but sometimes we have to let folks guess +even if they do make--spooks out of us." He laughed again and even the +little boys were now being tempted to join in. "But I want to promise +you and your brother this, Nancy," he said seriously. "You shall be +among the first to know the answer to the riddle of my magic +disappearance around the gray stone house." + +"Thank you," Nancy managed to say, as Ted caught a strong little branch +on shore, and helped land the canoe. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + INTRODUCING NERO + + +It did not seem possible that Manny's school had been successfully +opened two weeks ago! That the girls in her class, at first numbering +eight now counted fourteen, each paying five dollars for the month's +training in domestic science, with lessons three mornings a week. +Fourteen pupils at five dollars each and every single one paid in +advance, while Nancy was acting as class president and Ruth as class +secretary; these were, indeed, auspicious arrangements. + +And besides the seventy dollars paid Miss Manners for tuition, the class +members brought their own supplies and were privileged to take them home +with them, in the form of various tempting dishes, "the like of which" +as Nancy expressed it, "never had been seen in Long Leigh before nor +since." + +"Maybe you don't know you're a wonder," Ruth remarked very casually to +Nancy, while she, as secretary, was consulting with Nancy as president. +"I can cook better _now_ than I ever expected to in my whole life. And +as for Isabel! She's so enthusiastic, her mother says she has to +restrain her from going into the boarding house business. You should +just taste Belle's 'Cherry Moss.' Um-m-m! It was de-lic-ious!" and Ruth +smacked her lips to the echo. "Her brother Tom wanted to know why we +didn't make up a class for boys. He was in the army, you know, and so +thinks himself very efficiently trained." + +"Isn't it great?" Nancy remarked, referring, of course, to the success +of the class. "And for a laggard, an idler and one who positively hated +the very letters that spelled cooking, I think I'm doing pretty well +myself. I made a fudge cake yesterday and mother carried it out to set +before the library ladies, can you imagine that? A cake that _I_ made! +After my heartbreaking experience with the ungreased pans!" + +It was very early in the afternoon and Ruth, with Nancy, was putting the +class room in order. She had remained over to lunch as she often did, +and the two chums found pleasure in arranging the white covered tables, +the shining pans, the numbered spoons and other utensils. It was all so +much pleasanter than doing anything in an ordinary kitchen. + +The gas range, that was sent in to Miss Manners as a demonstrator's +sample, was majestically white and really quite attractive, if such an +article can be called attractive, and just how Nancy hovered rather +lovingly over it, polishing with the very softest, whitest cloth the +impeccable, enameled surface. + +Ruth had been finishing a little memorandum in her oilcloth covered +book. She laid the book down now and strolled over to Nancy. In their +white aprons and white caps, Nancy and Ruth looked too picturesque to be +passed by without compliment. + +Ruth wound her arm around Nancy's shoulder. "I wonder," she said, "why +we sometimes think that all play is more fun?" + +"I never did," replied Nancy, innocently. "My trouble always has been in +finding enough different things to do." She looked rather pathetically +into the soft gray eyes that were caressing her own darker orbs. There +was no impulsive hugging, nor other ordinary demonstrations of +affections dear to the average emotional girls, for Nancy was not given +to extremes, nor was Ruth addicted to such flagrant sentiment. + +The two girls were especially happy just now. Nancy was accomplishing +more, much more, than she had ever hoped to do, with her little shop +that first brought real financial help to her mother, and was now doing +as much for Miss Manners. Besides all this, it was giving the girls +themselves a very useful, as well as enjoyable, summer diversion. Ruth, +although a new friend of Nancy's, had become a very fond friend indeed, +for the frank, original and genuine qualities of Nancy were unmistakable +in their sincerity, and it was easy enough for any girl to love her--if +she could but get near enough to her to know her. + +"And you don't think it shows a weakness to be so changeable?" Nancy +asked Ruth. "I just can't seem to be happy unless I'm planning something +new." + +"Why, that's--that's a sign of originality," replied Ruth, smoothing +Nancy's cap on her dark hair. "Some day you'll do something wonderful--" + +"About the girls," Nancy interrupted. "Don't you think we were fortunate +to get the Riker girls to join the class? They seem to represent the +smart set at Upper Crust Hill, and they brought at least five others +along." + +"Nancy, our school is the talk of Long Leigh. Lots of mothers think +their girls should do something useful during the month of August, and +I'd just like to see any mother find a study more useful than +cooking--according to her ideas," said Ruth. + +"And Vera is going to take an extra hour for desserts," Nancy went on. +"I can see Vera the pride of her family some day. Such home talent may +be inherited. We haven't any of it in our family, I'm afraid," said +Nancy, regretfully. + +"But you've got something more precious," Ruth assured her. "I never saw +three folks so like one person as you three are, and yet you are all +individually different; if you know what I mean." + +"I do," said Nancy. "And you're a dear, Ruth. What would I have done out +here without you?" + +"Taken the stylish Vivian Riker to your heart," teased Ruth. "She's a +beauty." + +There was a stir outside. + +"Look who's here!" interrupted Nancy, jumping up and hurrying toward the +door. "Ted! And he's got the threatened new dog with him. Come and see!" + +The threatened new dog was indeed being coaxed along by Ted, but he +didn't look exactly new. In fact, his coat was matted and shaggy, his +tail hung down without a bit of "pep" in it, and even his long, +long-haired ears seemed too discouraged to pick up the kindest words Ted +was trying to pour into them. + +"Nero!" announced Ted simply, as Nancy opened the door and Ted tried to +push the melancholy Nero in. + +"What ails him?" Nancy asked, looking the strange animal over, +critically. + +"Just nothin' but lonesome," replied the small boy cryptically. + +"He looks pretty--blue," Ruth commented, giving the dog a friendly but +unappreciated pat on his shaggy head. + +"Guess you'd be blue too, if you lived where he did," Ted told Ruth. +"That poor dog hadn't a friend in the world until I found him. Here, +Nero, come along and eat," ordered Ted, while Nero followed him toward +the back door through the erstwhile Whatnot Shop and present-time +classroom. "He's a fine dog," the little fellow continued to praise, +"and when I get him all fixed up he'll be a beauty too," he insisted +stoutly. + +"Maybe," Nancy almost giggled as she looked after Ted and his dog. "But +when you take him to the beauty shop, Ted, you better get him a real +Russian bob, his hair is long enough to braid," she commented gaily. + +"You can laugh," Ted retorted, "but he's a thoroughbred--a one-man dog. +He won't notice you girls. Come on Nero, attaboy," chanted Ted, +importantly. + +But being cooks, Nancy and Ruth could do no less than offer to provide +Nero's meal. Each thought he would like something else best, and each +tried the other dish, pushing it under his indifferent nose and coaxing +him with: + +"Here Nero! Good! Eat! Eat-er-up!" etc. + +But Nero merely sniffed disdainfully, snuggled his nose deeper into his +flattened paws, and turned two big, brown adoring eyes up at his young +master. + +"Pity about him!" quoth Nancy. "Maybe he wants some of Isabel's Cherry +Moss. Just stew or beefsteak or even fried potatoes are not, it seems, +on his diet bill." + +They were all out on the back porch, Ted squatted squarely beside the +new dog, while the girls floated around Nero, like little tugs +surrounding a big steamer. + +"He doesn't _have_ to eat," Ted remarked indifferently, "he had a free +lunch on the way over." + +"He did!" screeched Nancy. "And you let us go to all this trouble!" She +kicked the tin pan of water over in sheer disgust. + +"Well, I thought he might like something else," murmured the small boy, +provokingly. "He only had a big soup bone and loaf of bread." + +Taking off their cooking-school caps and unbuttoning their aprons as +they went, the girls wended their way back to the deserted class room. + +"Can anyone beat that?" remarked Nancy, inelegantly. "Ted and his dog +and the big--soup--bone! I could put a tune to that; a sad mournful +dirgy tune." + +"Wherever do you suppose he picked up the brute?" Ruth asked. "I don't +remember having seen him around town." + +"Oh, trust Ted," replied Nancy. "When we first came here, mother +answered him once, in a most casual, unthinking way: 'Yes.' It seemed +his question was could he have a dog, and mother hadn't been paying +strict attention. Since then he's been on a hunt for a dog. He brought +home a poor half-dead little tatters one day, but some boy followed him +up and claimed the beauty. I wonder if this one will be left to him? He +seems pretty particular about his food, doesn't he?" + +"Yes," replied Ruth, who was just glancing out the door. Suddenly she +exclaimed: + +"Here's a taxi coming, and it's the one mother always uses. I guess +she's sending for me, I'll go out and see." + +Nancy looked out and saw Ruth talking earnestly to the driver. She +seemed to be disagreeing with the message he was giving her, and she +turned abruptly to come back to Nancy. + +"Imagine that!" she panted, "Mother wants me to meet a train and take an +old lady to see the Hilton house. As if I could show a house to one of +father's customers!" Ruth's voice betrayed actual antipathy to the very +idea. + +"But why not?" queried Nancy. "If she is just an old lady--" + +"A rich old lady who has come a distance without notifying father's +office, and there isn't a man within call to take her out," Ruth sighed +miserably. The thought of showing a house seemed absolutely beyond her. + +"I'll go with you," Nancy offered. "Why couldn't we show a house? We +know how to call out rooms, don't we?" + +Ruth jerked back her pretty head and stared at Nancy. + +"All right," she exclaimed, brightening perceptibly. "I'll go if you +promise to do the talking. I'm sure you can call off rooms and do more +than that in the business line, Nancy. Let's hurry. The train is almost +due." + +So the two young "real estate ladies" were presently seated most +circumspectly in the taxi, on the way to "meet a wealthy lady who wanted +to look at the Hilton house." + +And Nancy was fairly aglow with the prospect of a new and interesting +business adventure. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + A DISCOVERY + + +"Isn't she lovely? Looks like a cameo." That was Nancy's remark to Ruth +when Mrs. Mortimer Cullen tarried in the sun parlor of the Hilton house, +through which the girls were conducting her. + +But Ruth only sighed. Her task was too obnoxious to permit of +compliments even to the handsome, elderly woman, who indeed did look +like an animated cameo, set in a frame of gray veils, thrown over a +small summer hat. + +"Isn't the garden beautiful from this porch?" Nancy enthused, joining +Mrs. Cullen there. "Just look at that hedge! It's literally screened in +with fine white clematis! And look! Mrs. Cullen! Just see that bower of +Golden Blows! Oh, I don't believe I have ever seen such a beautiful +place," and Nancy flitted around like a big butterfly herself, her +yellow and white tissue dress escaping in little clouds about her, as +she raced from room to room. + +"My grand-daughter Naomi, is quite like you," smiled the amused lady. +"If you see so much beauty here I am sure it would please her. And it is +for her, principally, that I am considering coming to Long Leigh." + +"Oh, I'm sure she'd love it," chirped Nancy. "But do come upstairs and +see all the wonderful bay-windows. Why, this house is made just like a +lot of flower bowls. Every single room opens out in--Just see these +windows." + +So Ruth and Mrs. Cullen followed Nancy upstairs to see the windows. From +that point of vantage she dragged them to the alcove over the stairs and +pointed out the "glorious garden," from that view. And she was being +perfectly sincere in her enthusiasm. None of it was assumed, in fact, +one would have imagined Nancy was considering buying the fine old +homestead for her own use. + +They spent more than an hour looking over the place and even then Nancy +hated to leave. + +"Imagine having a home like that," she tried to whisper to Ruth. "I +think I'd be satisfied even to do housework if I could look out that +kitchen window as I did it," she added, while Mrs. Cullen smiled her +satisfaction into Nancy's eager face. + +They drove back to the train with the prospective customer, who, when +taking her leave, glanced significantly at Nancy. + +"My dear," she said, "you gave me a very pleasant little visit to your +pretty Long Leigh, and I hope if my grand-daughter, Naomi, comes +here--ever, she will meet you." She then touched Ruth's hand gently, +saying something about having her father's office get in touch with her. + +When the train had cleared the station the two girls broke into a much +relieved giggle. Ruth declared that Nancy had won the heart of "Lady +Cullen who is as rich as they come," she explained, inelegantly. + +"And I had such a good time--" + +"Whoa there! No, you don't, Antoinette Brandon," Ruth warned Nancy. "You +are _not_ going in the real-estate business, so you needn't get all set +for it. My father has a family to feed--" + +But the very gentleman spoken of was at that moment hurrying across the +platform, to meet the two uproarious girls. + +He was most anxious to know about their mission. Mrs. Cullen, it +appeared, was a very important personage, and he regretted genuinely the +absence from his office of a suitable escort for the lady. + +"Oh, you needn't worry, Daddy," Ruth assured him, taking the city +newspaper from one of his pockets and feeling for candy in the other. +"Nancy took such good care of her that she almost stayed over to buy +more houses. You'll have to look out for Nancy, Dad." Ruth continued to +joke. "She's an expert business man, you know, and might take a notion +to try real-estate." + +"The more the merrier," replied the genial gentleman, who, like Ruth, +had great gray eyes and a clear florid complexion, "I've been wanting to +see your mother, Nancy," he said next. "Maybe, I could suit her better +in a house than you are being suited in the Townsend place," he +ventured. + +"Oh, we love it over there," Nancy hurried to state. "And besides, Mr. +Ashley, we're just poor folks," she added laughingly. + +"So are we all of us," joined in Mr. Ashley. "But I supposed, now that +Sanders has struck his gold mine, he might want to buy the little place +himself, sort of souvenir, you know." As they talked, they were walking +back to the waiting taxi, in which the girls had fetched Mrs. Cullen to +the station. + +"Now Daddy," objected Ruth, "we've had enough business for one +afternoon. Nancy must get back home and I've got a music lesson, if Miss +Dudley has waited for me, and I hope she hasn't." + +Nancy felt rather important stepping out of the taxi at her door, it +seemed, somehow, much more business-like than just riding in someone's +private car, and she dashed up the store steps, still thrilled with +enthusiasm from her experience. + +Inside the door she found Ted, crouched before the fireplace urging Nero +to "sic" something. + +"Get him, boy!" he was coaxing. "Go-get-him!" + +"Get whom?" Nancy asked, in surprise at the spectacle. + +"What ever is in that chimney," the boy replied. "Do you think Nero +couldn't get it as good as that puny little dog of Miss Townsend's?" + +"But how do you know anything is in there?" + +"Heard it--it whistles. Besides you said so." Ted was not a waster of +words. + +"I never said there was anything there," Nancy argued. "But what +whistled? What did you hear?" + +"Just whistlin'. Sic him Nero!" and Ted tried to push the big shaggy +head against the old-fashioned fireplace board, that was papered with a +very brilliant and hideous set paper piece, the center representing a +terrible time among birds that looked like freak chickens. + +But Nero was absolutely deaf to Ted's entreaties. No more would he "go +for" the chimney than he went for the food offered him by the solicitous +young domestic science students, Nancy and Ruth. + +"I don't think you should keep that big--untidy dog in here, Ted," +remonstrated Nancy, who hesitated over calling Nero "dirty" and felt +foolish at calling him "untidy." She crossed to the corner of the store +and raised a window. "You know," she continued, "this is a cooking +school and everything has to be strictly sanitary." + +"He's strictly sanitary," Ted declared, pressing his own curly head down +to Nero's. "I'm glad I've got him, I needed a chum around home," he +finished, affectionately. + +"How about me?" teased Nancy. + +"Oh you!" Ted was caressing Nero, and Nero was thudding his tail in +response. + +"Yes, what about me, Ted? Don't you like me any more?" + +"Like you! But you ought to hear folks talk. They say you'll be starting +a--butcher shop next." + +Nancy drew her breath in sharply. Were they criticising her like that? + +"Who's talking about me?" she demanded of her brother. + +"Don't have to get mad," drawled Ted. "What do we care? We know, I +guess," he placated, tactfully. + +"But who's talking?" she insisted. + +"It's all jealousy," the boy evaded. "They're disappointed because the +Townsends and Mr. Sanders are getting along so well. First, they tried +to make Mr. Sanders out foolish, and now they say this place is spooky. +Guess I've been here long enough to know," he retorted, as if answering +the unknown foes. + +But Nancy was stricken with that painful self-consciousness that so +often lately had taken possession of her. The changeable girl, even her +friends were calling her; why did she so love--to change? + +"Look!" whispered Ted, directing her attention to the dog. +"He--hears--it!" + +Nero was now alert, head cocked to one side, ears pricked up, and every +dog-feature of him ready to pounce. + +Ted and Nancy watched him, breathless. + +A little snapping bark, a growl, long and threatening; then a wild, +fierce howl, and the big creature dashed against the fireboard! + +"There!" exclaimed Ted. "I told you so!" + +"What is it?" gasped Nancy. + +But the barking of Nero shut out even the sound of their voices, and as +brother and sister looked on, the big dog pawed the fireboard, +scratching away the paper, birds, flowers, impossible sky and all. + +Presently he turned from that attack and dashed to the back door. Ted +and Nancy were quick to follow him. + +"Let him out," Nancy directed. "He may know there's someone around." + +Unhooking the screen door Ted let his dog out. With a bounding leap Nero +cleared the steps and dashed around the house to the chimney corner. + +"Look!" screamed Nancy, "there--goes--a--man!" + +As she pointed to the farthest corner of the lot, where the fence was +broken down to admit a short cut to the avenue, they saw a man, just +stepping through the brush. + +"Mr. Sanders!" exclaimed Ted. "I see his bald head!" + +"Mr. Sanders," Nancy repeated. "What can he have been doing here?" + +"That's what Nero is trying to find out," replied Ted, dryly. "Let's see +how he's making out. He's stopped barking. Maybe--he's--got--it." + +It took but a few moments to reach the side of the house, where the +old-fashioned stone foundation was broken by a place, through which the +ashes from the fireplace had once been cleaned out. Here sat Nero. He +wagged his tail happily as Ted came up, and he now seemed perfectly +satisfied and contented. + +"What is it Nero?" Nancy coaxed patting the dog in a most friendly way. +He was evidently winning her affection as well as Ted's. + +But Ted knew best how to follow the animal's lead. He was down on his +knees in front of the mossy stones and had his ear cocked to the small +iron door. + +[Illustration: Ted had his ear cocked to the small iron door.] + +"Yep," he sort of gasped. "It's there! It's kinda-tickin'." + +"Let me listen," Nancy asked, dropping down beside him. + +For some time brother, sister and the big dog were all crouched there, +attentive, eager and somewhat excited. + +"Just a little sound--like an egg-beater," Nancy suggested. "And look, +Ted, those broken weeds! Mr. Sanders must have been in here just now." + +"Sure, it's his," said Ted, in a manner as matter of fact as if an +egg-beater "whistling" in the old fireplace was the most ordinary thing +in the world to expect being put there by Mr. Sanders. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE MIDNIGHT ALARM + + +It was a very exciting story, indeed, that Ted and Nancy poured into +their mother's ears that evening. Had she any possible objections to +adopting Nero as the fourth member of the family, they must have been +quickly dispelled with the graphic account of that animal's uncanny +intelligence. + +"He seemed to know just where to find the outlet to the chimney," Nancy +said, "for he ran directly to the little furnace place, and we didn't +really know it was there ourselves." + +"Of course, he knew," said Ted importantly. "Dogs know lots of things +that we don't. And he's going to sleep in the store, isn't he, Mother?" + +"Oh, not in the store, Ted," objected Nancy. "Do you think that would be +just right, Manny?" + +"Well, a big dog like that," demurred Miss Manners, who, now being a +real resident of the Brandon home, shared their table with them. + +"But he's had a swim and he's as clean as--as anything," floundered the +boy, quite unable to summon an appropriate comparison for his great +friend. "And Mother, he can watch the whole house for us. How do we know +someone wouldn't try to steal--the secret of the chimney place?" + +"It isn't our secret," retorted Nancy, "and for my part I can't see what +right Mr. Sanders has around our place at all." + +"You can depend, dear," said Mrs. Brandon gently, "that whatever he has +put in the chimney, if anything, it is something that could in no way +bother us. Mr. Sanders is a professor, and the old-fashioned stone oven +may have some special interest for him." + +"But couldn't he ask us about it, if he wanted to--to plant a bomb +there?" Nancy remarked, superciliously. + +"He's no gabber," said Ted, with more wisdom than elegance. "And anyway, +maybe he didn't. But Mother, may I have the old steamer rug to make a +bed for Nero? He's so big he needs a big bed." + +It was finally agreed that Nero should be allowed to sleep in the store +before the fireboard, and after much work making the rug into a bed for +him, Ted eventually got him to try it. + +Very slowly the big shaggy creature sprawled himself out on the soft +wool, but he only stayed sprawled for a few moments. The next, he got +up, took a corner of the rug between his teeth, dragged it over to the +show gas-range and, in a dog's way, proceeded to make his own bed. + +Every one was watching him and every one laughed. + +"He can do tricks," Ted declared proudly. "I'm goin' to train him for a +lot of things. He could almost do anything," the boy added, whereat even +Miss Manners laughed softly. + +But Nero was settled at last, and so far as he was concerned, gave no +further trouble to the Brandon family for that evening. The subject of +the buzzing, egg-beater noise in the chimney, coupled with Mr. Sanders +leaving the grounds so suspiciously that afternoon was, however, +discussed most thoroughly. + +Even to the children Mrs. Brandon's confidence in Mr. Sanders, agreeing +as it did with the confidence of so many other grown folks, gave cause +for much curious speculation. Nancy pretended that she disagreed with +this general sentiment, but that was only because she felt there was a +certain injustice in the manner of Mr. Sanders assuming rights over +their personal property. + +Ted, on the contrary, was ready to vote for Mr. Sanders at every +opportunity, and while he didn't exactly say that Nero had at one time +belonged to the people who had lived in the big stone house, he _did_ +say that Lou Peters, who gave him Nero, said that the Giffords, who +belonged on the hill, used to feed Nero regularly at their back door. +That was as near to proprietorship as Ted could bring Nero. Lou Peters +had been keeping him among the old boxes, so he gave him to Ted. All of +which followed a natural sequence, for Ted himself had been feeding Nero +dog biscuits and soup bones for a long time previously. + +"Isn't it queer how jolly it seems to have a dog in the house," remarked +the boy, who was curled up on the couch and hugging a big story book +from which, tonight at least, he read very little. + +"It does seem as if we have pleasant company," Miss Manners conceded +agreeably. She was, as usual, at her fancy work--some exquisitely fine +linen drawn work, being done for a city customer. + +"But I thought we all agreed never again to become attached to a dog," +recalled the mother. She was making notes and reading a book--a +librarian's method of reviewing. + +"We all felt so dreadfully when Grumpy died," Nancy recalled. She sighed +effectively at the recollection. "Grumpy was the loveliest dog--" + +"So is Nero," affirmed the fickle Ted. "In some ways he's a lot smarter. +You should have seen him do tricks for Lou Peters. He'll do them for me, +too," professed the youngster, "as soon as we get better acquainted." + +"Oh, Ted," digressed Nancy. "I've been wanting to ask you. Did Billy and +Jack make out all right at home after their cave-in scare? Their folks +weren't angry, were they?" + +"Angry!" scoffed Ted. "They each got a quarter for ice cream cones; +that's how angry their mothers were. Jack and Bill are two--pets," he +finished, rather contemptuously. "If they hadn't been so soft they'd +have known how to dig themselves out. Guess I'll go to bed," Ted then +announced suddenly and surprisingly, for he usually wanted to remain up +even longer than the others. + +"Now, that Nero is asleep," teased Nancy. "But never mind, Ted," she +amended. "I'll give you credit for picking a fine dog. He's handsomer +than a collie, and not so awkward as a St. Bernard," Nancy commented, +rather critically. + +"Sure," agreed Ted. "He's a thoroughbred," and with that all-meaning +compliment, Ted put his book upon the shelf, looked very carefully in +the store so as not to disturb the distinguished occupant, and almost +whispered good-night, kissing his mother fondly as he took his actual +leave. + +"Ted does love that dog," Nancy remarked indulgently. "And I'm glad you +let him keep him, Mother, for Ted likes to wander off alone and a dog is +good company for him." + +"The dear little fellow!" murmured his mother. "I can hardly believe he +is growing up and becoming able to look after himself. So often during +the day, I stop and wonder--" + +"Oh, you needn't, Mums," interrupted Nancy, "for Manny barely lets him +out of her sight without all kinds of cautions. It's lovely since Manny +came," Nancy concluded, a little shyly. + +Following all this each of the three applied herself to her task, (Nancy +was reading,) until the clock struck ten, then it appeared time to +follow Ted's example and retire, which they did. + +It had to happen, it always does. The dog barked wildly in the very +blackest part of the night, and before they realized what had disturbed +them, the Brandon household was awake and on its feet! + +"What can--it--be?" breathed little Miss Manners, wrapping her neat robe +closely around her. + +"Why, it's Nero," answered Ted foolishly, although he was not trying to +be funny. "He's after someone. We're safe." + +But Ted's unlimited confidence in his dog's power to protect, did not +lessen the uncanny feeling produced by the midnight howling, growling +bark. + +Mrs. Brandon did what she could to assure Nancy and Miss Manners that +dogs often bark at almost nothing, but when she heard Nero's paws +scratching against the door that led from the hall into the little group +of sleeping rooms, her own courage sagged somewhat. + +"Let him in!" ordered Ted. "Here, let me!" he corrected, going to the +door and meeting bravely the wild greeting of Nero. "What is it, boy?" +he asked. "What's the matter?" + +To which question Nero threw his two great paws against Ted's chest, +barked not fiercely, but in that talking way dogs have, and then turned +to race back down the stairs. + +"It's no one he's after," explained Ted, "or he wouldn't leave them to +come up and tell me. He wants to show me something--" + +"Ted Brandon!" cried Nancy. "Don't you dare go down--" + +"I'll go along," volunteered Mrs. Brandon. "As Ted says, the dog would +have stood guard if any one were trying to get in." + +There was no use in further arguing, for Ted was already close on Nero's +heels, following him to the store whence he was leading. Mrs. Brandon +may have been timid, but small Ted's confidence in his dog was very +fortifying, and she, too, fell in with the small midnight procession. + +Nancy did not remain upstairs, neither did Miss Manners, for somehow it +always does seem safer to "stick together" in that sort of trouble. + +No one spoke as they followed the dog. With great dignity he led them +on, until, upon reaching the store, he made a pounce over to the corner +near the chimney. + +"Oh," screamed Nancy. "It's that old chimney--" + +"It's something else," exclaimed Ted. "Just look here! A 'busted' water +pipe. That's what it is! Look--at--the--flood!" + +They all looked, and saw, issuing from a pipe that was connected near +the fireplace, a very positive and very menacing stream of water. + +"Oh, my! Our things!" groaned Nancy. "I've got to turn the water off." + +"But where? How?" asked Mrs. Brandon in confusion, fully realizing the +damage water could do. + +"I know," replied Nancy, in her best business-like manner. "I was +'monkeying' with it the other day. It won't take me a jiffy," and while +the others patted the intelligent Nero for his alarm, Nancy flew to the +kitchen, got a wrench from Ted's tool chest in the little corner closet, +and then with one sure, swift turn, reversed the handle on the water +pipe that led from the boiler to the pipes from the cellar. + +"It's off," yelled Ted. "That's all right, Nan, it's stopped." + +"Why, daughter," exclaimed Mrs. Brandon, still breathless, "how did you +know how to do--that?" + +"Because--she's a good plumber," declared Ted. "Hurrah! Nan! Let's start +a plumbing shop! That's something you--haven't tried yet." + +"Ted!" said Nancy sharply. "I don't like being made fun of. Anybody +ought to know how to turn off a water pipe. We all know how to turn off +the gas, don't we?" + +"Ted didn't mean to be rude, dear," Mrs. Brandon assured the injured +one, "but we were so surprised." + +"And Nancy does seem to have such a talent for business," ventured Miss +Manners. "I tell you, dear," and she gathered her robe around her as she +followed the others out of the store, "it is something to be proud of. +Any of us can be just housekeepers, but it takes a different sort of +ability to be--the man of the house," she said, which was an unusual +figure of speech for prim Miss Manners to make use of. + +"She can't be that," objected Ted. + +"Very well, then," said Nancy. "Let's see you mop up that floor, Ted," +she challenged. "That's a plumber's job, too," she pointed out. But it +was Mrs. Brandon who found the mop and Ted who used it. Nancy felt +perhaps, that the executive part, in turning off the water, was enough +for her to have done. + +She was hurt, unwillingly, at Ted's joking remark. + +"A plumber shop," she reflected mentally. "Well, one could do worse, for +plumbers are necessary and needle-work fiends aren't. Maybe I will take +up something practical before I find what would be best for me," she +continued to reason. + +But none of them knew, nor was it possible for them to guess, what Nero +had saved in his timely midnight alarm. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + FOR VALUE RECEIVED + + +It seemed but a very short time later that Nancy was again awakened. But +now the sunshine was streaming into her room, and she heard Miss Manners +talking down in the hall, in a suppressed voice. + +"The children are not up yet," she was saying. "But come in, Ruth. You +see we were somewhat disturbed--" + +"Come on up, Ruth!" called out Nancy. "Come up and hear about our +par-tee!" + +Ruth came up promptly, and the story of the broken water pipe was +presently being told her, brokenly. + +"How perfectly--thrill-ing!" she commented in her well known +characterization of the affected Vera. "But you should have had Nero +turn off the water--" + +"I'll bet he could too," shouted Ted from his room. Ted never lost a +chance to praise Nero. + +"But just listen to _my_ story," Ruth begged. "I've got a thrilling +yarn, too." + +"Then, wait until I get propped up for it," ordered Nancy. "I can't hear +comfortably when I'm down." She put her two pillows under her shoulders +and assumed a most affected air of the tired society girl after her +dance. Even a cap was improvised from a twisted stocking, a lacy robe +was concocted from her thin, soft slip, and the luxurious effect was +completed by Ruth piling upon the bed a bunch of mussed up store +paper--the morning mail! + +"There now," said Ruth, "I hope you can hear. Although I must say you +are not well cast. The character for you, Nan, is that of a short haired +lady at a big desk, her eyes bulging out of goggles and her waist line +strapped into a belt. You know--" + +"Yes, I know," admitted Nancy, "but I like this better--it's more +becoming, isn't it?" Another pose and a shift of the lacy robe. Then +Nancy appeared ready to hear Ruth's story. + +"You sold the place!" Ruth blurted out without a hint of its coming. + +"The place?" + +"Yes. To Lady Cullen. And she said positively over the long distance +last night to Dad, that she never would have bought it but for you." + +"Of course, she would," scoffed Nancy. + +"Nope. Dad said that place just wouldn't sell. He and his men have shown +it to so many. But dear Mrs. Cullen!" Ruth sighed foolishly. "She told +Dad that the young lady was so enthusiastic over the place that she was +positive her granddaughter, Naomi, would react in the same way. Notice +that Nan, re-act." + +"Yeah," drawled Nancy. "That's what this is--I'm--re-acting," and she +fell further back among her pillows. + +"But really, Nan, it is true," insisted Ruth, laying hold of one of +Nancy's long, slender hands. "And you needn't blush about it, either. I +think the way you blush under that olive skin of yours--" But a pillow, +vigorously applied to Ruth's face, checked further compliments. + +"If you don't want to hear," Ruth presently continued. + +"Of course I do. I'm just as glad as glad, Ruth, that your dad has sold +the place, but I know very well Mrs. Cullen would have bought it +anyhow." + +"She wouldn't. Dad says so, she says so--I say--says--so," declared +Ruth. "And if you don't believe it just listen to this." She changed her +position sitting up very straight and facing Nancy very positively to +make the statement most emphatic. "Mrs. Cullen very tactfully suggested +that your interest and your success be--remunerated." + +"Ruth!" + +"Now, don't let me hurt your feelings, Nan, but Dad would honestly love +to have you accept." + +"I won't," declared Nancy, blushing furiously now. "The idea--" + +"Then, he will talk to your mother about it. Do you know, little girl, +what a lot of money a big sale like that brings to Dad's firm? And how +much he would have to pay out in commission to the man who succeeded in +making the sale?" + +"I know one thing," said Nancy, shifting herself out of the bed and +planting two bare feet firmly upon the floor, "I'm being made a business +woman, a store-keeper, a cooking school director, a plumber and now a +real-estate agent. I don't mind being a few things but that's quite +a--lot!" + +"You haven't said Enthusiast," Ruth reminded her, "that is what counts +most. But Nancy, you really ought to consider," pressed Ruth. "The money +would mean so much to your mother, and you have a perfect right to it. I +knew the way you were tearing around that big place, that you would +flim-flam Cullen," joked Ruth. "And Dad says, a hundred dollars isn't +anything on a fifteen thousand dollar deal--" + +"Fifteen thousand!" + +"Yes, all of that. And here's the little one hundred check," Ruth was +pressing a slip of paper into Nancy's unwilling hand. "Dad will be +dreadfully disappointed if you refuse--you're not too proud, are you?" + +"Too proud!" and the black eyes snapped little pin points of sparks. +"No, indeed, I mean to be a business woman, like mother, and I don't +care how soon I start," proclaimed Nancy, firmly. + +"Spoken like--Nancy Brandon!" hailed Ruth, gleefully, for she had known +all along what a task it would be to get Nancy to take the check. And +just as she had honestly stated, the amount given Nancy was but a small +fraction of that which a man from Mr. Ashley's office would have had to +receive for the same service. + +Unbelieving, Nancy stared at the check. + +"One hundred dollars!" she murmured, her eyes now beaming with +anticipation. "And mother's vacation only three days off!" + +"But please, Nan," Ruth hurried to change the subject, "don't go away to +parts unknown and leave me pining here. Of course, there are lots of +girls--hanging around," she smiled very prettily and looked very dimply +as she said this, "but since you came to Long Leigh, Nan, the other +girls don't count as much as they did." + +"I suppose," said Nancy in her "twinkling" way, "that may be because I'm +such a freak. I'm a lot of fun--" + +"Nan--cee!" + +"Ruth--ee!" + +And they finished the argument with a very pardonable show of affection, +if it was only a sound slap on Nancy's not fully clothed shoulders and a +pretty good whack on Ruth's plump little thigh. + +When Nancy was alone again, (for Ruth was to meet the girls at Isabel's +and they were all going for a swim before their ten o'clock cooking +lesson,) she smoothed out the little blue check lovingly. It was so +strange to think that money was acquired through mere enthusiasm. That +Mrs. Cullen would have decided to buy that enormous place merely upon +Nancy's--enthusiasm. That the cooking school had been started and was +successfully running because of her--enthusiasm! + +"Perhaps," she told the reflection in her glass, "it's a good thing to +despise some kinds of work if it makes one enthusiastic for other kinds. +But even now," she was insisting to that same mocking smile, "_I can_ +make a very good cake." + +To meet the girls at the lake, Nancy took a short cut up, over the hill +that would lead her past the old stone house. She had hurried her +breakfast and made sure that Miss Manners did not need her help to get +ready for the class, then, gowned in the easiest thing to put on--and +off, her lavender gingham, she raced off up the hill. + +But she never could hurry past the stone house; everything around it +held fascination for Nancy, even the half-formed dread that someone or +something would drop down from the sky, or spring up out of the earth, +as Mr. Sanders had formerly been accused of doing. So, instead of +crossing the fence where the old cedar tree had broken through and had +thus made an opening, Nancy continued on up through the stone path that +would bring her out at the apple orchard. + +"As if there could be anything weird in this open place," she was +saying. "Why, the old cistern over there looks as spic-span as when +folks used to draw water from it, and I'm sure," she was thinking, "a +turned upside-down rain-barrel shows care and attention--no mosquitoes +can breed in that." + +She stood a few moments to enjoy the soft summer scene, for it was not +yet quite time to meet the girls, when from the direction of the +rain-barrel she head a whine, a cat's cry, surely. + +"Some poor cat maybe caught in briars," Nancy decided promptly, as again +came a piteous meaow of a kitten or a cat. + +Following the call Nancy hurried in its direction. + +"Here puss?" she called. "Kitty-kitty-kitty!" + +The cry stopped as her voice called to it. It was not near the rain +barrel, Nancy now decided, but over by the cistern. Quickly she turned +in that direction, but when within a few feet of the square little box +that covered the artificial well, she was suddenly startled by a +noise--a queer noise. + +"What's that?" was her unspoken question. + +She listened. It was a man's voice, singing! + +"Where, where--can that be!" she murmured half aloud, meanwhile +unconsciously walking toward the cistern. + +Then a hammering! A buzzing! + +"Oh!" screamed Nancy in alarm, now realizing that she had been hearing +something very strange indeed. "Oh, I must--get--away!" was her wild +determination, as she turned and dashed down the hill, making her way +this time through the opening in the fence where the cedar tree had +fallen. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + TARTS AND LADY FINGERS + + +No one would believe her. They all came out of the water as Nancy +arrived at the beach, and declined positively, to go in. + +"I'm too--flustered," she insisted. "My head is swimming now and it +doesn't matter about my heels." + +"But Nancy," protested Marion Mason, one of the Upper Crust Hill girls, +"how could you have heard anybody or anything in that open field? No +bushes nor trees big enough to hide behind, just there." + +"It was the cat," insisted Christine Berg, a friend of Marion's. "There +are queer cats--always have been--around the old stone house. First, the +cat meaowed, just to entice you," said Christine, wringing out the scant +skirt of her black satin bathing suit. "And then, when she got you over +there, she did the rest," finished the very blonde girl with the lovely +hazel eyes. + +"Sort of ventriloquist," added Isabel. "Well, at any rate, Nan, you have +had a thrill. Vera, wouldn't that constitute a thrill, don't you think?" + +"I'll tell you what _I_ think," chimed in Ruth. "I think we had better +hurry to dress or we shall be late for our lesson, and mine is +cream-puffs today. Our family can eat cream-puffs until the puff--" But +the girls, running up to the little bath houses, deprived Ruth of her +audience, and also of the necessity of finishing her simile. + +Nancy sat on the little board-walk edge of the row of houses, while the +girls dressed. Ruth finished first and joined her there. + +"Really, Nan?" she quizzed, in an under tone. + +"Most certainly--really," replied Nancy, seriously. "Do you suppose I +would make that up for fun?" + +"No, I don't. It isn't your brand of fun. But it's mighty curious. Do +you suppose we should all go up there right now, and go over every inch +of the place--" + +"Oh, no. We must go back to Manny and be good cooks," Nancy answered. +"Besides Ruth, she has my check and I'm anxious to see if it is still +there, not just a dream check you know," she smiled understandingly at +Ruth. + +Rather towsled from their bath, and the lack of time and tools for hair +arrangements, the party of girls presently started off to take their +domestic science lesson. Along the way they met and hailed a number of +friends, for at bathing hour the lake drew folks from all parts of the +village and its suburbs, but there was no time for tarrying as Miss +Manners insisted upon promptness, and no one willingly ever disregarded +her rule. + +It was a merry little group that, all aproned and capped, listened first +to Miss Manners explanation of rules and reasons, and then they +themselves undertook the practical art of applying this knowledge. + +But Nancy could not forget her experience. It had been so weird, so +wild, in fact, to hear those noises coming from nowhere. + +Ruth was beating the eggs light as air for her cherished cream puffs; +Isabel was carefully creaming an equally dainty concoction in her +middle-sized yellow bowl, and the other girls were being similarly and +as practically engaged, when a shadow, a large manly shadow, darkened +the glass that formed the upper part of the store door. + +"A visitor!" exclaimed Marion, smoothing her cap at the risk of spoiling +her batter. + +Miss Manners stepped to the door to answer the knock. + +"Mr. Sanders!" the girls whispered one to another, as they saw Miss +Manners greet the caller. + +"Maybe he's going to inspect--" Christine began, but was stopped by Miss +Manners speaking. + +"Girls," she said, in her best teacher voice, "Mr. Sanders has called to +see if we can fill an order for him." + +"An order!" chorused the surprised pupils. + +"Yes," spoke up the one man among them. "The fact is, young ladies, I'm +giving a little party up at Waterfall House, and I felt convinced that +my attractions would be greatly increased if I could procure some--some +confections from this famous little class," he said. + +Miss Manners was all but protesting. That her class could be called +"famous" seemed to her rather too extravagant a statement. + +"Yes, indeed," went on the caller, while it must be admitted some of the +girls were stifling giggles. "My daughter is coming up, and she thinks +her college excels in this sort of thing." His sweeping gesture seemed +to include everything, even the girls. "And I would be mighty glad to +show her what we can do in our little Long Leigh." + +Followed suggestions and questions, so heaped up that the mere wording +of all the excitement amounted to little compared with its general +effect. Finally, Mr. Sanders and Miss Manners went into a secret +session, to outline the order, and the girls, who were supposed to go on +with the lesson, in reality went on with the fun. + +"Imagine!" chuckled Eleanor Dixon, "getting an order for fancy cakes! +I'm going to make kisses--" + +"Lady fingers would be more appropriate," Isabel remarked sagely, +"although, El, I have heard Miss Manners say, your biscuits +are--splendid." + +"Tarts!" whispered Christine, shaking her long handled spoon, and making +a comical face. + +"Mac-a-roons!" came from Dorothy's corner. + +But Mr. Sanders was now preparing to leave, and Miss Manners was +conducting him to the door, her face alight with the pleasant +excitement. As the caller walked past Nancy he said to her in an +undertone: + +"Can I speak to you, just a minute, Nancy?" + +Without answering Nancy followed him outside to the porch. + +"I'm coming up to see your mother this evening," he said, when their +voices were beyond reach of the others. "I've been expecting to for some +time, but now I _must_. Will you tell her, please? And be sure to be on +hand yourself, you and Ted, for I'm about ready to disclose the long +promised secret," he finished, his eyes twinkling merrily as he spoke. + +"Oh, all right, certainly," faltered Nancy, not quite sure just what she +was saying. + +"Yes," continued Mr. Sanders, "the summer, is going fast and I'm glad +things have shaped themselves before we were, any of us, forced to +separate." He was patting his brown hands together gleefully. + +"Would you mind if Isabel and Ruth came over? They're my best friends +and you can trust them," ventured Nancy, surprised at herself for doing +so. + +"Certainly, by all means, have them come," replied Mr. Sanders. "I see +you anticipate a surprise, and you are generous enough to want to share +it with your friends. That's the spirit I like to see. Tonight it will +be a sort of private performance," he smiled as he said this, "but +to-morrow night at the hotel I'm going to tell all who come. That's what +I want your cakes for," he finished, moving down the low steps. "We're +going to have a celebration and--well, I'll see you this evening," he +promised, hurrying off like a happy school boy. + +There was little work done in the cooking lesson after that. Everybody +was so excited at the prospect of filling a real order, that the entire +class immediately set to planning just how it was to be filled. + +It was Christine, however, who had what Ruth called "the inspiration." +After the class was dismissed she got the girls together, out of Miss +Manner's hearing, and made her suggestion. + +"Let's all come early," she began, "_very_ early. We'll do our very +best, of course, we can make wonderful cakes." + +"_You_ can," corrected Nancy. + +"So can you, Nan," Christine took time to say, "I'd like to see any one +make a better sponge cake--" + +"Oh, sponge cake," scoffed Nancy. + +"The very thing most needed to go with ice cream," Christine hurried to +say. "But listen--" + +"We are," said Ruth. + +"We will take whatever money we get for the entire order, (we donate the +materials, of course,) and with the money we'll buy a gift for--Manny!" +said Christine. + +"Hurrah!" came a hushed hail, for there was danger of the plans being +overheard. + +However, Christine's idea was enthusiastically received, and there was +no possible doubt of the entire plan being successfully carried out. + +Ruth remained with Nancy and so did Isabel, so that she readily found an +opportunity to tell them of Mr. Sander's message. They were as usual, +putting things away, Miss Manners being obliged to leave early to give a +private lesson to an invalid girl. + +"And we are actually going to hear the secret," gasped Nancy. "Girls, +you don't know how excited I am--" + +"You don't know how _crazy_ I am," added Ruth. + +"And how _wild_ I am," put in Isabel. "Think we should have a doctor +within call? Will it be overwhelming?" she joked. + +"Better have a policeman," suggested Ruth. "He may disclose some gems, +or other valuables." + +"Here comes Ted," Nancy interrupted, "and I know by his walk that he's +worried." + +Ted strode in, Nero close beside him, and as Nancy had intimated he did +act worried. + +"What's the matter, Ted?" Ruth asked first. + +"Matter? I've got to hide this dog. Folks want to take him away from me. +Say he's theirs," Ted's words fairly hissed his indignation. + +"Who says so?" demanded Nancy belligerently. + +"A man who came up to the old stone house," answered Ted. "But Nero was +Lou Peter's dog and Lou gave him to me, and not all the money there is, +is going to get my dog away from me." + +Ted's voice was not very positive, and the girls, all three, assisted +him in coaxing Nero out to the small door under the back porch, where he +was finally made a prisoner, with several plates of food set before him +to lighten the misery. + +It surely would be disastrous for Ted to lose his dog. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE STORY TOLD + + +The Whatnot Shop was quite powerless to prevent the invasion. + +"We'll push all the tables back and set the chairs around in a +half-circle," suggested the fluttered Nancy. "Then, it will be just +like--" + +"A play," finished Isabel. "Too bad we can't turn on a spot light." + +"I think it would be nice to let Mr. Townsend sit behind the counter on +his old high stool," Nancy further suggested. "It might make him feel at +home. I wonder where we put that stool." + +"Away back in the corner under the three-cornered shelf," Ruth informed +her. "I rammed it in there myself." + +It was dragged out--the stool, and set just where it had been found when +Nancy first took possession of the shop. + +"A regular par-tee!" chanted Isabel. "Glad I happened to wear a white +dress; being a deb and all that." + +"You may carry the white paper fan, little deb," mocked Nancy. "We +couldn't sell it so I'd be delighted to donate it to your coming out +party." + +"Oh, it isn't mine, it's yours," chirped Isabel, "and I hope you are not +going to wear that howling yellow gingham--" + +"I am. Yellow's my color," and Nancy flipped the skirt of her dress +around gaily. + +They were preparing, as might easily be guessed, for the "private +performance" promised by Mr. Sanders. Nancy had talked with him over the +phone, after his visit to the class that morning, and arrangements were +then made to invite the Townsends over, besides permission having been +granted Ted to bring in his chum, Buster Clayton. Just now Ted was +upstairs dressing; also singing and telling stories to Nero, most of +which racket could be heard down in the store. + +Mrs. Brandon's cheeks became soft as damask when Nancy showed her the +big check for one hundred dollars, which Nancy explained was in no sense +a gift, but purely part of a business transaction between her and Mr. +Ashley's real-estate office. The mother did not try to hide her delight, +that Nancy should have become such "a splendid little business woman," +and she predicted her own retirement from the office at an early date, +if such wonderful achievements were to be kept up. + +"And your bank account, my dear," she told Nancy when they were in +confidence over the developments, "aren't you proud of it?" + +"A little, Mother-mine," faltered the happy girl, "but there's something +better than that," she said shyly, for Nancy was not given to boasting. + +"I know," and the mother arms went around her. "Besides, you know now +that even despised housework is not so bad when it has an interesting +motive. That's why we mothers tolerate it; because we are working for +our darling children." + +"I know, Mums, but I really only thought 'dishes' before, now I think--" + +"The joy of helping _us_," Mrs. Brandon supplied. "And I'm so proud of +your cooking, and how much it has benefited Miss Manners, as well as +your friends. Why, my dear, I would make you vain were I to tell you +one-half of what I hear--" + +"Not vain, Mums. I'm not silly enough for that, for I've got to admit +I've been rather selfish all the way through--it has been such a lot of +fun." + +And Nancy meant it. She was not posing, nor was she playing at being +humble, for her mind was of that quality that reasons and analyzes one's +own motives as well as looking for motives in others. In that way she +had acquired what is called "common sense," perhaps because every one +should try, at least, to possess a measure of it. + +Now Mrs. Brandon, as well as Ted, was dressing. To please Nancy she had +promised to wear her geranium georgette, a soft dress that toned so well +with her dark hair and dark eyes, for Mrs. Brandon was still young, and +a handsome woman. + +And the girls were fairly dancing around the store, arranging chairs +brought in from the porch, dining room and even from the kitchen. + +"Let's make a little platform for Mr. Sanders," Ruth proposed. "This top +step of the back stairs will do. We don't have to open that door." + +"And have a stand and a glass of water--" Isabel added. + +"And flowers," insisted Nancy. "I must have flowers, they're so silly +for a man's speech, they'll make every body laugh." + +"Maybe hollyhocks would," Ruth said, "but I doubt if your audience would +see the joke if you put a bunch of roses there." + +So they progressed, until very soon, too soon for the girls, the company +began to arrive. + +Mr. and Miss Townsend, and little, brown, woolly Tiny came first. + +"I'm afraid we're early," said the lady in her best silver silk dress +and her very pretty new black-satin-trimmed-with-silver grapes, hat. She +carried a little flat cushion for Tiny, out of respect for the silver +silk dress. + +"Mother will be down directly," Nancy greeted Miss Townsend, in her very +best manner. "Sit over here. We've fixed this corner for you." + +"Oh my!" exclaimed the lady in genuine admiration. "How lovely +everything looks! However did you paint this old wood work white?" + +"For our cooking class, you know," replied Nancy, gaily. "Doesn't it +look--hygienic?" + +"I--should--say--so!" Miss Townsend was aghast. "And I suppose, those +spotless tables--" + +"Are the old ones from around the porches and every place," Nancy +informed her. "We just daubed the legs white and covered the tops with +oil cloth." + +"And I want to see that gas range. I've heard so much about it. Oh! +there's Miss Manners," exclaimed Miss Townsend, "she'll explain it to +me, and you may run along, dear." This was a release, not a dismissal +for Nancy. + +"She'll buy one and that will be a good big discount for Manny," Nancy +told the girls who had heard most of the conversation. + +"Yes. They've bought a new house--a brand spic-span new one," Ruth +whispered. "Father said Miss Townsend wanted the shiniest one he had for +sale," and there was a pardonable titter in response to that. + +But guests were now arriving in pairs. There were Mr. and Mrs. Ashley, +Ruth's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Duryee, Isabel's parents, besides Ted, +Buster and Nero, the latter three being promptly assigned by Ruth to the +corner nearest the side door. + +"So you can watch for prowlers," she joked. "Some other folks might +sneak up on the porch and listen in." + +"I'm all but stage struck," panted Nancy, trying to force the little +kicked-up curls around her ears back into place. "And girls, take your +places!" she admonished. "Here comes--the--talent! Mr. Sanders and +Sibyl!" + +It really was taking on the look of some sort of entertainment,--for as +Mr. Sanders and his daughter arrived there was a general presentation +all around by Mrs. Brandon, while the girls, feeling very much like +ushers at a school entertainment, stood with backs to the windows, just +as they always did at school affairs. + +The preliminary formalities over, Mr. Sanders was rather humorously +conducted to the "platform." This pleased Mr. Townsend "most to death" +and he was heard to chuckle that "the old fire-house as town-hall had +never held a better meeting." + +"I'll not keep you in suspense, my friends," began Mr. Sanders, without +so much as clearing his throat, "but I'll just introduce myself to those +who don't happen to know me. I'm Edwin Sanders of Eastern College, +professor of science there." There was a murmur through the room at that +announcement. + +"Professor!" was the surprised word it conveyed. + +"And I came here to experiment," the gentleman continued in a pleasantly +matter of fact voice. "I found this little house had a direct air shaft, +it runs from this room at that old fireplace down to the cellar, and out +through an old-fashioned flue-door, you know the kind." + +"That's a relic on this place," spoke up Mr. Elmer Townsend. "It was +built in here by a Dutch man from Holland--" + +"Yes, and it's a good one," agreed Mr. Sanders. "Well, you see, my +friends," he continued, "I had to experiment on an extremely delicate +little instrument," he was all professor now, "so, when I found the +exact conditions that I required here, I made an offer to the owner, Mr. +Townsend." + +There was much shifting around and significant scraping of chairs at +this point, but the speaker was in no way disturbed. + +"I thought it only fair to tell him how important my experiment was, and +what it would mean if it worked out as I expected. Well, it did," he +stated emphatically, "but not without the usual trouble that must be +endured if we want to succeed in big things." + +Miss Townsend was whispering, or she thought she was, and her brother +was trying to restrain her. + +"I could not tell the nature of this work because there was a new secret +principle involved in it," Mr. Sanders said, having overheard, likely, +what Miss Townsend was trying to tell her neighbor. "That was why Mr. +Townsend and I had to keep our secret so close." + +Ted and Buster were visibly squirming in their chairs, they were so +interested, but old Nero snoozed contentedly, not even suspecting +apparently, the presence of another dog, Tiny, that was safely hidden in +Miss Townsend's cushion. And as if Mr. Sanders remembered Tiny, he next +said: + +"Even the little dog was so interested as we worked he would insist upon +barking a tune for us. Sometimes we were afraid he might tell," he +finished, quizzically. + +"That was it," Ted privately told Buster. "Nancy said that puny, little +dog barked all the time he was in here." + +"After I got my point worked out in this air shaft," went on Mr. +Sanders, who had actually taken a sip of water from the glass at his +hand, "I was obliged to try it out in a very much more condensed +atmosphere. And just there is where I was forced to excite such wild +suspicions." He was almost laughing at the recollection. + +"It was funny; I'm willing to admit that myself, for like the King of +France in the story, I marched up the hill, but unlike him, I did not +march down again. And I'm surprised that no one seems to have guessed +where I was hidden." + +There was a pause. Nancy's face was betraying her suspicions but she +uttered no word. + + * * * * * + +"Just once I was almost discovered," continued Mr. Sanders. "And that +was the other day when my cat--cried. Just then some one was passing--" + +"I was," blurted out Nancy. "And I heard you singing!" + +Every one laughed. + +"Was I singing, really?" asked the professor. "Well, I might have been +for I was surely very happy. The anemometer was working beautifully down +there, in my--cistern!" + +"Cistern!" Every one seemed to cry out the word. + +"He was in the cistern!" Nancy gasped. "That was where I heard +the--noises coming from!" + +"In the cistern!" + +It took some time for the older folks to realize the significance of the +revelation, but the girls and boys seemed instantly to understand. + +"Yes, and you would be surprised what fine quarters I've had there. I +have that nice, perfectly dry cistern actually furnished, even a rug on +the floor! Chairs and a table, a looking glass--oh, you are all invited +to inspect now," announced the professor cheerily, "for my precious +instrument has been safely shipped to the manufacturers, and I've been +able--" + +"He's paid me more than a thousand dollars," declared Mr. Townsend, +rising from his chair and addressing the house, "and I think it's only +fair that folks around here should know how well I've made out on my +investment." + +"Yes indeed," Miss Townsend chimed in, "if any body in Long Leigh has +heard me say I was worried about Brother Elmer's money affairs," she +sort of hesitated before framing that term, "I just want them to know +now that we've made more money by Mr. Sanders investment in six months, +than we would make in six years in this little store." + +A burst of applause followed this. And presently every one seemed to be +talking at once. The formality of the occasion was lost in a round of +enthusiastic interest; the men demanding to know more about the +invention, while the women and girls were keen to hear all about the +cistern. + +Sibyl was glad to tell them about the curious little work shop under the +ground, and she soon had a group of the young folks listening to her +story. + +"I thought it was awful, at first," she explained, "but, of course, I'm +used to father's peculiar experiments. He has invented some wonderful +instruments," she said this in a properly restrained voice. "They are +being used in the college observatories, where they make weather +predictions, you know," she pointed out. + +"And I did notice some little pipes sticking out of the sides of that +cistern box," Nancy now remembered. "I might have known, but I was too +surprised to investigate," she admitted frankly. + +"Really girls," Sibyl went on, "Dad has that cistern furnished like a +room. You walk down a little ladder, and sit on a regular chair--" + +"But isn't it dark?" Ruth wanted to know. + +"Oh, no. One whole side of the cover is glass, a side that is back away +from the opening," Sibyl told them. "No one would ever notice the glass +there. And besides that, father had cut the concrete away, over on one +side of the bowl, and there he made a little skylight. You would never +notice that either, as there are bushes all around it," she said. + +By this time Ted and Buster were demanding to be heard. They had tried +to get a hearing with the older folks, but according to Ted "the buzzing +there was worse than a bee fight." + +"And say, Nan," he called out now, "I just want to know about--about +what Nero was after down the cellar, you know." + +Mr. Sanders was trying to make his way toward the girls just then, so +Nancy delayed answering Ted. + +"And say, Ted," Mr. Sanders began. "About your dog. You needn't worry +that anyone will take him from you. That man who spoke to you used to be +care-taker at the old stone house. And he was supposed to look after +Nero, whose real name is Jason. That's the fellow who went after the +Golden Fleece you remember." + +"Jason?" repeated Ted. "Sounds like an auto fixer. I like Nero best." + +"All right, son," and Mr. Sanders gave Ted a friendly slap on the +shoulders. "Nero he shall be. But as I was saying, the man who was +expected to care for your dog hadn't done so, and he's got sort of +worried lately and wanted to get him back." + +"He can't have him," Ted defended stoutly. + +"No, that's right; he can't. And I told him so. He knows now that the +dog is in good hands, and that I'll answer any questions the Ellors +family care to ask about him." + +Ted's face was now beaming with joy. He had been so worried about Nero +that he simply wouldn't let the animal out of his protective sight for +days past. + +"And Mr. Sanders," he insisted, "night before last Nero saved us from a +flood. A water pipe broke right over there and Nero--made us all get +up--" + +"Night before last!" exclaimed the professor. + +"Yes; and Nancy turned off the water--" + +"That was the night I had my precious little air-meter right under this +chimney," said Mr. Sanders very slowly, "and if water had trickled +through the floor, down onto that, it would have been ruined." + +"Then, just as Ted says," Nancy spoke, "Nero really did save it, for +there was a regular flood around this hearth." + +"You must have seen me leaving the grounds that afternoon," Mr. Sanders +admitted. "I was sure you did, but I wasn't ready to tell my story--just +then. But Ted, I'll have to get you a fine collar for Nero--" + +The girls were begging Nancy to make an announcement. + +"Go on," urged Ruth. "They're all talking together and no one will +listen unless you get up on the step." + +With this and considerable more urging, Nancy finally mounted the step. +She smiled shyly at her mother as she passed along, for Mrs. Brandon, +like the other "principals," was having a busy time of it. + +"I just want to say," Nancy began with a little quaver in her voice, +"that we've prepared some little cakes and punch as samples of our +cooking class work, and we'll be glad to have you all stay and try +them." + +There was real applause at this, and mentioning the cooking class--was a +signal for another outburst of comment from the ladies. They all +believed in girls doing something during summer, and they did not +believe in girls "wasting" an entire vacation. + +"I think we ought to give a cheer for the girls," Mr. Sanders proposed. +"They have kept things going pretty lively around here this summer, just +lively enough to save me from having been discovered." + +"And I'd like to say a word," ventured timid Miss Manners. But the girls +would not permit her to do so, Nancy, especially being fearful that the +little lady's gratitude, for the domestic science class and for Mrs. +Brandon's hospitality might become embarrassing. + +"Any how," said Buster to Ted, "we can have our dog." + +"And a dandy new collar," appended Ted. + +Nancy was waiting a chance to finish her announcements, and in a little +lull she again called out: + +"Mr. Sanders and Miss Sanders are entertaining tomorrow evening at the +Waterfall House. Every body is invited! And you will be treated there to +some real samples of our cakes!" + +"Now I call that lov-el-lee," declared Miss Townsend, shaking her new +hat at every syllable. "And these cakes," (the girls were passing them) +"are de-lic-ious." + +Nancy was very happy. She tugged at her mother's arm and cuddled her +head against the loving shoulder, just as she had always done in her +great moments. + +"Isn't it lov-ell-lee, Mums," she whispered. + +"A complete--success!" murmured the mother. + +And the next morning half, if not all, of Long Leigh trooped up the hill +to inspect the wonderfully outfitted and "infitted" cistern, that had so +long escaped notice, on the grounds of the old, stone house. + +"I was going to look down that cistern first chance I got," Nancy +confessed. "But being successful is such a busy--business," she joked, +"that I think it will be a delightful change to begin a real vacation +with mother tomorrow." + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nancy Brandon, by Lilian Garis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANCY BRANDON *** + +***** This file should be named 45497.txt or 45497.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/4/9/45497/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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