The Secret in the Old Attic Read Online Free

Susan?”
    “Susan is all right,” the maid admitted in a quieter tone.
    “Then what is wrong?”
    “Everything! Oh, I’m scared! I don’t want to stay!”
    “Tell me what happened.”
    “Last night—” Effie paused.
    “Yes?” Nancy prompted her.
    “I’d better not tell you any more. Please get out here as fast as you can!”
    Nancy lost no time in driving to the old March homestead. Effie met her at the door.
    “Let’s talk outside,” the maid whispered. “I don’t want Mr. March to hear me. He gets so excited if anything goes wrong.”
    Nancy suppressed a smile. Effie herself often reacted the same way. She followed the maid to a corner of the lawn.
    Effie glanced carefully about her. Then in a half-whisper she began her story.
    “It happened late last night. I kept hearing creaking sounds and couldn’t sleep. So I got up. I was standing looking out the bedroom window when all of a sudden I saw a big, powerfully built man sneaking across the lawn!”
    “Had he come from the house?”
    “He must have. He came around from the back and stole off toward the garage. Then he disappeared. Oh, I don’t like this place! Can’t we take little Susan and go into town?”
    “We shouldn’t move her while she’s ill,” Nancy replied. “After all, you don’t know that the man was actually in the house. There isn’t anything valuable here for anyone to steal.”
    “I guess that’s right,” Effie conceded. “And I saw to it that all the doors and windows were locked before I went to bed.”
    “Suppose we go around now and see if any of them were forced open last night. Which ones did you open this morning?”
    “Only the dining room and kitchen.”
    Together Nancy and Effie inspected the first floor of the house. Mr. March was upstairs with Susan and unaware of their investigation. After each window had been checked and found to have been untouched by any intruder, Effie was greatly relieved.
    “I guess that man wasn’t in here after all,” Effie said with a sigh.
    The maid returned to her work, apparently no longer disturbed. Nancy was far from being satisfied. She went outside to examine the yard. To her dismay she discovered fresh footprints in the soft earth. They circled the house, then led away from a point near the former servants’ quarters.
    “Effie did see someone!” she thought. “But what would a prowler be interested in here?”
    Again Nancy followed the circle of footprints around the mansion. Then an alarming thought struck her. “Maybe he has a skeleton key!”
    Another idea leaped into Nancy’s mind. Perhaps the trespasser had been looking for Fipp March’s unpublished music! He might be the one who had stolen the piece Mr. March had heard on the radio!

CHAPTER IV
    A Startling Figure
     
     
     
    “I’LL renew my search for the missing compositions at once,” Nancy decided.
    On her way to the attic she stopped to say good morning to Susan and Mr. March. The little girl was sitting up in bed, a big grin on her face. She was listening to her grandfather tell stories.
    “The doctor says I’m almost better, Nancy,” the child said happily. “I’m sure I can get up soon, and I’m never going away from here again —ever!”
    Mr. March’s eyes glistened with tears, and Nancy was sure she knew what he was thinking. She opened her purse and took out a check made out to the order of Philip March.
    “For me? From Mr. Faber’s Antique Shop?” the elderly man asked, not understanding.
    “For your table and hatboxes. The ones my friends and I found in your attic.”
    “I had no idea they were worth so much! This will tide us over for some time.”
    “And now I’m going to search for something even more valuable—the music.” Nancy smiled.
    “I’m sure you won’t find it,” Mr. March declared sadly. “It’s been stolen, I’m afraid.”
    Nancy did not tell him how near the truth she thought he might be. She said nothing about the mysterious prowler. Instead, she