The Secret in the Old Attic Read Online Free Page A

urged Mr. March to be hopeful.
    Nancy realized the mystery would be a long way toward being solved if the elderly gentleman could identify some of the tunes on radio programs. He had no television set and his one radio did not work very well.
    “Mr. March, suppose I bring my portable radio out here tomorrow,” she said. “Carry it around with you all the time. You may hear more of your son’s songs.”
    “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
    Nancy straightened the covers on Susan’s bed, then said she would start her hunt on the third floor.
    “My friends and I didn’t have a chance to do much searching in the attic the other day,” she told Mr. March. “I guess if the music is in this house, it will be up there.”
    “You may be right. But be careful.”
    When Nancy reached the top of the narrow stairway she turned on her flashlight and looked about, wondering where to begin her hunt. The placed seemed even more spooky than the previous time she had been there. There was a musty odor in the attic. As she stepped forward to open a window, the floorboards groaned.
    Nancy decided to begin her search in an old horsehide trunk. She lifted the lid and saw a yellowed wedding gown of rich, brocaded satin.
    “This lovely dress must have belonged to Susan’s grandmother,” she thought.
    Alongside the gown lay half a dozen old-fashioned pictures. One of them instantly struck Nancy as familiar.
    “I believe this is a Currier and Ives! Yes, here’s the name to prove it!”
    Her heart leaped, for she knew how eager collectors were to buy these old prints.
    “What luck this is!” She smiled. “Wonder what else I can find here that could be sold.”
    Nancy had been so busy she had failed to notice a lowering thunderstorm which had been coming nearer and nearer. Now it broke over the old house in all its fury.
    “Guess I’d better close this window and then help shut the ones downstairs,” she thought, stepping across several boxes to reach the dormer.
    After securing it firmly, she went toward the stairs and started down. Just then she heard a splintering sound, followed by a crash which shook the old March mansion convulsively.
    Below was pandemonium. Susan was crying loudly, Effie was shrieking, and Mr. March was shouting:
    “Nancy! Nancy, are you all right?”
    The girl hurried down and assured him she was unharmed. She in turn was relieved to find the others safe, but Susan was trembling with fright. The little girl had gotten out of bed and scampered into the hall. Now she clung piteously to Nancy.
    “I don’t want to stay alone!” she wailed. “Something fell on the house by my window.”
    Nancy stroked the child’s head soothingly. She asked what had happened. Mr. March, already on his way down the broad staircase to the first floor, replied that he thought one of the big pine trees had blown over and struck the house.
    “The—the lightning did it!” declared Effie, terror in her voice.
    “Chin up, Effie,” said Nancy. “Let’s all of us go downstairs and see what happened.”
    She got Susan’s bathrobe and slippers, then together they followed Mr. March. He called to them to come into the music room. Out of a window they could see one of the tall pines leaning against the mansion. As soon as the rain stopped, Nancy and the elderly man went outside to see what damage the fallen tree had caused.
    “Very little harm done,” said Mr. March. “This house is well-built. That’s a heavy tree. I’m glad it didn’t fall on your car, Nancy.”
    “I am, too,” she replied. “If you’d like me to, I’ll go to a garage and get some men to bring a wrecker up here and pull the tree away from the house.”
    “That would be a good idea, but the expense—”
    “I know a man who won’t charge much,” said Nancy. “And that reminds me, I found some more things up in the attic to sell—a dozen or so pictures.”
    She hurried to the attic and gathered up the old prints.
    “Do you recall these?”