The Clue in the Crumbling Wall

"How dreadful!" Juliana exclaimed. "And what harrowing experiences you have had!"

"Tell me something," said Nancy. "It was reported that the hospital found a lot of money on you. Did you plan to stay away a long time?"

"Oh no. I was going to buy an expensive personal gift for Walt from a man who wanted cash. Also I planned to purchase something for our home." The former dancer sighed deeply.

Suddenly the woman slumped forward. In an instant Nancy caught her and placed the limp body on the floor.

"Juliana has fainted!" Bess cried out.

Nancy was fearful that the woman was suffering from something more serious than a faint, because the former dancer's pulse was very weak. Under the flashlight her face looked chalk-white.

"The poor woman!" Bess murmured. "She has been through so much!"

The girls tried to revive Juliana, and finally succeeded.

"We must get out of here!" said Nancy. At that moment they heard distant shouts outside.

"Listen!" George commanded.

The voices were coming closer. George blew several loud blasts on her whistle.

"Where are you?" somebody called. "We're the police. There are four of us."

Nancy shouted that they were below the trap door in the tower. She called out directions and in another five minutes the four prisoners were released.

"Lieutenant Masters!" exclaimed Nancy.

"How glad I am to see you! Did my father get in touch with you?"

"No. Hannah Gruen did. And who is this?" she asked, smiling at the former dancer.

Juliana herself replied to the question. When Nancy suggested that she ought not to expend her strength talking, the woman insisted she felt much better.

"Who shut you in here?" the policewoman demanded.

"I'm not sure," Nancy answered. "The voice was disguised, I think. But it might have been Daniel Hector. He must have escaped."

"Oh, no, he didn't," said a voice triumphantly. "We nabbed him climbing over a wall. Also these two birds."

Two more policemen appeared. With them, handcuffed, were Cobb and Biggs. Behind the men was Daniel Hector.

"This is an outrage!" the lawyer snapped. "You can't arrest me. I have a perfect right to be on this property. The others are trespassing."

Coolly Nancy presented her evidence against the lawyer. She accused him of stealing jewelry from the estate, a claim that could be proved by photographs found in Walter Heath's box.

"And that's not the worst," she said to him. "You pretended to look for the woman who was to inherit the estate. But when you did locate her you kept it a secret so you could help yourself to the estate. When you found out I was on the trail of the real Juliana Johnson, you had her kidnapped and locked in the dungeon here! To protect yourself, you produced an impostor with whom you had made a bargain."

"Ridiculous!" Hector cried furiously. "Lies lies! Nothing but lies!"

Hector had not seen Juliana yet. She was seated on the winding stairs in the tower behind Nancy.

The young sleuth now stepped aside. Hector stared at the crippled dancer.

"So what?" he demanded after a moment. "I had nothing to do with bringing her here! And she can't prove she's the missing dancer. Just look at her!"

"Oh, yes, I can prove it," Juliana retorted with spirit. "The imprint of my dancing shoe is embedded in a wall at Heath Castle. Furthermore, I still have the slipper that made the imprint!"

"What's that got to do with it? The real Juliana is at the Riverview Hotel!" the lawyer blustered. "She has a note to prove her identity. A note signed Walt."

"Don't you mean half a note?" Nancy asked. "I have the rest!"

Cobb and Biggs looked startled. "You?" Biggs cried. "Where did you find it?"

"At the factory after the explosion."

The three men hung their heads guiltily, admitting they had been there. Biggs added, "Hooper here found the note in a desk Hector sold. He tore it in two pieces, expecting the lawyer to put up more money for the second half. When one piece was lost, we thought Hector had found it."

In answer to Nancy's question if he were Teddy's father, the man nodded sullenly.

Nancy explained to Juliana that Teddy had learned about the estate from Joan. Teddy had told his father that Juliana was missing. Cobb and Biggs got together. Biggs suspected his former employer had hidden some valuable things in the estate walls and the two men convinced Hector he ought to hire them to look for the treasure. When they found a few items, the men kept them.

"You guessed right, but I can't figure out how," said Biggs.

"I know nothing about all this!" shouted the lawyer.

"Yes, you do," Cobb Hooper said bitterly. "You were behind the whole thing. You brought the dogs to guard the estate, but later I kept 'em tied up and then took 'em back to the kennel."

"We were afraid of them ourselves," Biggs added.

"Mr. Hector," said Lieutenant Masters, "it looks as if the case against you is pretty serious."

"I tell you I never saw these men before," the lawyer insisted. "Nor that crippled woman, either. Now all of you get out of here!"

For a long second there was silence. Then Juliana slowly got to her feet. Her eyes ablaze, she pointed a finger at Hector and exclaimed:

"Arrest that man! Arrest him for kidnapping!" The wily lawyer's jaw dropped. Then he recovered. "The woman is crazy!" he shouted.

"The night you came to my farm and brought me here you wore a disguise," Juliana said accusingly. "At first I didn't recognize you. But your voice-I know your voice." Her eyes snapped with anger as she added, "I will bring charges against you to the fullest extent of the law for Walter Heath's sake!"

Daniel Hector knew he was beaten. But he would not give up yet. He glared at Nancy and cried out:

"If you had minded your own business, there wouldn't have been all this trouble! But don't be so smug. You think there are treasures and money for Juliana. You're wrong. There's nothing in the estate but debts. She has inherited a wreck!"

CHAPTER XXA Last Surprise

"Nothing in the estate!" Nancy exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

The angry lawyer refused to reply. He and the other prisoners were led away by the police.

Nancy,-Miss Masters, and Juliana headed for the Fenimore home. When they arrived, Juliana asked Nancy to go in first and break the news.

"Oh, you've found my sister!" Mrs. Fenimore cried, after Nancy had told her. "You wonderful girl! I don't care if we never have Heath Castle. To think Juliana is alive, and we can be together again!"

Gently Nancy warned her about Juliana's condition. The news was a shock, but Mrs. Fenimore took it bravely as Juliana was brought in. The sisters embraced and both cried a little. Then over and over the joyful women expressed their gratitude to Nancy.

The young sleuth said she was glad to have accomplished what she had, but was not satisfied to leave the case yet. For days afterward she was tormented by all the distressing angles of the affair.

In the meantime, Juliana had claimed her inheritance and had requested that all legal matters be attended to by Mr. Drew. The lawyer had lost no time in having Hector and the other men prosecuted, and also brought charges against the woman who had impersonated the dancer.

"Hooper and Biggs admit having found several bottles of dye and a formula marked, 'Perfected Formula,' hidden in the cloister walls," Mr. Drew told Nancy. "They've surrendered them and I've had an analysis made. The dye has dried up but a newly made liquid would be of great value commercially if produced under the same conditions that Walter Heath used."

"What were they?" Nancy asked.

"Sea salt was mixed with the spring water in the pond. Marine whelks, which are a huge type of mollusk, were imported and put into it. They exude a beautiful purple dye. After Heath's death the whelks vanished."

Nancy was thoughtful. "It would take a good bit of money to start up that business, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," her father replied. "But it would be profitable for Juliana. The special shade of purple is difficult to imitate synthetically."

Nancy had been hoping that Hector's dire statement regarding the estate would not be true, but part of it was. Mr. Drew had learned that the total Heath assets were twenty dollars, the walled grounds, and a ruined castle with a few pieces of furniture. The debts, however, were illegal loans, which Hector had made against the estate and which he would have to pay back.

Account books had been falsified to show that huge sums had been paid to various detective agencies, supposedly for the purpose of conducting a search for the missing Juliana. But the wily lawyer had kept the money.

"Unfortunately we can't recover it," Mr. Drew remarked to his daughter. "Hector has spent it all and has little of his own left."

"How about the Heath pearl, Dad? You didn't find it?"

"No. I'll keep on trying, of course. Frankly, I don't feel hopeful."

"Somewhere on those grounds," said Nancy, "there must be something of value hidden. After all, Walter Heath told Sam Weatherby there was another treasure."

"I've had the place searched, Nancy. Workmen even removed the imprinted block of cement below the wall fountain, but there was nothing behind it. Heath Castle will have to be sold.

"But I'm afraid," he went on, "the sale price won't be much, considering its present condition. Juliana wants to keep the property, but she can't, she has barely enough funds to operate Jardin des Fleurs."

It was some consolation to Nancy that she had brought the sisters together, but she felt as if she had failed in one of the most vital tasks of her life.

"Even if I did find Juliana, I wasn't able to save the estate or help the Fenimores financially. And they need money so badly."

Unwilling to give up, Nancy drove out to the estate one day after lunch to try to find the treasure which Walter Heath had mentioned.

"What can it be and where?" she asked herself. "It's supposed to be in plain sight."

Nancy worked her way doggedly through the neglected grounds and examined the statuary. Though not an expert, she could tell that none of it was unusual. She looked at a grove of fruit trees which might become a source of profit. But the trees were too old.

Finally the young detective, hot, thirsty, and discouraged, arrived at the little garden off the cloister. As Nancy walked toward the fountain, she suddenly stopped short and stared at the sparkling stream of water.

"That's it!" she exclaimed softly. "Spring water! Cold, clear, delicious, and probably pure. It might even have minerals in it!"

Nancy could visualize the estate as a health resort where people came to rest and drink the water.

"Or it could be bottled and sold!" she thought. Excited by the idea, Nancy quenched her thirst, then hurried home to telephone her father. He promised to have the spring tested in the morning.

The next afternoon the Drews were delighted to learn that the water was pure and rich in minerals. A further search of the grounds revealed several more beneficial springs.

"The supply is plentiful," Nancy told Bess and George. "Dad will probably make arrangements with a bottling company to market it."

In the meantime Nancy had remembered the beautiful shells she had found in the pond. Saying nothing to Juliana, she sent one of them to a company in New York which specialized in making fine mother-of-pearl jewelry. The answer came back promptly: the firm would buy at a good price all similar shells.

"Nancy, you're wonderful!" exclaimed Juliana when Nancy telephoned her about it. The bottling company also offered financial backing to convert part of the castle and grounds into a health resort.

"That's wonderful!" Juliana cried out. "Now I can afford to turn a section of the castle and grounds into a free vacation spot for handicapped children, and, of course, my sister and Joan and I will occupy some of the rooms.

"You've certainly changed our lives. Nancy," she added gratefully. "And now the Heath property will become beautiful again!"

A year later, upon invitation, Nancy, Bess, George, Mr. Drew, and Lieutenant Masters journeyed to the estate to view the many changes. The great gate stood open. The visitors drove up a winding road between avenues of trimmed hedge and trees. The three girls smiled when they recalled how different everything had seemed to them on their former trips there.

"It doesn't make me feel a bit creepy now," Bess remarked.

"Those penetrating eyes that spied on us from behind the evergreen," Nancy said, "were Hooper's or Biggs'."

"With Cobb Hooper in jail, what has become of Mrs. Hooper and Teddy?" asked George.

"She's working," the policewoman replied. "Teddy has been sent to a special school, where he's doing very well."

The visitors got out of the car near the restored loggia and paused to admire the repairs to the crumbling walls. The gardens were a mass of bloom. The lawn in front of the castle was velvety smooth with no weeds.

"How did Juliana ever accomplish so much in such a short time?" George asked.

Nancy replied, "She imported her gardeners from Jardin des Fleurs."

Bess called the girls' attention to the children who had come out on the lawn to play. A few were in wheelchairs, but they pushed themselves about with amazing skill.

"Juliana is doing remarkable work with these youngsters," said Lieutenant Masters. "She's putting new spirit into them. Joan is developing into a fine little girl, too. She's proving to be a great help to her aunt."

"What is she doing?" Bess asked.

"Juliana, with the help of a therapist, teaches exercises to the children to restore nimbleness to their bodies. Joan does the demonstrating. And incidentally, Joan is the delight of her aunt. She's going to be a wonderful dancer someday."

"And carry on from where Juliana left off," Bess said dreamily.

The callers were greeted cordially by the mistress of Heath Castle and her sister, Mrs. Fenimore, now restored to health and looking very attractive with a fashionable new hairdo. Both women thanked Bess and George tor their excellent assistance to Nancy in solving the mystery. Joan hugged Nancy and the others happily.

"Oh, come see my garden," she exclaimed, and showed them a small plot of beautifully tended flowers in front of the castle.

Tea was served on the terrace. Afterward, Juliana led her guests to the little garden where Nancy had discovered the spring. Children were playing on the shady walks.

"The water is helping to build strong bodies," Juliana said proudly. "Oh, it means so much to me to bring these boys and girls here! I'd never have forgiven myself if I had returned to a lonely life at Jardin des Fleurs. By the way, I sold it at a nice profit."

Mr. Drew had been waiting for this very moment. He took a tiny box from his pocket and slipped it into Juliana's hand.

"A little surprise," he explained, smiling. The woman slowly raised the lid. Nestled in purple velvet was a ring set with a huge pearl.

"Not the one Walt meant for me?" Juliana asked, dazed.

"Yes."

"But how did you recover it? I thought Mr. Hector had found the ring and sold it."

"He had, but Dad was able to trace it," Nancy spoke up. "Mr. Hector failed to notice the inscription inside."

Tears filled Juliana's eyes as she read, '"To my Cinderella.' I'll wear the ring always in memory of Walt," she whispered, her voice trembling.

"Oh, Nancy, my dear friend-and Mr. Drew, and Bess and George, and Lieutenant Masters, also my dear friends-you've made me very, very happy."

The young detective smiled, glad that everything had worked out so successfully. Her gaze wandered along the stately cloister of Heath Castle. With the afternoon sun sinking low, the shadowy passageway had never looked more beautiful.

It was peaceful and quiet, and nothing was further from Nancy's thoughts than a new mystery. Yet in a short time she would be working on another exciting case called, Mystery of the Tolling Bell.

"Don't thank me for helping you, Juliana," she said earnestly, taking the woman's hand. "Thank the crumbling walls. They contained the clues that brought you here. To me Heath Castle will always remain a symbol of mystery and romance."