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The Diary






 

Nancy forgot that she was tired and sleepy. Hastily undressing, she adjusted the reading lamp and took the book to bed with her.

" I do believe it's a diary, " she decided, noting the cover. " Perhaps it will contain the owner's name and address."

Settling herself comfortably against the cushions, Nancy opened the journal. She stared in surprise at the first entry.

" Well, did you ever! " she exclaimed aloud.

The page was filled with baffling, meaningless words, apparently written in a foreign language.

" It must be Swedish, " Nancy decided. " Oh, dear, now I can't read a word of it! "

She rapidly turned over several additional pages. They were all alike except for the last few which were written in cramped English.

Nancy held the diary closer to the reading lamp and tried to distinguish the words, but it was a discouraging task. The characters had been ran together in a hopeless fashion. A few scattered phrases she did manage to decipher but try as she would she could not translate a single entire sentence.

The notations in Swedish were in larger handwriting but that helped Nancy not in the least.

" How perfectly aggravating! " she exclaimed impatiently. " Just when I thought I had discovered a clue! "

Nancy was convinced that the diary belonged to a man, for the handwriting was masculine notwithstanding the small, cramped characters. She surmised, too, that the little journal had been dropped by the stranger whom she had seen running away from the fire. That made it all the more important that she learn his name and what he had written in the diary.

The entries had been made on a leather-covered, loose-leaf notebook, and as Nancy went through the journal page by page, she discovered from the dates that more than a dozen were missing.

" What can have become of them? " she reflected. " I know I didn't lose any. They must have been torn out—perhaps because they were too revealing! "

Long after silence had fallen upon the Drew household, Nancy continued to pore over the puzzling journal. Several times she caught herself nodding off to sleep but sternly went back to the task at hand.

" I'm making no progress at all, " she told herself in discouragement. " I wish now that I had kept that Swedish maid. She couldn't cook but she might have been able to read this for me."

Nancy was convinced that if she learned the name of the man who had probably dropped the notebook on the Raybolt estate, she would have made a step toward solving the mystery of the fire.

" I'll find someone who can read the diary for me, " she assured herself. " It shouldn't be hard."

" With that thought Nancy dropped her head back upon the pillow and the next instant was asleep.

She was rudely awakened by the jangle of a telephone bell in the hall. The sun was shining in at the windows and from the angle of the rays Nancy guessed that it must be after nine o'clock. Hannah, knowing that she was worn out, had let her oversleep.

With a guilty start, Nancy reached up and switched off the bed light which had burned all night. The loose leaves of the diary were still scattered over the coverlet. Before she could gather them together, the housekeeper rapped on the door.

" A gentleman wishes to speak to you on the phone, Miss Nancy."

" I’ll be there in a jiffy. Don't let him escape! "

As Nancy sprang from the bed, the pages went scattering in every direction. Thrusting her feet into dainty black and gold slippers and snatching up her dressing robe, she hurried out to the hall telephone.

" Hope I didn't get you out of bed, " a pleasant low voice came over the wire. ''This is Ned —Ned Nickerson."

" Oh, " Nancy stammered, taken completely by surprise.

" You probably think I'm rushing things a bit, " Ned went on, " but I found a ring and I thought it might be yours."

" I didn't wear one yesterday, " Nancy returned, finding her voice at last. " George or Bess might have lost one, though. Where did you find it? "

" At the Raybolt estate. I drove over there early this morning and poked about among the ruins."

" Oh, " laughed Nancy, " you must have been up with the sunrise."

" If I hadn't been, " the youth replied, " I shouldn't have discovered any valuables."

" You found the ring in the ashes? " Nancy questioned with quickening interest.

" No, at the back of the house near the hedge."

There was a brief moment of silence as Nancy digested this illuminating fact. Then she asked quickly:

" What is the ring like? "

" Well, it's a fraternity ring, I'd judge."

" Then it must be a man's ring, " Nancy declared instantly. " What made you think it was mine? "

" I knew it was a man's ring, " Ned explained, " but I thought—well, I didn't know but that some fellow had given it to you."

" Oh, no! "

" I'm relieved to hear that! " Ned's voice sounded more cheerful.

" That ring doesn't bear a Swedish inscription, does it? " Nancy questioned. " If it does, I may have a clue to the identiy of the owner."

She was thinking of the writer of the mysterious diary, the stranger who had vanished behind the Raybolt hedge.

" I can't read the characters, " Ned told her. " Say! How would you like to see the ring? "

" I'd like to, " Nancy confessed. " It may furnish a clue."

" If you'll let me, I'll drop around tonight and bring it with me, " Ned offered eagerly.

" I wish you would."

After Ned had hung up the receiver, Nancy fairly danced back into the bedroom. She sent one slipper flying toward the bed, and the other into the far corner of the room. She attempted to explain her jubilant spirits by telling herself that she was overjoyed at unearthing a possible clue to the identity of the person who had caused the Raybolt fire. Bess and George would have interpreted the situation very differently.

As soon as she had dressed, Nancy gathered up the pages of the diary and for safe-keeping placed them in one of her bureau drawers.

" I wish I had time to go over them again, " she told herself regretfully, " but it's late and I must take the roadster to the garage. Business before pleasure."

Hannah Gruen had kept breakfast hot, but Nancy ate with little appetite. She nibbled at her toast and scarcely touched the cereal.

" Are you feeling all right this morning? " the kindly housekeeper inquired anxiously.

" Never felt better in my life! " Nancy laughed as she started for the garage.

Hannah remained by the window until the battered roadster had vanished down the street. Then, with a shake of her head, she went back to her work.

" Something's brewing in that clever little head, " she murmured knowingly. " I reckon it's another mystery she's dug up."

 






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