The Ringmaster's Secret

by Carolyn G. Keene

  “There’s still a lot to accomplish,” Nancy said. “Have you found out any more about the Tristam Booking Agency or Lola Flanders’ dividend checks?”

  “I have some news that will amaze you,” the officer said, “The Tristam Booking Agency has gone out of business!”

  “It has?” Nancy asked in amazement.

  The police officer said the firm had folded overnight and left no forwarding address.

  “There has been no mail for Lola Flanders for two days,” the captain stated. “I was just about to telephone one of the companies from which the dividend checks come to find out if they had been notified of a change of address. I’ll do it now.”

  He put in a call to an oil company. Presently he received the information he wanted. Hanging up, he turned to Nancy and said, “Well, that’s a break. The new address is the Hotel Coles in this city!”

  Before Nancy could do any more than show her surprise, the captain was placing another call. This time it was to the hotel desk. He learned that a young dancer named Lola Flanders had registered there the day before.

  Nancy told Captain Smith about the fake telegram, directing her to go to the Hotel Coles.

  “But you didn’t do it?” the man asked.

  “No.”

  “I’m glad,” the officer said. “It’s in a bad neighborhood.”

  Captain Smith said he would send a detective to the hotel at once to check on Lola Flanders. He would have another man find out who had sent the telegram.

  “Please call me at my aunt’s home if you learn anything,” Nancy requested.

  The officer promised to do so and Nancy returned to the Drew apartment. She rang the bell and instantly the door was opened by her Aunt Eloise. She looked frightened.

  “Nancy! Lola Flanders is gone!” she cried.

  CHAPTER XIX

  Terror at the Circus

  “SHE must have had another attack of amnesia and wandered off!” Aunt Eloise said in despair.

  “Or someone came here and persuaded her to leave,” Nancy surmised.

  Hastening to the street, Nancy asked some children playing there if they had seen a small sweet-faced woman leave the apartment house.

  “I did,” a little girl spoke up. “She and another lady got in a taxi.”

  “What did the other lady look like?” Nancy asked.

  The little girl said the woman had curly blond hair and red cheeks. She had not heard them tell the driver where to go.

  Nancy hurried upstairs and called Captain Smith. At her request he agreed to check the Hotel Coles. A few minutes later the officer called back to report that Millie Francine had not been at the hotel since she had registered.

  An idea occurred to Nancy. Consulting the classified telephone directory, she made a series of calls to theater booking-agents and restaurants that employed dancers. The list was long and it was over an hour before she had any success. Then she found that Millie Francine was employed at the Bon Ton Night Club.

  Nancy decided to get in touch with the dancer. Even if she knew nothing about Lolita’s mother and her possible kidnapping, she might be able to give Nancy a lead to the guilty party.

  As Nancy was wondering how to contact Millie, the doorbell rang. She ran to the door, hopeful that Lola Flanders had returned. Instead, Ned Nickerson stood there, a broad grin on his face.

  “I know you didn’t expect to see me,” he said, stepping into the apartment. “I telephoned earlier to see if by any chance you were back. When I heard you were here, I came over!”

  Nancy stared at him in surprise. “Who answered the phone when you called?”

  “I don’t know.” Ned went on to tell Nancy that whoever had answered the phone had said that Nancy and Miss Drew were out and that she herself was just about to leave.

  “Then she mumbled something about going to see her daughter,” Ned remarked.

  “Oh Ned,” said Nancy, “it’s just what I feared. Lola Flanders has been kidnapped!”

  “What do you mean?”

  Nancy told him the whole story and then said, “Ned, you and I are going to the Bon Ton as fast as we can get there.”

  “Well, I’m glad I have a date,” Ned said, “but why pick out a place like that? Anyway, it won’t be open in the afternoon.”

  Nancy looked discouraged. Then she said hopefully, “Maybe the girls in the act rehearse in the afternoon. Let’s go anyway.”

  To Nancy’s delight, the Bon Ton was open. As she had hoped, a rehearsal was going on. She and Ned sat down at a table in a dim corner and watched.

  It was not difficult to identify Millie Francine because presently the director called out, “Millie, what’s the matter with you? Your voice sounds as if you’d been eating gravel!”

  Millie Francine seemed to be nervous. When her part in the show was over she sat down at a table not far from where Nancy and Ned were. They got up and went over to sit with her.

  Nancy spoke in a low tone. “Where have you hidden the real Lola Flanders?”

  Millie Francine fell back as if someone had struck her. In a quavering voice she asked Nancy who she was.

  “I’m a detective and I know all about you,” Nancy replied. She gave the girl enough of the story to convince her.

  Shaking with fright, Millie declared she was innocent. “I used to be with Sims’ Circus,” she said. “Mr. Kroon knew I needed money. When he suggested I could earn some extra cash just by pretending my name was Lola Flanders, I didn’t see any harm in doing it.”

  The dancer said she had been paid well by Kroon and Mr. Tristam, the owner of the agency.

  “What about the mail that came to you in care of the agency?” Nancy asked.

  Millie looked surprised. She said she had never received any mail there. Nancy told her about the dividend checks and her suspicion that Kroon and possibly Tristam were stealing them.

  The dancer began to weep. She insisted that she had done nothing wrong and did not want to go to jail.

  “I don’t think you’ll have to go to jail,” said Nancy, “providing your story is true. It will help a lot if you tell us where Lola Flanders is right now.”

  “I don’t know,” said Millie. “The agency busted up, you know.”

  Nancy asked if Millie knew where the Tristams lived. She gave them an apartment house address.

  “How soon will the rehearsal be over?” Nancy asked the dancer abruptly.

  “I’m through now,” the girl replied.

  “In that case, I’ll go to your dressing room and wait while you change. Then you’re going with us to the apartment.” Nancy was fearful the dancer might telephone the Tristams and spoil everything.

  Millie Francine demurred.

  “The easiest way to prove you’re innocent,” said Nancy, “is to face those people.”

  “I never thought of that,” the dancer said. She led Nancy to her dressing room.

  Twenty minutes later the three set off in a cab. Unbeknown to Nancy, Ned had telephoned Captain Smith and asked that a policeman meet them at the apartment house. Upon their arrival, they found him waiting.

  Nancy suggested that Millie Francine call up to the apartment that she was there, but not to mention that she had other visitors with her. The dancer did her part and the front door was opened.

  They rode up in the elevator to the third floor and found the Tristam apartment. Millie rang the bell. The door was opened by a woman with curly blond hair whom the dancer called Mrs. Tristam. The four callers burst in.

  While the policeman stood guard at the door, Nancy and Ned hurried inside to look for Lola Flanders. They found her in the living room, talking to Mr. Tristam.

  “Oh, Nancy!” Lolita’s mother cried out. “It was dreadful of me not to have left a note for you. These kind people got in touch with me and we were going to leave in a few minutes to see my daughter.”

  “Mrs. Flanders,” said Nancy, “these people are not kind. They have practically kidnapped you, and have been stealing your money for years.
They never intended to take you to Lolita.”

  As Lola Flanders fell back, stunned, Mr. Tristam walked forward. He demanded to know what this outrageous story was all about and who Nancy was.

  “I’m quite sure you know who I am,” she said. “Possibly you do not know my friend, Ned Nickerson. And in case you do not know the policeman at the door, I suggest that you meet him quietly.”

  Suddenly Tristam’s eyes blazed and he became virtually a madman. He shoved Nancy aside and punched Ned. Then he started for the door to the hall. Before he could reach the policeman, Millie Francine planted herself in his path.

  “Oh, no you don’t, Mr. Tristam,” she cried. “You don’t go another step without telling these people I’m innocent!”

  At that moment there was a tap on the door. The policeman recognized it as a signal from more of Captain Smith’s men. He opened the door. The officer and two other men walked in.

  Tristam surrendered. He told the story much as Nancy had pieced it together. He added that it was all Kroon’s idea. “When Lola Flanders, then a widow, was discharged from the hospital, he planned to keep her drugged so she would appear to be an amnesia victim. He placed her in a cheap nursing home. It was Mrs. Kroon who abducted Lolita, partly because she loved the little girl and partly because she knew the child had great talent and would bring a small fortune to them.”

  Nancy was fearful that the excitement might upset Lola Flanders, but she seemed to have recovered completely. When they reached Aunt Eloise’s apartment, Mrs. Flanders asked how soon they would start for Melville to see Lolita.

  “If you feel well enough, we’ll take the first plane,” Nancy promised her.

  “I’m ready to go now,” she insisted.

  Ned obtained the reservations and within two hours they were all saying good-by to Aunt Eloise and setting off for the town of Melville.

  As they climbed into the plane, the first person they saw was young Pietro! He explained that he had just arrived from England.

  “I couldn’t stay away,” he said. “Nancy, I had a hunch you would solve everything and that it won’t be long before Lolita and I can be married.”

  “I think you’re right,” Nancy said, smiling at Ned, “and Lolita will have her wish—that her mother will be present at the wedding.”

  The plane reached Melville just before midnight. The group went to the hotel. Nancy suggested that Lola Flanders remain there until Lolita could be brought to her.

  “I don’t know whether Mr. Kroon has been apprehended yet or not,” Nancy said. Turning to Ned and Pietro, she added, “Suppose we three go over to the circus at five o’clock tomorrow morning and mingle with the crowd watching the workmen set up the tents. Then we won’t be noticed by Mr. or Mrs. Kroon or any of their spies. We’ll get Lolita and bring her back here.”

  The plan was agreed upon. Nancy was up at four thirty the next morning, and at five set off with the young men. Upon reaching the circus grounds, the three separated, Nancy going ahead. She made her way carefully to Lolita’s trailer and knocked.

  “Lolita, wake up!”

  Sleepily the young aerialist tumbled out of bed and opened the door. Seeing Nancy, she started to cry out.

  “Sh-h-h!” Nancy warned her. “Your real mother is in a hotel downtown. Get ready quietly and follow me.”

  Lolita dressed quickly and stepped out of her trailer.

  “Oh, Nancy, this is marvelous! Let’s hurry!” The two girls sped past the wild-animal cages to avoid detection by Kroon, should he happen to be around. But they did not see him and they ran on happily.

  They had just reached King Kat’s cage when a strong hand was suddenly laid on Nancy’s shoulder. The person gripped her tightly and swung her about.

  Kroon!

  “So you’re still trying to thwart me!” the man cried. “Well, this is the last time!”

  With his free hand, he unfastened the lion’s cage and thrust Nancy forward!

  CHAPTER XX

  Last Links in the Mystery

  WITH a great leap the huge lion sprang toward the door of the cage. Nancy Drew fought to get away from the insane ringmaster, who was pushing her into the cage. Lolita screamed and tried to pull her foster father away.

  A few yards behind Nancy was Ned Nickerson. And a short distance behind him, Pietro. Both young men raced forward with lightning speed.

  Ned grasped Nancy and swung her away from the lion. The angry, confused beast landed one claw on the boy’s hand and raked it badly.

  Ned’s action had startled Kroon, who fell backward. The lion hesitated a moment as though undecided as to whether to slink away or jump forward. For a fearful second everyone wondered whether the beast would get loose.

  Pietro saw a long whip lying on the ground. Quickly he picked it up and cracked the whip across King Kat’s nose. The lion snarled and bared its teeth. One paw, halfway through the opening, was keeping Pietro from closing the cage door. With another crack of the whip he struck the lion’s paw and the beast jumped backward with a roar of pain. The clown slammed and locked the door.

  By this time there was pandemonium in the circus. Every workman and many of the performers had come on the run to see what had happened. In the melee, Kroon disappeared.

  “Oh, Nancy!” Lolita cried. “Are you all right?”

  Nancy nodded. Recovering from her shock, she saw that Ned’s hand was bleeding profusely.

  “Ned!” she said quickly. “You must go to Dr. Jackson at once!” Then, realizing that she had not thanked him for rescuing her, she added, “Ned, you saved my life!”

  Ned smiled. “Nancy, I’m thankful I was here to do it. And these scratches aren’t bad.”

  Pietro, too, was thanked.

  Quickly Nancy looked around. “Where did Mr. Kroon go?” she asked.

  No one had noticed him leave. Nancy, determined to prevent his escape, asked Lolita to take Ned to the doctor.

  “Pietro,” she said, “we must find Mr. Kroon.”

  The man was not on the circus grounds, and Mrs. Kroon also was missing. Pietro reported that the ringmaster’s car was gone. Nancy telephoned State Police headquarters and spoke to the sergeant on duty. She was told that the police had just received word from New York to apprehend Kroon and were about to pick him up at the circus.

  “Thank you, Miss Drew,” the sergeant said. “I’ll send a detail out at once and we’ll set up a road block.”

  The Kroons were picked up a short time later on the highway and taken to headquarters. Nancy, Lolita, Pietro, and Ned were present at the interrogation.

  Kroon, finding that denials of his crooked schemes were futile and that even his two spies, the tramp clown and the giant, had not been entirely loyal to him, made a full confession. He did not spare the Tristams, on whom he put a great deal of the blame.

  At Kroon’s request, Tristam had come to River Heights and stolen the horse-charm bracelet. He had brought it to Kroon, who years before had had a cheap duplicate of Lolita’s horse charm made. He had kept the original, hoping to obtain the valuable bracelet, and had finally succeeded.

  But when Nancy had stymied his plan to sell it, Kroon and Tristam together had engineered the kidnapping of Nancy and George. Learning that this had failed, Tristam had found out where Nancy had gone and followed her to New York. He had tried to stop Nancy’s trip to England by engaging a professional gangster to put the acid in her overnight bag.

  While Kroon and Tristam had managed to steal the dividend checks that had come to Lola Flanders from her securities, they had never dared to try selling the securities themselves. Lolita was thrilled to hear that they were still intact for her mother.

  When Kroon finished his confession, the police asked Nancy and the others if they had any questions. The girl detective spoke up.

  “I have just one,” she said. “Mr. Kroon, who was it that went to the riding academy and attacked Senor Roberto?”

  The ringmaster said Tristam had done this also. Both he and Kroon felt that Hitc
h was in the way. Tristam had meant to attack the stableman, but had, in the semidarkness, mistaken Roberto for him. Just as he had discovered his error, Tristam heard voices in the distance and fled.

  After all the angles of the mystery were cleared up, Nancy and her friends went at once to the Melville Hotel. Nancy suggested that no one attend the reunion of mother and daughter. Lolita smiled and thanked Nancy for being so understanding, but said that she wanted all of the others to come to her mother’s room in an hour.

  When Nancy and the young men arrived, they were thrilled to see the happiness on the faces of Lola and Lolita Flanders. Their praise of Nancy was boundless, and Ned and Pietro were heartily thanked also.

  “Mother and I have been talking over my wedding plans,” said Lolita, blushing a little. “Mother has a wonderful idea.”

  The others listened eagerly as the pretty aerialist went on to say that Mrs. Flanders would like the wedding to take place soon—three days from then.

  “This is partly because she wants her daughter and her new son-in-law in business with her,” Lolita explained.

  Pietro looked puzzled. “In business?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Lola Flanders, taking hold of the young clown’s hand. “I had a telephone call a little while ago from Nancy’s Aunt Eloise. The New York police have discovered that Sims’ Circus is a stock company and I own most of the stock.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Nancy cried out, delighted.

  Pietro asked how Sims figured in the deal. Lola Flanders told him that at one period, when the circus was about to fold up, Lolita’s father had bought the major portion of the stock. Kroon knew this and kept reminding young Mr. Sims of the fact whenever he stayed around the circus too long.

  The ringmaster had confidentially told him that it was still a mystery as to whether Lola Flanders was alive. Someday she might show up and claim her rightful share. Since young Sims knew little about running a circus, he had gladly left this to the stronger-willed Kroon.

  Pietro suddenly kissed his future mother-in-law. Then he said, “Bad as Mr. Kroon was, I certainly have him to thank for one thing. Sims is still a fine circus.”