(#25) The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (8 page)

“ I was up very late last night,” she explained. Then she added peevishly, “Why didn’t you call me yesterday? It seems to me you’re always away when I need you,” Mrs. Putney grumbled. “Oh, dear! No one seems interested in my affairs—that is, no earthly being.”

Nancy struggled to pull Ned from the quicksand

Nancy, though annoyed by the woman’s attitude, was careful to hide her impatience. She realized that Mrs. Putney was a highly nervous individual, upset by the death of her husband, and recent events, and would have to be humored.

The widow remained stubbornly silent about telling where she had been the previous evening. Nancy, following a hunch, remarked:

“By the way, what were you chanting last night just before the séance?”

Mrs. Putney leaned forward in her chair, staring at Nancy as one stupefied. For a moment she looked as if she were going to faint. Then she recovered herself and whispered:

“Nancy Drew, how did you know where I was last evening?”

“Then it’s true you were at a séance again last night?”

“Yes, Nancy. I tried to call you yesterday afternoon to let you know that I had been invited to another invocation of the spirits. But I couldn’t reach you.
She
took me there again last night.”

“She?”

“The woman in the veil,” Mrs. Putney explained. “Yesterday afternoon I was instructed by telephone to go to Masonville and have dinner at the Claridge. Afterward, the car would be waiting for me. We drove somewhere into the country,” the widow went on. “It seems strange, but I fell asleep again and didn’t awaken until it was time to leave the car.”

Nancy thought it very strange, indeed. Had the woman been drugged?

“As I opened my eyes, a long, opaque veil was draped over my head. I was led a short distance, where I was told there were several other persons who, like myself, were veiled.”

“Did you learn their names?” Nancy interposed eagerly.

“Oh, no. My companion warned that to avoid annoying the spirits, we were not to speak to one another or ask questions.”

“Then you all sang?” Nancy prompted as the widow stopped speaking.

“Yes, a woman led us in a prayerful chant,” Mrs. Putney continued, her voice growing wistful at the recollection. “After a while we were taken indoors and the spirits came. They spoke to us through the control.”

“How can you be certain it wasn’t a trick?”

“Because my husband called me Addie. My first name is Adeline, you know, but he always liked Addie better. No one besides my husband ever called me by that name.”

“Tricksters easily might have learned of it,” Nancy pointed out. “The information could have been obtained from neighbors or relatives.”

Apparently not listening, Mrs. Putney began to pace the floor nervously. “The spirits advised each of us to contribute money to carry on their earthly mission,” she revealed.

“And what is that mission?”

The widow gave Nancy a quick look and replied, “We’re supposed to turn money over to the earthly beings who make spiritual communication possible for us. Full instructions will be sent later. I gave them only fifty dollars last night. I felt I had to do that because everyone was giving something.”

“A profitable night’s work for those people!” Nancy remarked caustically. “You mustn’t give another penny.”

Mrs. Putney gave Nancy a cold stare. “Everything so far has seemed quite honest to me,” she said.

Nancy was dismayed to realize that the widow was fast falling under the spell of the phonies who were trying to fleece her.

“Don’t forget your jewelry was stolen,” Nancy reminded her.

“I’m sure these people had nothing to do with that, Nancy.”

“Mrs. Putney, at any time during the séance did you hear cries for help?”

“Why, no,” the woman replied, startled. “Everything was very quiet.” Then she added, “When the séance was over, I was taken outside again and helped into the car.”

“Still veiled?”

“Oh, yes.” A faraway look again came into her eyes. “You know, the trip home was like a dream. To tell the truth, I don’t seem to remember anything about it. The next thing I really knew was that it was morning and I was lying on the divan in this very room.”

Nancy was greatly disturbed at hearing this. It sounded too much like the strange actions of Lola and Sadie. She asked Mrs. Putney if she had been given anything to eat or drink before leaving the séance. The answer was No. She had noticed no unusual odors, either. Nancy was puzzled; somehow, the mediums must have brought on a kind of hypnotic sleep.

“Please don’t ask me to give up the chance to get messages from my dear, departed husband,” Mrs. Putney said, forestalling what Nancy was about to request.

Instead, on a sudden inspiration, Nancy told her to continue attending the séances, but asked to be kept informed of what happened. Pleased, Mrs. Putney promised, not realizing that Nancy hoped in this way to get evidence against the group. Then, at the proper moment, she would expose their trickery.

“I’ll have to get busy before these people become suspicious and skip,” Nancy said to herself as she drove home.

When Nancy told her father about the strange occurrences at Blackwood Hall, he agreed that the place should be thoroughly investigated to find out if fake séances were being carried on there.

“Nancy, I’m afraid to have you go near that place again,” the lawyer said. “It sounds dangerous to me. Besides, we have no right to search anyone’s property without a warrant. Perhaps your crowd of spirit-invoking fakers have rented the Humphrey mansion.”

“But, Dad, everything depends upon it. Won’t you go with me, and maybe Ned too?”

On the verge of refusing, Mr. Drew caught the eager, pleading look in his daughter’s eyes. Also, he realized that they might very well make important discoveries at Blackwood Hall and the thought intrigued him.

“Tell you what!” he offered impulsively. “If Ned can go with us, we’ll start out right after lunch! And I’ll take care of the warrant. Captain McGinnis will fix me up.”

Nancy ran to the telephone. “With both you and Ned to help me,” she said excitedly, “that ghost is as good as trapped now!”

CHAPTER
X

The Secret Door

SHORTLY after lunch Nancy arrived at Blackwood Hall with her father and Ned. What Nancy had counted on as a clue to fit into the puzzle, as she had worked it out in her mind, proved to be a disappointment.

“I was so sure there were going to be automobile tracks here,” she said. “Mrs. Putney told me she was driven right to the door of the place where the séance was held.”

“But here’s something interesting,” her father called from a spot among the trees.

As Nancy and Ned ran over, he pointed to several deep, narrow tracks and some footprints. The tracks looked as if they had been made by a wheelbarrow, which had been used to make several trips.

“I believe someone was busy moving things out of the house!” Mr. Drew exclaimed. “Anything valuable inside?”

“Furniture,” Nancy replied. “Most of it would be too heavy to move by wheelbarrow, though.”

“It’s more likely the scamps carried away evidence which might incriminate them if found by the police,” the lawyer said grimly. “Mediums’ trappings, perhaps.”

“Wonder if we can get inside,” Ned said.

When he attempted to open the door, he found it locked. Thinking it might only be stuck, he and Mr. Drew heaved against the door with all their strength, and suddenly it gave way. The lock was broken.

“Not a very cheerful place,” said Ned as the three stepped into the hallway. “This dim light would make anybody think he saw ghosts.”

Nancy peered into the adjoining rooms. So far as a hasty glance revealed, none of the furniture had been disturbed. It was possible, of course, that the wheelbarrow tracks had no connection with the fake mediums at all, and perhaps Mrs. Putney’s séances in turn had no connection with the ghost of Blackwood Hall!

“Let’s separate and see what we can find out, anyway,” Nancy proposed.

“All right,” Mr. Drew agreed. “But call me, Nancy, if you come upon anything suspicious.”

Eager to examine the organ again, Nancy walked along the hall and entered the huge room which was almost in complete darkness. Ned and her father began to search the other rooms.

With scarcely a thought that she was alone, Nancy went directly to the old organ, which stood at an angle across one corner. Laying down her lighted flashlight, she seated herself on the creaking bench and tried to play. No sound came forth.

“Why, that’s funny!” Nancy thought, startled. She tried again, pumping the pedals and pressing the keys down firmly. “I certainly didn’t dream I heard music coming from this organ! There must be a trick to it somewhere!”

Now deeply interested, Nancy began to examine the instrument inch by inch with her flashlight. There was a small space along the side wall, large enough for a person to squeeze behind. Peering in curiously, she was amazed to see a duplicate set of ivory keys at the rear of the organ!

“Why, the front of the organ is only a sham!”

Eager to investigate, Nancy pushed through the opening. There she found a low door in the wall of the room. “So this is how the ghost vanished so quickly!” she told herself.

Nancy tried the door, which was unlocked. Flashing her light, she saw that a flight of stairs led downward. Cautiously she began to descend. Only after proceeding a short distance along a damp, musty corridor did she regret that she had not summoned her father and Ned.

“They may wonder what’s become of me,” she thought. “I mustn’t be gone long.”

Intending to make a speedy inspection, Nancy quickened her steps along the corridor.

“This must be the secret tunnel the book mentioned!” she said to herself.

Soon Nancy came to a heavy walnut door, blocking the passageway. Her light revealed an iron bolt. As she slid it back and pushed the door open, she drew in her breath in sharp surprise. A strange green light on the floor of the room beyond illuminated the back of a ghostly figure standing just ahead of her!

Simultaneously, the flashlight was struck from her hand. It crashed on the floor and went out. The green light also faded away.

Fearful of a trap in the inky darkness, Nancy backed quickly into the corridor, slamming the heavy door and bolting it. Her heart pounding, she felt her way along the tunnel wall. Finally she stumbi-d up the stairway and through the exit behind the organ.

“Whew, that was a narrow escape!” she thought breathlessly. “I must find Dad and Ned.”

Nancy hurried from room to room, upstairs and down, but did not see either of them. She was tempted to call out their names but then thought better of it. Very much concerned, Nancy decided that they must have left the house to investigate the grounds.

As she circled the mansion, the young detective tried to figure out under which room the secret tunnel had been built, and where it led. She noted that there was no outside exit from the cellar as most old houses had. Remembering the length of the musty underground corridor, she could very well believe that the exit was some distance from Blackwood Hall—perhaps in the woods.

When ten minutes or more had elapsed and neither Mr. Drew nor Ned had appeared, a harrowing thought began to disturb Nancy. Maybe the two of them were prisoners in the tunnel room! They might have found the outside entrance to the tunnel and been captured!

Frightened by this possibility, Nancy wondered what to do. Her first instinct was to go to the police. Then she realized that she could not drive the car to get help, because her father had the keys in his pocket. She finally decided that she would have to go back to the underground room at the end of the corridor alone and find out if her father and Ned were being held captive.

Forgetting any thought of safety for herself, she entered the house again. She ran to the organ room and squeezed through the opening to the secret door. There she closed her eyes for several seconds until they became accustomed to the darkness, then carefully she picked her way down the steps and along the passageway.

Reaching the heavy walnut door, she stooped down to look under the bottom for a light beyond. There was nothing but blackness.

Trying not to make any noise, Nancy slid the iron bolt and cautiously opened the door a crack. The place was dark. When nothing happened, Nancy decided to take a chance, and called out:

“Dad! Ned!”

There was no answer. Yet she thought possibly the two men might be lying gagged or unconscious not far away, and she could not see them. Without a light she had no way of finding out.

Nancy listened intently for several seconds, but heard only the sound of her own breathing.

“I’ll have to get a light and come back here,” she decided finally.

As Nancy was about to leave, she suddenly heard a scraping, creaking sound somewhere overhead.

“Maybe it’s Dad or Ned!” Nancy thought excitedly.

Hopefully she hurried to the first floor. Seeing no one there, she climbed the front stairs to the second floor. As she reached the top step, Nancy froze to the spot.