Part 1 (2/2)
Nancy and Helen changed into pastel cotton dresses, put away the few belongings they had brought, then headed for the inn. As they walked across the lawn, they pa.s.sed gardeners who were pruning trees and cultivating flower beds edged with pansies.
”It's perfectly beautiful here,” Helen remarked.
The girls went to the front of the inn, a two-story clapboard building with a one-level wing on either side. All around it were lilac trees and other flowering bushes. Nancy and Helen mounted the wide steps and entered the center hall. Its paneled walls, old staircase, and beautiful cut-gla.s.s chandelier made them feel as though they had stepped back into an earlier century.
The reservation desk was in an alcove off the hallway. John McBride was just putting a letter into the outgoing mail slot.
”Hi!” He grinned. ”Ready for a tour of inspection ? Delighted to escort you.”
”We accept.” Helen smiled. ”After Nancy and I say h.e.l.lo to Emily's Aunt Hazel.”
Just then Emily entered the hall. ”Aunt Hazel is-er-busy, but she'll be free in a few minutes. In the meantime, I must speak to Mr. Daly, the former owner of Lilac Inn. He's staying to manage the dining room, which we've kept open for business.”
She led the girls to a narrow corridor which ran off the lobby. ”Why don't you two wait for Aunt Hazel and me in my office? It's the fourth door down.”
Nancy and Helen proceeded along the corridor. As they pa.s.sed the second door, which was partially open, the girls heard a familiar voice say: ”I can't lend you any more money, Maud! Please don't ask me again!”
Before Nancy and Helen could retreat, Aunt Hazel Willoughby walked quickly from the room. She was followed by a younger woman who had an angry look on her rather pretty but petulant face.
”Nancy! Helen!” Emily's aunt exclaimed, stopping short. ”How nice to see you both herel I'm so glad you can be Emily's attendants.”
”We are too.” Nancy smiled and Helen added, ”Emily's going to be a lovely bride.”
Mrs. Willoughby, a woman of fifty-five, beamed. White hair framed her face in soft waves, and she was impeccably groomed. She introduced her companion as Mrs. Maud Potter, and said she was to be the inn's social director for the summer.
”That sounds exciting,” said Nancy pleasantly.
For a moment Maud's eyes narrowed. Then she tossed her head. ”I may not be here July first!” she exploded, and walked away rapidly.
The girls, somewhat taken aback, looked inquiringly at Mrs. Willoughby. The older woman, fl.u.s.tered, made no explanation. She excused herself and hurried after Maud.
Nancy and Helen exchanged glances.
”What a way for a social director to act!” Helen said in disgust. ”I wonder why the two women were quarreling about money.”
At that moment Emily rejoined the girls and led them into her office. The room was cozy, with a braided rug and pine furniture. The desk in front of the window was cluttered with papers.
”d.i.c.k's!” Emily laughed. Then she sobered. ”He is worried about finances, poor boy! So far he hasn't been able to raise as much capital as we need,” she confided. ”I had a hard time convincing him to agree to a certain idea of mine.”
”Can you tell us about it?” Nancy asked.
Before Emily could answer, there was a cry of pain from somewhere in the garden. The three girls dashed outside through the front entrance.
Apparently one of the gardeners had stumbled into a large hole in a pathway being strewn with gravel. The man was moaning.
”Oh, Hank!” Emily gasped.
The girls hurried to his side and discovered that one of his legs had gone down through some soft earth.
”Pull me out!” the gardener demanded.
With the girls' a.s.sistance, Hank was freed.
”I hope your leg's not broken,” Emily said solicitously.
Hank shook his head. ”Just a bad sprain. I wasn't lookin' where I was goin'. What I can't figure out is how that hole got here. Queer things have been goin' on at this inn. I'm thinkin' of quit-tin'. Anyhow, I'm goin' home now.”
”Oh, don't quit!” Emily cried.
Several other gardeners had rushed up. All denied having dug the hole. Emily asked one of them, a thin, narrow-eyed young man, named Gil Gary, to drive Hank to his house.
The other men returned to their work, but the girls remained at the site of the accident. Emily's face was troubled.
Nancy said impulsively, ”Something's bothering you, Em. What is it?”
Emily's whispered reply astonished her friends. ”d.i.c.k and I seem to have a mysterious enemy. He is trying to jinx Lilac Inn!”
CHAPTER II.
Strange Happenings A JINX on Lilac Inn! Nancy and Helen stared at Emily in astonishment.
”Tell us about it,” Nancy urged her friend.
Emily sighed. ”I will. I didn't want to worry Aunt Hazel, so I've kept my suspicions to myself.”
The chestnut-haired girl said that four days ago her fiance had left for New York. Prior to that time, everything had been running smoothly at the inn. An hour after d.i.c.k's departure, one of the waitresses had come to Emily's office to give notice.
”When I asked her why she was dissatisfied, she said it was because the inn was-was haunted!”
”What did she mean?” Nancy asked.
Emily said she had not taken the statement seriously. ”At the time I was sure the waitress, Mary Mason, was just making up an excuse for leaving. She packed and left on the bus to River Heights that day. Now I'm not so sure she hadn't seen something strange.
”Sunday morning Gil Gary reported that our finest lilac tree near the front entrance had been stolen. No ghost did that!”
”What a shame!” Helen exclaimed.
”Mr. Daly was heartbroken,” Emily said unhappily. ”Several years ago he rooted this lilac-the Lucie Baltet variety with a lovely pinkish flower. It was just beginning to blossom abundantly.
”The third strange occurrence,” Emily continued, ”was around twelve o'clock last night. I was awakened by the sound of music and traced it to our record player in the recreation room. No one was there.”
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