Part 1 (1/2)
The Witch Tree Symbol.
CHAPTER I.
A Mysterious Intruder.
”I wouldn't go into that spooky old house alone for anything,” declared the plump, nervous woman who sat beside Nancy Drew in her convertible.
Nancy, a slender, attractive girl of eighteen, smiled as she turned the car into the winding, tree-shaded drive of the Follett mansion. ”Why, Mrs. Tenney,” she said, ”your great-aunt lived here alone for many years and was safe.”
”She was just lucky not to have had burglars,” Mrs. Tenney replied. ”Aunt Sara was so absent-minded that most of the time she didn't know what was going on. But one thing she did keep track of was the beautiful antique furniture in her library. She never used the room, but wouldn't part with any of its contents.”
As Nancy parked the car in front of the faded green Victorian house, she remarked, ”Everything looks peaceful. Shall we go in?”
Mrs. Tenney gazed askance at the closed draperies, then said, ”I suppose we must. After all, that's why I asked you to come. Oh, Nancy, wait until you see the furniture. Especially the two matching cherry tables George Was.h.i.+ngton once used. They're priceless. And to think that I've inherited half of everything in this house!”
Nancy and her companion alighted. Mrs. Tenney unlocked the front door. Snapping on a light, she led the way to a large hall, on each side of which were arched entrances to various rooms. Nancy followed her to an archway on the right that lead to the library. Mrs. Tenney stopped abruptly and gasped.
”What's the matter?” Nancy asked.
”They're gone! All the valuable antiques!” the woman cried out. Frantically she hurried into the library, paused, and pointed. ”There's where a fine old sofa stood. At each end was one of the tables I told you about.”
Mrs. Tenney wept. Then, as a sudden thought struck her, she stopped and said, ”Well, he won't get away with this!”
The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl waited for the woman to explain her statement. Nancy had met Mrs. Tenney only a short time ago and felt it would be presumptuous to question her at the moment. The woman had recently moved into Nancy's neighborhood. Having heard that the young detective was courageous and level-headed, she had asked Nancy to accompany her to the dreary Follett mansion. She did not want to be alone in the house while she took inventory of the furnis.h.i.+ngs recently willed to her.
”My second cousin!” she burst out. ”Alpha Zinn! He came here and took the best pieces before I had a chance to decide on what I wanted!”
Nancy ventured a question. ”Was Mr. Zinn bequeathed the other half of the contents of this house?”
”Yes. We have never been friends. I don't trust him. He's an antique dealer and a sharp trader.”
Nancy did not feel that these were valid reasons for the woman's accusations, especially when half the furniture belonged to Zinn, anyway. ”Perhaps it was someone else,” the detective suggested. ”Let's look for a clue to the burglar.”
Even though all the furniture had been moved out of the library, there were bookcases that had been built into the walls, radiator covers, and wastebaskets standing about. A few books remained on the shelves, but other than that there was little evidence of anything else having been left behind.
Nancy began searching carefully. In a comer of the library she picked up a small, crumpled piece of paper. Drawn on it in colored crayon was a white-rimmed circle with a red center in which was a black star. Printed underneath the circle were the words: WITCH TRFF SYMBOL.
”How very strange!” Nancy thought, as she showed it to Mrs. Tenney. ”Do you know what this is?” she asked.
The woman gave the drawing one glance, then said, ”Of course. It's a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign. Well, I guess that's all the proof we need,” she stated flatly. ”Alpha Zinn lives in that part of Pennsylvania. I just know he was here and took every stick of good furniture. Not only his, but mine!”
Nancy had to admit that under the circ.u.mstances Mr. Zinn was a logical suspect, but she was not convinced of his guilt. ”What does 'witch tree symbol' mean?” she asked.
”I don't know,” Mrs. Tenney replied. ”But what difference does that make when I know Alpha is guilty?”
Although Nancy felt sure that the hex sign might be the clue to solving the mystery she did not say so. Whether Mrs. Tenney's cousin or someone else were the real culprit, he very likely had come from the area where quaint hex designs, originated in the days of witchcraft, are sometimes painted on barns. Nancy questioned Mrs. Tenney further about the hex sign. But the woman could throw no light on the strange symbol's significance.
”Do you know what this is!” Nancy asked.