Part 6 (2/2)

”Yes,” Nancy said. ”But there were two Was.h.i.+ngton tables in the collection, according to your aunt.”

”But only one was authentic,” Mr. Zinn informed her. ”I made the other for Aunt Sara.”

The sleuth now decided to show the dealer the paper with the hex sign. He said it looked familiar, and that he had seen similar symbols. Nancy next asked whether he knew Roger Hoelt or had ever heard of him. Mr. Zinn pondered.

”Yes, there was a fellow named Hoelt in my cla.s.s in high school. But I don't think his first name was Roger,” he said.

”But you do remember that people named Hoelt lived in this area?” Nancy persisted.

Mr. Zinn nodded absently, then suddenly he exclaimed, ”It's a crime! All that furniture gone!”

Nancy asked whether the thief might have known of the secret drawer in the Was.h.i.+ngton table. ”If so, that might have been his real motive.”

”That's possible,” Mr. Zinn agreed. ”Particularly if he has already found the other authentic table and it didn't contain the secret. He could easily learn Aunt Sara owned its mate and in his haste, he took both of her tables with him. Maybe he couldn't distinguish the genuine from the reproduction. Oh dear, this is confusing!”

Just then a woman appeared in the barn shop. Mr. Zinn introduced her as his wife. She was as round as her husband and wore a full skirt, a s.h.i.+rred light-blue ap.r.o.n, and ruffled collar and sleeves. Her pretty face was dimpled and she had a radiant smile, which vanished when she heard the news of the robbery.

”Papa, it is a great loss to you, ain't?”

Her husband tried to hide his distress. ”What one does not own is never a loss”,” he told her, and perhaps the furniture will be found.”

”What? Stolen!” Mr. Zinn shouted.

”Papa, I came to tell you that dinner is ready,” Mrs. Zinn said. She added, ”It would please us to have you girls break bread with us.”

”Oh, that would be wonderfull” Bess exclaimed. Nancy and George also accepted.

Mrs. Zinn led the way into the farmhouse. It was gayer than that of the Kreutzes, with flowers, window draperies, and quaint hooked rugs in every room. The cloth on the kitchen table was hand-embroidered with red and blue pigeons.

Mrs. Zinn set three more places at the table, and soon the five were eating a hearty meal. The dessert was shoofly pie. Between courses, the Zinns asked where the girls were staying.

When they told them, Mrs. Zinn frowned. ”Mr. Kreutz is too strict,” she complained. ”He never allowed Manda to have a good time. He said he would pick her a husband. That's why she ran away. You know she ran away?”

Nancy nodded and said that Mr. Kreutz now wanted his daughter to come home, and that the girls had promised to help find her. She told of the clue the bakery woman had suggested, but the Zinns did not know of any new Amish couple in town.

An hour later Nancy and her friends were on their way back to the Kreutz farm. Bess, looking out the rear window, suddenly declared that she thought they were being followed by a car.

”Maybe the hex is working again,” she said.

George, disgusted, told her cousin to stop talking nonsense. Suddenly a horn blasted. Nancy pulled into a service station and the car shot past them so quickly that the girls caught only a glimpse of the Amish driver. He was bearded and his black hat was pulled far down over his ears.

”That speed demon didn't follow us long,” George observed.

When Nancy's car was refueled, they set out again. As she rounded a sharp turn, she suddenly gasped and stepped on the brake. Strewn across the road, directly in their path, were cinder blocks. There was no way to avoid plowing into them!

The car hit several of the blocks. All three girls were thrown forward. Bess, seated in the middle, struck her head on the mirror and blacked out!

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