Part 8 (1/2)
”Not” Mr. Kreutz cried loudly. ”I am an Amish man. We take care of family matters without the help of the police. I gave you my permission to locate my daughter. But no one outside the family, except you three, will be allowed to interfere.”
The farmer then asked Nancy what else she and her friends had done that day. When the girl described the accident and the note in the cinder block, Mr. Kreutz exclaimed, ”Du bin en hex maydel!”
”I'm not a witch!” Nancy protested, amazed that evidently he now believed the superst.i.tion.
Despite her denial, Mr. and Mrs. Kreutz at once became cool toward all the girls. The farmer said it was time to go to bed, and they both nodded a curt good night and left the room.
The girls, nonplussed by the change in their hosts' att.i.tude, spoke in whispers. ”This settles it,” said Bess. ”We'll move out in the morning.”
”Yes, we're certainly not wanted,” George agreed. ”Imagine their believing that you're a witch, Nancy!”
Their friend, with a mystified expression, asked herself, ”But why are the Kreutzes so convinced all of a sudden that I am a witch? There's something to this they haven't told us!”
CHAPTER VII.
A Stolen Horse
THE sudden change in the att.i.tude of the Kreutzes toward the girls bothered them so much that they slept fitfully. The farmer had said he did not believe in hexing, yet when Nancy had shown him the note about witches, he had acted as if she were one!
”If people around this area are going to be afraid of me,” Nancy thought, ”I'll have a difficult time trying to solve the mystery.”
Although Nancy did not intend to give up the case because of such an att.i.tude, Bess was of a different frame of mind. Sensitive by nature, she did not want to stay where she would be shunned. Besides, she felt that further work on the mystery would involve more danger all the time.
”I'll try to talk Nancy into leaving this Amish country,” she decided.
As for George, she was angry with the Kreutzes. After Nancy and her friends had made their best efforts to locate a girl who had run away, her parents were now treating their guests as suspects!
Early the following morning, Nancy and the girls packed their bags and went downstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Kreutz were already at the table, having breakfast. They nodded, but did not invite the girls to join them.
”We're leaving,” said Nancy. ”I'm sorry that you've been disturbed by rumors about me and that you evidently believe them. I strongly suspect that Roger Hoelt is behind all of this. Some day he'll be caught, then I'll be cleared of these silly charges.”
Nancy's hope that her words might convince Mr. and Mrs. Kreutz was not fulfilled. The farmer and his wife merely nodded again, and did not rise or even say good-by. Nevertheless, each of the girls thanked the couple for their hospitality, then walked out the kitchen door. In silence they got into Nancy's convertible and drove off.
”Well, I've never been so badly treated by nice people in all my life!” George stormed.
”Maybe we shouldn't blame them too much,” Nancy suggested. ”There may be more to this than we realize. But I intend to find out what it is!”
”Will you keep on looking for Manda?” Bess asked Nancy.
”Certainly. If she's working for a thief, I want to warn her as soon as possible.”
”Maybe,” Bess surmised, ”the Kreutzes think you know where Manda is and won't tell them.”
”That's possible. They may have been told a witch is responsible for Manda's disappearance and now they believe I'm that person.”
”I'd like to bet,” said George, ”that if we bring Manda back, the Kreutzes will do an about-face.”
Bess wanted to know where Nancy was heading. Nancy said she thought they might try New Holland. It was a good base from which to work.