Part 10 (1/2)
”Yes, he did.”
At this affirmation of her suspicions, Nancy almost dropped a plate. She quickly caught it, but thought, ”Evidence is piling up against Joe Swenson at an alarming rate!”
Presently Mrs. Swenson spoke again. ”Nancy, I can't understand why I haven't heard from my husband,” she confided. ”Joe has been gone a month. He was sure of finding work and promised to send money home. But I haven't had a single letter from him. That's the reason I went to the post office today. But there was no mail for me. Oh, Nancy, I'm so worried about Joe. Something may have happened to him!”
”Oh, I don't think so,” Nancy said quickly.
Mrs. Swenson grabbed the girl's arm. ”Why do you say that?” she cried out. ”Do you know something about Joe?”
Nancy was dumfounded. What was she going to say now?
CHAPTER VIII.
Worried Sleuths
TAKING a deep breath, Nancy put an arm around Mrs. Swenson. ”I'm sure your husband carried identification. If anything had happened to him, surely you would have been notified by this time.”
”But what about his not writing to me?” Mrs. Swenson persisted. ”It's unlike Joe not to keep a promise.”
”Well, that puzzles me too,” Nancy confessed. ”But I'm sure you'll hear from him soon.”
”Oh, I hope so. It should have been easy for Joe to find work, because he's very skillful. But as I told you before, he was cheated out of a fair deal on his cleverest invention. Unfortunately, he entrusted the drawings to an unscrupulous man who promised to take out patents for him-but didn't!”
”How dreadful!” Nancy remarked.
”Yes, the man took the patents out under his own name. He deliberately stole them from Joe.”
”Who is the man?” Nancy asked tensely, yet fearing the answer.
Mrs. Swenson hesitated an instant and then said, ”Perhaps I shouldn't give his name, but since you'll most likely never see him, it can do no harm. The man who cheated Joe, who broke his spirit, is Felix Raybolt!”
”Felix Raybolt!” Nancy echoed.
She had expected this answer, yet hearing the name gave her a distinct shock.
”Yes,” Mrs. Swenson returned, looking curiously at the girl. ”Do you know him?”
”Only by reputation,” Nancy answered. ”I did hear that his house burned.”
This was news to Mrs. Swenson. ”Was anyone hurt?” she asked.
”The police and firemen think the house was unoccupied at the time.”
At that moment Honey and her new friends came in from the garden.
”Nancy,” Bess said, ”don't you think we'd better start for home? The sun is setting and we ought to cross that shaky bridge before dark.”
”Yes,” Nancy agreed. ”We'll leave right away.”