Nancy Drew 17: Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER III

The Jewel Thief

STARTLED by Nelda’s outcry, Nancy, Bess, and George looked at one another.

“One thing is certain,” Nancy thought. “She’s terribly disturbed about something.” She was forced, however, to recall her earlier suspicion that Nelda might be a spy. In that case the fact that she was followed would obviously upset her. But then, would she act like this?

Nancy’s instinct told her to help the sobbing girl. She crossed the room, sat down beside her, and put her arms around Nelda.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” she asked.

“No, no,” the distraught girl replied. “Thank you, thank you, but my problem is a big secret. I can’t tell you.”

Nancy did not know what to do. After all, Nelda was a stranger to her. She knew nothing of her background. Her problem might indeed be one that she wanted to keep a secret, but then why did she admit that she had been followed?

Bess and George crossed the room also and stood in front of Nelda for a couple of seconds. Then George said, “You don’t know, Nelda, but Nancy is an amateur detective. If your problem is some kind of a mystery, we’re sure she can help you solve it, no matter how difficult it is.”

Nelda looked up. Bess took a handkerchief and wiped the girl’s tear-stained face. “Please stop crying,” she begged.

Suddenly Nelda smiled. “Oh, you’re so wonderful, all of you,” she said. “My problem is a secret —a great secret—but I’m sure I can entrust it to you.”

“Of course you can,” George assured her.

“Promise?” Nelda asked.

When all nodded affirmatively, the girl looked relieved. She showed them the threatening note.

“As I told you before,” she began her story, “I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. One day I was in a jewelry store to buy a birthday gift. A man stood at one of the counters, looking at diamond bracelets and rings on velvet pads.”

She paused a moment, then went on, “He asked for something on display a little distance away. While the saleswoman was getting it, I saw him put two diamond bracelets and several rings in his pocket!”

“Oh, Nelda!” Bess cried out. “What did you do?”

“I was stunned. First I thought my eyes had played a trick on me, because I had watched the whole thing through a reflection in the glass of the display case. But when he hurried out of the store, I knew he had taken the jewelry. I yelled ‘Stop, thief!’ and sped after him to the street. But he was too quick for me and I lost sight of him.”

“Oh, dear,” George said. “Did you get the police?”

“No. I went back to the store and told the saleswoman. But she didn’t believe me and insisted that I had taken the bracelets and rings myself! I tried to convince her I was not a thief, but just then a strange woman walked up. She said she had heard the argument, and when the manager came to see what was going on, she suggested that I be searched.

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