The Ringmaster's Secret (13 page)

Over the loudspeaker came the announcement: “Flight two-oh-five departing for London!”

Pietro and the Drews said good-by and walked toward the plane. A few minutes later the pilot taxied down the runway, then with a roar the huge plane rose into the sky.

Nancy watched from the window as long as land was in sight. Then, as the plane went higher and higher into the clouds, she settled down to read the magazine Aunt Eloise had given her.

After a delicious dinner and a long nap, Nancy realized the plane was descending. The FASTEN SEAT BELTS sign flashed on. They were over London!

When they landed, Nancy and her companions were among the first to leave the plane. After going through Customs, they walked toward the exit gate. Pietro saw his father and started to run.

Nancy enjoyed watching the happy reunion as the two men embraced. When the Drews walked up, Pietro introduced them to his father, Mr. Favia.

“This is the young lady I wrote you about,” the clown said, “the one who is trying to straighten out everything so that Lolita and I can be married.”

“Then I am doubly glad to meet you, Miss Drew,” the older man said, smiling.

“And I’m happy to meet you,” said Nancy. “You know you’re involved in this mystery. It is because you thought you saw Lola Flanders at the circus in Tewkesbury that we’re here.”

“I’ve made reservations for my son and myself at a small West End hotel. Now that you are here, I am sure they could take care of you and your father too.”

Mr. Drew agreed, and they took a taxi. Pietro told his father what had happened to Nancy at the New York airport. A worried look came over the older man’s face and he said he hoped she would have no such experiences in England.

“I’m sure I’ll be all right,” Nancy said. “But you men will have to let me do a little shopping. That awful man and his acid ruined some rather necessary articles in my wardrobe.”

After breakfast, the group set off for the shopping trip and a visit to the pawnshop from which Nancy’s bracelet had come. When they reached Liberty’s Department Store, Mr. Drew suggested Nancy be given half an hour for her shopping.

“We men will look around and meet you here,” he said, as he handed her some English money.

Hurrying from one counter to another, Nancy made several purchases.

“I ought to pick up a few souvenirs while I’m here,” she told herself. “I must get something for Aunt Eloise and Hannah. And for George and Bess. They were wonderful, helping me on the mystery.”

Nancy had so much fun buying some of the lovely things for which the store was famous that she actually forgot the time. When she rejoined her companions, she apologized for keeping them waiting.

“You did pretty well at that,” her father teased. “Most girls would have taken half a day to buy all those things,” he said, looking at her many packages.

The pawnshop was not far away. The owner proved to be very helpful. Although it had been three years since the woman who had signed her name as Laura Flynn had visited his shop, he remembered her well.

“I felt sorry for her,” he said. “She seemed very nervous. Apparently it was hard for her to part with the bracelet.” When he described her, Nancy was at once reminded of Lolita.

“She’s the one I saw in Tewkesbury, all right!” Mr. Favia exclaimed.

Nancy wanted to start at once to look for Lola Flanders. But the others insisted that she should do some sightseeing in London first. Mr. Drew wanted to call on his lawyer friend, so Pietro and his father showed Nancy the most famous sights of the old city.

The next morning Mr. Drew hired a comfortable car to use during their stay in England. They set out early with Pietro’s father behind the wheel.

Nancy was charmed with the countryside as they approached the town of Tewkesbury. Presently Mr. Favia asked her where she intended to search. He had already made inquiries in several places.

“I have an idea that Lola Flanders may be in a nursing home of some sort,” Nancy said.

“That’s a good hunch,” her father remarked. “Mr. Favia, how can we go about finding out where nursing homes are?”

The retired clown suggested that they go to the medical registry. He drove to the building and went inside with Nancy. They learned that there were two large and eight small nursing homes in the area.

As they went from one to another, Nancy asked if they had a patient by the name of either Lola Flanders or Laura Flynn. After they had inquired at six of them and received a negative reply, the three men became discouraged.

“We have four more to investigate,” Nancy said cheerfully. “I’m not giving up yet!”

The last home they came to was a very shabby place. The house was in disrepair and badly in need of paint. Unlike others in the neighborhood, it had a weedy, run-down garden.

The men waited in the car while Nancy approached the house. The woman who answered her knock proved to be the owner. Her name was Mrs. Ayres and she was as shabby looking as her house. But in a moment, Nancy forgot all this.

In reply to Nancy’s question, the woman said one of her patients was named Lola Flanders!

“I’ve come all the way from the United States to see her,” said Nancy excitedly.

Mrs. Ayres stared at the visitor. “Well, it’s too bad you went to all that trouble, miss,” she said. “You can’t see Lola Flanders. She has amnesial She doesn’t know who she is!”

MRS. Ayres started to close the door of her nursing home.

“Oh, please!” Nancy said hurriedly. “I must talk to you.”

The woman grudgingly invited Nancy to step inside and ushered her into a dark living room. The furnishings were threadbare and dilapidated.

“Would you mind telling me something about Mrs. Flanders?” Nancy asked, smiling disarmingly. “If she is the person I’m looking for, I know her daughter well. She is very anxious to find her mother.”

Mrs. Ayres hesitated a moment, then said, “Lola Flanders is an American. She worked in a circus, where she had a bad fall. I don’t know much about that. A man named Jones came here and asked me if I could board Lola. When I said I could, he brought her here. That’s all I know.”

“How long ago was this?” Nancy asked.

“Let me see,” Mrs. Ayres said. “It must have been nearly ten years ago.”

The date fitted the time when Lolita had been brought to America from Europe by the Kroons!

“Would you mind describing this Mr. Jones?” Nancy asked.

Mrs. Ayres’ description fitted Reinhold Kroon. The pieces of the puzzle were falling together—fast!

“Did Lola Flanders bring any jewelry with her?” was Nancy’s next question.

Mrs. Ayres looked startled. “Mr. Jones,” she said haltingly, “is kind of slow paying. He never sends checks but shows up here once a year with the money. About three years ago he didn’t come until very late. I couldn’t keep Lola here for nothing—you know how it is,” she said.

Nancy nodded and the woman went on with her story. Mrs. Ayres said that when she had talked to Lola about the situation, her patient had produced a very beautiful bracelet, which she had kept hidden in her luggage.

“Lola and I took a little trip to London to pawn it,” Mrs. Ayres continued. “She didn’t want to give her right name to the pawnbroker because she was kind of ashamed to have to pawn anything.”

“So she used the name of Laura Flynn, didn’t she?” Nancy asked.

Mrs. Ayres almost toppled from her chair in surprise. Nancy told her not to worry—that she had received the same bracelet as a gift and had been trying ever since to find out who the original owner had been.

“How long has Mrs. Flanders had amnesia?” she asked.

Mrs. Ayres replied that it was ever since Lola had come to live there. “She doesn’t have complete amnesia,” the woman said. “Every so often she seems to remember things very well. Then her memory will fade and for a long time she’ll be almost like a child. To tell you the truth, Miss Drew, I think that medicine Lola takes has something to do with it.”

“She’s under a doctor’s care?” Nancy asked.

Mrs. Ayres nodded and said that the physician was not a local man. He came once a month from London to see the ex-circus performer. He always left a supply of pills, which Lola was to take every day.

“You’ll let me see Mrs. Flanders, won’t you?” Nancy queried.

Once more, Mrs. Ayres seemed undecided as to what she should do. But finally she said, “I’m ready to wash my hands of the whole thing. It’s very hard to keep Lola here on the small amount of money Mr. Jones gives me. Come on, I’ll take you to her.”

Nancy’s pulse quickened as she followed the woman up a narrow, winding stairway. Mrs. Ayres opened one of the bedroom doors and called out, “Lola, you have a visitor from the United States.”

As Nancy walked in, she saw a small, sweet-looking woman seated in an old-fashioned rocker. There was no doubt in Nancy’s mind that she was Lolita’s mother!

“How do you do, Mrs. Flanders,” she said, going forward and shaking hands with the woman. “I’ve come a long way to see you. How are you?”

“It’s very nice to meet you, my dear,” Mrs. Flanders said. “I never have any visitors.”

Nancy told her that a former friend lived close by. He had seen her at a circus and had tried to speak to her. “But you left rather quickly,” said Nancy.

Mrs. Flanders looked questioningly at Mrs. Ayres. Apparently she did not remember the incident.

“Oh yes, we went to the circus when it came here,” said Mrs. Ayres. “Who is this person you speak of?”

“His name is Pietro Favia,” Nancy said, watching Lolita’s mother closely.

Mrs. Flanders jumped from her chair. For a few seconds her mind appeared clear. “Pietro!” she cried excitedly. “I remember him very well. He was one of the best clowns in the circus!”

Then suddenly the woman’s face seemed to cloud over and she sat down in the rocker. “What were you asking me, my dear?” she said sweetly.

Mrs. Ayres shrugged as if to say to Nancy, “You see how it is.” But the young detective was not discouraged. She felt that with proper care Lola’s memory might be restored completely.

“I haven’t told you,” said Nancy, “but I’m a friend of your daughter Lolita.”

“Lolita,” Mrs. Flanders said softly. “My little Lolita died when she was very young.”

Nancy was shocked. Apparently Mrs. Flanders had been told that her child was no longer living. Another of Kroon’s tricks!

Nancy decided to change the subject. “Mrs. Flanders,” she said, “a queen once gave you a beautiful bracelet with gold horse charms, didn’t she?”

Again Lola Flanders rose from her chair and her eyes flashed. “Yes,” she said excitedly. “Mrs. Ayres, where is my bracelet?”

Quickly pulling up her coat sleeve, Nancy asked, “Is this it?”

Mrs. Flanders stared at the bracelet as if she were seeing a ghost. Nancy took off the jewelry and put it around Mrs. Flander’s thin wrist.

As the woman looked at it, all her uncertainty seemed to disappear. She smiled at Nancy and Mrs. Ayres.

“Please tell me more about this bracelet. How did you get it, Miss Drew?”

Nancy was brief. “It came from a shop in the States,” she said. “An aunt of mine saw it and bought it for me.”

Nancy hurried on. Putting an arm about the woman, she said, “You think your daughter is no longer living. That isn’t true. Lolita is alive and well. She lives in the United States.”

“My little girl is alive!” Lola Flanders exclaimed happily.

Nancy nodded. “Would you like to see her?” she asked.

“Oh yes!” Mrs. Flanders said softly.

Nancy told her that Mr. Drew, who was a lawyer, was outside. He could make the legal arrangements for Lola Flanders to accompany them to the United States very soon. Nancy also revealed that Pietro Favia and his son were waiting with her father.

“Oh, I want to see them!” Lola Flanders cried.

Then suddenly she looked at her shabby clothes and shook her head. She said she could not possibly appear in public until she had her hair fixed and a new dress. Nancy and Mrs. Ayres laughed. For the next few minutes they helped Mrs. Flanders get ready. Nancy combed her hair into a more modern and becoming style. From a closet Mrs. Ayres brought out her own best dress. She wore it only to church, she said.

“Put this on,” Mrs. Ayres suggested.

Lola Flanders slipped it over her head, and smiling happily as a girl, surveyed herself in the mirror. When she was ready, the former circus performer went downstairs. Nancy hurried outside and brought in the men.

“Lola! Lola! This is wonderful!” the elder Pietro cried, kissing her.

Mrs. Flanders blushed. Then Nancy introduced her father and the younger Pietro.

“How soon could Mrs. Flanders be ready to leave?” Nancy asked Mrs. Ayres.