For a full minute Nancy Drew stood staring blankly at the telegram in her hand. She read it a second time, although she knew every word by memory.

Worry assailed her anew. If her father had left Chicago two days before, as the telegram indicated, he would have reached Cliffwood before this even if he had come on the slowest train. Surely, something must have happened to him en route. What had delayed him?

After a moment’s reflection, Nancy entered the house, intending to tell the Turnbull sisters about the telegram and ask their advice. She was destined never to carry the thought into action, for as she closed the door behind her she heard a wild shriek from above. It seemed to come from Floretta’s room.

Fearing the worst, Nancy sprang toward the stairs and took them two at a time. Rosemary came running from the kitchen.

Reaching Floretta’s room, Nancy thrust open the door.

“What is it?” she cried.

Floretta stood in the center of the room, wringing her hands in anguish.

“My dresses have been stolen!”

“Your dresses?” Nancy echoed.

“Yes, while we were at breakfast. Someone entered my room and took three of my best black silk dresses. And that isn’t the worst. Look up there!”

Wonderingly, Nancy turned her eyes toward a picture which hung over the bed. What she saw caused her to gasp in astonishment.

On the frame perched two live canary birds!

“Oh!” Rosemary screamed. She had entered the room behind Nancy and her eyes had fallen upon the picture frame.

“It’s wizardry!” Floretta moaned.

Cautiously, Nancy moved toward the picture.

“Don’t touch those birds,” Rosemary advised.

“Why, they’re only tame little canaries,” Nancy said, gently removing one from the frame. “See!”

“Don’t bring that bird near me!” Floretta cried. “It’s an evil omen.”

“I never heard of a canary being called an omen of bad luck,” Nancy returned, studying the bird curiously. “A canary is a rather happy little bird. This one is, anyway.”

“Get them out of the house,” Floretta pleaded.

Obligingly, Nancy opened the window and set the two canaries free.

“How did they ever get in here, anyway?” Rosemary demanded. “We never had a bird in our lives.”

Nancy was dumbfounded. Never had she heard of a more puzzling mystery. Had the canaries been left in the room by the same person who had stolen Floretta’s dresses? Unquestionably, the birds could not have flown in a window, for they were kept carefully screened.

So many strange things had occurred in the house. Unexplainable music and shadows, and the sound of footsteps in the night. Then a spoon had disappeared, next a pocketbook, a diamond pin, an urn, and now Floretta’s silk dresses.

Nancy lost no time in examining the closet and the walls of the room, but she could find no clue which suggested in what manner an entrance had been effected. Apparently, the windows had not been opened.

Nancy felt almost humiliated. She had promised to help Floretta and Rosemary, and so far she had not even gained a clue! Many things had happened under her very nose, and yet she had been unable to put her hands on the thief. There must be an explanation for everything if only she could think of it!

As she stood absorbed in her own unpleasant thoughts, a sudden idea came to her.

“Do you know of anyone who wants to force you out of this house?” she demanded.

Rosemary shook her head.

“Why, no. Why should anyone want to do that?”

“Is there anyone who wants to buy the house?”

“We’ve had several offers from real estate men. There’s some talk that the city wants this house for a historical museum.”

“And the real estate men are trying to get it cheap in the hope of selling to the city and making a neat profit for themselves,” Nancy summarized shrewdly.

“That’s about it.”

“You don’t intend to sell?”

“We didn’t⁠—until lately. At least not unless we could get our price for it. Now, we’d be lucky to sell it for anything, I guess. No one wants a haunted house.”

Nancy was eager to learn more, for now she felt that she had stumbled upon her first clue. She was convinced that someone was trying to force the Misses Turnbull from their home and, by frightening them, induce them to sell The Mansion at a low figure.

“Who has tried to purchase the place?” she asked quickly.

“Well, there’s John O’Conley,” Floretta told her.

“What sort of man is he?”

“Oh, I’m sure he is honest. We’ve known him all our lives.”

“And there was H. D. Fellows, another real estate agent,” Rosemary added thoughtfully. “He made us a very straightforward offer, but he wasn’t willing to meet our price. However, he was very nice about it when we told him we wouldn’t sell.”

“Were there any others?”

“Oh, Nathan Gombet! But we didn’t consider his offer seriously,” Rosemary continued.

Nancy pricked up her ears at the information. Here was genuine news!

“Nathan Gombet!” she exclaimed. “What sort of an offer did he make you?”

“Oh, Gombet isn’t honest,” Floretta broke in feelingly. “We won’t have anything to do with him any more. You see, he claimed we gave him an option to buy our house for six thousand dollars.”

“Six thousand! Why, that’s ridiculous. Surely, you didn’t give such an option?”

“Mercy, no! But Gombet claims we did.”

“The house is worth at least twenty thousand,” Rosemary declared. “And if the city should decide to use it for a historical museum, we ought to get even more than that for it.”

“I should think so,” Nancy agreed. “Gombet was trying to cheat you.”

“We never gave him any sort of option,” Floretta insisted. “We wouldn’t do business with him at any price, because we couldn’t trust him. He would cheat us out of our eye teeth!”

“How long ago did all this happen?”

“Oh, it must have been nearly a year ago,” Rosemary said, trying to recall. “It was last spring.”

“The matter went to court?”

“No. Nathan Gombet threatened to make trouble and he said he would sue us, but nothing ever came of it.”

“We had forgotten all about him until you brought up the subject,” Floretta added.

“Then, have you heard nothing more from him since?”

“He threatened us once,” Rosemary told Nancy. “Said he would make us sorry we hadn’t sold at his price. But nothing ever came of the threat.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Two or three months ago, I should judge.”

Nancy Drew nodded thoughtfully and relapsed into deep meditation. She was now convinced that Nathan Gombet had some connection with the mysterious things which had been going on in the old house. Perhaps he was trying to frighten Rosemary and Floretta so that they would be glad to sell at his price.

“Gombet hasn’t approached you with a new offer recently, has he?” she asked.

Floretta shook her head.

“We haven’t seem him for some time, and we don’t want to either.”

“You don’t think Gombet has had anything to do with what has happened lately, do you?” Rosemary questioned the girl.

“Of course I don’t know, but I’m beginning to suspect there may be a connection,” Nancy returned. “At least, I intend to investigate that line and see what it leads to.”

“To be sure, there’s nothing in Nathan Gombet’s character that would prevent his using any underhand method to induce us to sell him this house,” said Rosemary musingly. “Still, I don’t see what opportunity he’s had to do what’s been done here. He hasn’t been near us for some time, you know, Nancy.”

“That’s true,” replied the girl. “But someone must have made the opportunity. Mr. Gombet has the motive and is so lacking in any sense of honor that would keep him from injuring you in this way, that I believe he furnishes the best lead to follow.”

With that she left the bedroom and went to her own room farther down the hall. But as she sat by the window trying to think her way through the jumble of information she had gleaned, she found it difficult to keep her mind on the mystery.

After a time she took the crumpled telegram she had received earlier that morning from her pocket and studied it again. How could she interest herself in a mystery when her father was missing? What had happened to him? Oh, if only she could answer that question!