The Hidden Window Mystery by Carolyn Keene Page A

toward the road. Instead of staying on the gravel path, he stepped onto a little patch of soft earth bordering the driveway. Rugby left perfect imprints of his shoes!
    Nancy smiled with satisfaction. The prints would be a good clue. “I’ll come back here after dark,” she told herself, “and compare the left footprint with my pattern.”
    It occurred to Nancy that she had better leave something she could pretend to be searching for, in case anyone should find her there. As she walked toward the car with Mr. Bradshaw, Nancy unobtrusively opened her handbag and took out a compact. When he was not looking, she dropped it into some bushes.
    “Good-by until tomorrow,” she said to the artist, climbing into the car.
    At Seven Oaks, Nancy was eagerly questioned by Susan, Bess, and George as to how she had made out with her sketching and sleuthing. She told them what had happened.
    “And tonight I’ll go back there—to pick up my compact,” she said with a chuckle.
    Smiling, Bess said, “You’ll have an unexpected escort, Nancy.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Her friends explained that after Nancy had left, Ned Nickerson had telephoned. He was leaving Emerson College with Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans, friends of George and Bess. The three football players were on their way to Charlottesville for an annual collegiate conference.
    Nancy was delighted. “That’s wonderful! And they’re coming out here this evening?”
    George nodded. “Susan has invited them to dinner. If you really have to go sleuthing tonight, Nancy,” she added, winking at the others, “I’m sure Ned won’t let you go alone.”
    “And I wouldn’t want him to,” said Nancy, grinning broadly.
    At seven o’clock that evening the three boys arrived in a taxi. Susan, who had never met any of them, peeked through a window as they came toward the front door.
    “That’s Ned in the lead,” Nancy told her. Ned was tall, broad-shouldered, and he had brown eyes and hair.
    Dave Evans, who dated Bess, was behind Ned. The young man had a rangy build, dark hair, and flashing green eyes. George’s favorite escort, Burt Eddleton, was blond. He was a little shorter and heavier than the other two.
    The girls ran out the front door to greet the new arrivals. Ned took Nancy aside for a moment and whispered in her ear, “Miss me?”
    “Sure have,” she said, and added facetiously, “but I’ve been keeping myself busy with Mark Bradshaw.”
    “Who’s he?” Ned demanded.
    Nancy teased him, replying that she would explain later.
    The boys followed their dates into the house and Nancy introduced them to Susan, then to Cliff, who had just come into the living room.
    “Good to meet you all,” he said.
    At dinner the conversation ranged from football to detective work. After dessert, Ned asked for a complete explanation of the mystery Nancy was trying to solve.
    “Mysteries, you mean,” George corrected.
    The boys were astounded to hear all that had happened. Ned was relieved to learn who Mark Bradshaw was, and asked if there was something he could do that very evening to track down the villain. Nancy told him what she had in mind.
    “Perfect,” he said. “When do we start?”
    “Let’s go at about eleven o’clock,” Nancy suggested. “The Bradshaws probably will be asleep by then.”
    Shortly before eleven, she and Ned started out in the convertible. The moon would not rise until late, but the stars were shining brilliantly. Ned parked some distance beyond the Bradshaws’ driveway. Then the couple walked quietly on the grass along the driveway.
    They passed the house without seeing anyone and went on toward the studio. About three hundred feet from it, Nancy whispered, “I suggest that you wait here, Ned. I’m trying to keep my sleuthing a secret. If Mr. Bradshaw or Alonzo Rugby should notice a strange man’s footprints alongside mine, they might question me.”
    Ned agreed and stopped to wait for her in the shadow of some tall bushes. Nancy