(#15) The Haunted Bridge Read Online Free PDF

said.
    “I sometimes write cards for my customers. Did someone send you flowers from my shop?”
    “Yes, I received a dozen roses from a man named Martin Bartescue.”
    “Oh, are you Miss Drew?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “I wrote the card that went with your flowers,” the clerk recalled. “Mr. Bartescue requested me to do so.”
    “I see,” Nancy murmured, without disclosing by her tone that the information had special significance. She paid for the fiowers and left.
    As she passed the registration desk, the hotel clerk motioned to her. “Miss Drew, the tournament chairman asked me to give you this,” he said and handed her a sealed envelope. To her delight, it contained an invitation to enter the official competition.
    Excitedly Nancy hurried on to the caddy house, where her golf bag and spiked shoes were. Bess and George were mystified when their friend returned to the cousins’ room holding the shoes and an envelope.
    “Sharp gear!” Bess quipped. “What do you intend to do with those?”
    Nancy laughed. “Could you ask for a better implement than a spike?” Almost in the same breath, she asked, “Aren’t you curious about this too?” She showed them the letter and then turned her attention to the brass chest.
    Holding it firmly between her knees, she inserted a row of the spikes of one shoe under the edge of the lid, then used the other shoe as a hammer.
    As she paused for a moment, Nancy remarked, “The lid on this mystery chest is stubborn.”
    Bess said, “Why don’t you stop for a while? It’s almost dinnertime. We should dress.”
    Reluctantly Nancy agreed.
    The girls had just finished changing when a boy appeared at the door bearing two boxes from the florist shop.
    “They’re for Nancy, of course.” Bess sighed wistfully. “Barty is a pest but at least he’s generous.”
    George looked at one of the boxes. “This is addressed to me!” she cried in surprise. “There must be some mistake.”
    Nancy thoroughly enjoyed herself as she watched the two girls open their boxes. So far they did not suspect that she had sent the flowers.
    “Oh, what a lovely bouquet!” Bess exclaimed in delight, putting her face close to the yellow roses in it. “Who could have sent it?”
    George was peering at the attached card. “‘From A Friend,’ ” she read.
    “And mine is the same,” Bess added.
    “Are you sure you haven’t been hiding something from me?” Nancy asked teasingly.
    The little game went on for some time. Then Nancy’s broad smile betrayed her.
    “Nancy Drew, you sent these flowers!” Bess suddenly accused her.
    “Well, yes, I did.”
    “It was great of you to do this, Nancy,” Bess declared.
    George thanked her, saying it was a “sweet” joke—the kind she liked.
    “I did myself a good turn by visiting the florist. I found out something interesting about Barty.”

    “The lid on this mystery chest is stubborn,” Nancy remarked
    Nancy explained that the girl in the flower shop had written the note which accompanied her roses.
    “Barty seems to be afraid someone will recognize his handwriting,” Bess remarked. “Do you suppose he’s a fugitive?”
    “He seems to have plenty of money and apparently doesn’t work,” Nancy replied. “Still, it never occurred to me that he might be a criminal.”
    “Why don’t you wear one of Barty’s flowers, Nancy?” Bess suggested. “It would set off your dress beautifully.”
    “But I don’t like him,” Nancy protested.
    “Oh, probably he won’t even be in the dining room. Flowers are flowers, Nancy. Here, let me pin a rose on you,” George insisted.
    Nancy finally gave in. She hid the chest under the bed, and the girls left their rooms, each wearing a rose.
    Since Mr. Drew had not returned to the hotel the girls planned to eat alone. They were led by the headwaiter to a pleasant table near a window.
    “Oh, there’s Barty,” Nancy murmured to George as she noticed him seated alone at a table nearby. “Don’t let on