The Hidden Staircase Read Online Free PDF Page A

control? I’ve heard of such things.”
    Nancy said she doubted this. “I’m afraid, Helen, that the thief has been in the house all the time. He and the ghost are one and the same person. Oh, I wish we had looked before in the cellar and the attic. Maybe it’s not too late. Come on!”
    Helen, instead of moving from the room, stared at the fireplace. “Nancy,” she said, “do you suppose someone is hiding up there?”
    Without hesitation she crossed the room, got down on her knees, and tried to look up the chimney. The damper was closed. Reaching her arm up, Helen pulled the handle to open it.
    The next moment she cried out, “Ugh!”
    “Oh, Helen, you poor thing!” Nancy exclaimed, running to her friend’s side.
    A shower of soot had come down, covering Helen’s hair, face, shoulders, and arms.
    “Get me a towel, will you, Nancy?” she requested.
    Nancy dashed to the bathroom and grabbed two large towels. She wrapped them around her friend, then went with Helen to help her with a shampoo and general cleanup job. Finally Nancy brought her another sports dress.
    “I guess my idea about chimneys wasn’t so good,” Helen stated ruefully. “And we’re probably too late to catch the thief.”
    Nevertheless, she and Nancy climbed the stairs to the attic and looked behind trunks and boxes to see if anyone were hiding. Next, the girls went to the cellar and inspected the various rooms there. Still there was no sign of the thief who had entered Twin Elms.
    After Miss Flora had heard the whole story, she gave a nervous sigh. “It’s the ghost—there’s no other explanation.”
    “But why,” Aunt Rosemary asked, “has a ghost suddenly started performing here? This house has been occupied since 1785 and no ghost was ever reported haunting the place.”
    “Well, apparently robbery is the motive,” Nancy replied. “But why the thief bothers to frighten you is something I haven’t figured out yet.”
    “The main thing,” Helen spoke up, “is to catch him!”
    “Oh, if we only could!” Miss Flora said, her voice a bit shaky.
    The girls were about to pick up the luncheon dishes from the table, to carry them to the kitchen, when the front door knocker sounded loudly.
    “Oh, dear,” said Miss Flora, “who can that be? Maybe it’s the thief and he’s come to harm us!”
    Aunt Rosemary put an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Please don’t worry,” she begged. “I think our caller is probably the man who wants to buy Twin Elms.” She turned to Nancy and Helen. “But Mother doesn’t want to sell for the low price that he is offering.”
    Nancy said she would go to the door. She set the dishes down and walked out to the hall. Reaching the great door, she flung it open.
    Nathan Gomber stood there!

CHAPTER V
    A Puzzling Interview
    FOR SEVERAL seconds Nathan Gomber stared at Nancy in disbelief. “You!” he cried out finally.
    “You didn’t expect to find me here, did you?” she asked coolly.
    “I certainly didn’t. I thought you’d taken my advice and stayed with your father. Young people today are so hardhearted!” Gomber wagged his head in disgust.
    Nancy ignored Gomber’s remarks. Shrugging, the man pushed his way into the hall. “I know this. If anything happens to your father, you’ll never forgive yourself. But you can’t blame Nathan Gomber! I warned you!”
    Still Nancy made no reply. She kept looking at him steadily, trying to figure out what was really in his mind. She was convinced it was not solicitude for her father.
    Nathan Gomber changed the subject abruptly. “I’d like to see Mrs. Turnbull and Mrs. Hayes,” he said. “Go call them.”
    Nancy was annoyed by Gomber’s crudeness, but she turned around and went down the hall to the dining room.
    “We heard every word,” Miss Flora said in a whisper. “I shan’t see Mr. Gomber. I don’t want to sell this house.”
    Nancy was amazed to hear this. “You mean he’s the person who wants to buy