The Mystery at Lilac Inn Read Online Free PDF Page B

dear,” fretted Mrs. Willoughby. “What a trying bother!”
    “Yes. These old buildings are so undependable,” Maud said crossly. “Something’s always breaking down.”
    “This can happen in a modern one, too,” Nancy said in defense of Lilac Inn. Maud merely sniffed in annoyance.
    To everyone’s relief, John was heard shouting from the garden, “Hold everything! I’ll be right in!”
    But as John stepped through the open window, the lights came on again. The next instant Emily, returning to her chair, gave a horrified cry.
    “My diamonds! They’re gone!”
    The others gasped in disbelief. Hazel Willoughby, ash-white, stared at the place on the table where the velvet case had rested. Then she pitched forward in a faint.
    “Oh!” Emily sobbed fearfully.
    “Your aunt will be all right,” said Nancy, who had jumped up. Quickly she and Helen dampened napkins with ice water from the tumblers and applied these to the woman’s head and wrists. In a few seconds Mrs. Willoughby revived.
    “I’m sorry,” she apologized weakly. “Such an awful shock—the diamonds vanishing into thin air.”
    Emily insisted that her aunt go to her room and lie down.
    “I’ll be all right, dear. Really. What do we do now?” Mrs. Willoughby looked around helplessly.
    “We’d better keep this to ourselves,” John said. “Otherwise, dinner guests will be upset. I’ll check outside for prowlers. However, the thief didn’t go out this window.”
    Nancy decided to do some sleuthing for the thief in the building and hurried into the main dining room. The only guests were two elderly women, waiting to pay their bill. Nancy learned from them that the waitress Anna had accidentally dropped a tray, which caused the clattering noise just before the lights went out. The ladies were sure that no one else but Mr. Daly had been in the room at the time.
    Nancy next went into the kitchen, where the cooks and waitresses were cleaning up after the evening meal. The girl detective asked where each of them had been when the inn was plunged into darkness. All the women except Anna replied that they had been in the kitchen.
    Anna gave Nancy a curious look. “Why do you ask?”
    The young detective explained that Emily Willoughby wanted to be sure no one had been hurt by an unexpected fall during the blackout.
    Nancy left the kitchen and hurriedly went through the other first-floor rooms, but saw no one. As she walked back toward the private dining room, Nancy met Mr. Daly in the lobby. He told her that he had found nothing wrong with the lighting system.
    “I can’t understand what happened,” he said, then added, “I just heard from Emily about the missing jewels. How dreadfull”
    John came in at that moment and said he had found no prowler on the grounds. “By this time the jewel thief is undoubtedly far away,” he concluded.
    As Nancy returned with him to the private dining room, she was deep in thought. Logically, the only ones who could have taken the diamonds were she and her four dining companions! “But that’s absolutely unlikely,” Nancy told herself. She reported her findings to the others.
    Maud Potter’s eyes narrowed. “I suppose you think Emily should search us!” she said nastily to Nancy.
    “Maud!” Emily protested. “Nancy meant no such thing.”
    Maud paid no attention, but turned on Mrs. Willoughby, who was still pale. “You can blame yourself, Hazel—announcing in a public dining room this morning that you were going to get Emily’s diamonds!”
    “I know.” Mrs. Willoughby sighed. But Emily put a comforting arm around her, and gave Maud a look of disapproval.
    “Let’s all search this room,” Nancy proposed quickly. “We might find some clue.”
    Everyone but Maud readily agreed. She sat sullen-faced, while the others looked carefully in corners and under tables and chairs.
    Nancy herself was scrutinizing the area where Emily had sat. Suddenly her keen eyes spotted three tiny pale-purple lilac buds