The Ringmaster's Secret Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. “I just couldn’t resist the temptation to come and see if by chance it might be the one that is missing from this bracelet.”
    Lolita fingered the exquisite little horses. Then, going to a bureau drawer, she brought out a dainty gold chain. Hanging from it was a golden horse. The miniature animal, wrought exactly like those on Nancy’s bracelet, was a duplicate of the cantering horse charm.
    “Your bracelet may have belonged to my lovely mother,” said Lolita sadly. “She died when I was only eight years old, but I remember very well how she looked.”
    “Perhaps she sold the bracelet,” Nancy suggested.
    Lolita agreed this was possible, but said it would be difficult to determine this definitely. Whenever she asked Mr. and Mrs. Kroon about her parents, the couple changed the subject, saying they did not like to talk about the Flanders’ terrible accident.
    Leaning close to Nancy, Lolita whispered, “Sometimes I wonder if it’s true that my parents are dead.”
    “Would you like me to help you find out?” Nancy asked on the spur of the moment.
    “Oh, could you?” Lolita exclaimed, giving Nancy an impetuous hug.
    Nancy told the girl that she had solved a few mysteries and would be glad to find out what she could. She asked if Lolita could give her any information at all, but the young aerialist shook her head.
    “As I told you, my foster parents are very close-mouthed. Sometimes I think there must be a reason why they won’t tell me anything.”
    Suddenly Lolita looked at a clock on the wall. The fifteen minutes were up!
    “You’d better go,” she said abruptly. “Mr. Kroon will be here any moment and he mustn’t see you.” Suddenly Lolita put her arms around Nancy again. “I never met you until a few minutes ago,” she said, “but already you are my friend. I feel much better. Doing my high-wire act seemed impossible before, but now I’ll be able to put on a good show.”
    As they stepped outside, Lolita asked where Nancy would be sitting and said she would wave to her. Learning that the girl and her escort had been unable to obtain tickets, Lolita declared that she would get two for her. She called to a man who was walking past the trailer.
    “Dan,” she said, “will you come here, please?”
    Lolita introduced him as Dan Webster, one of the horse trainers. Then she laughed, saying she had failed to ask her caller’s name. When Nancy told her, Lolita said, “Please get Nancy two of the special seats and bring them back here.”
    As Dan hurried off, Nancy saw Kroon approaching. Quickly she ducked around the corner.
    When Kroon reached the trailer, he glared at Lolita. “Well, what’s your answer?” he stormed.
    “I feel better, Father. I’ll do my act,” Lolita said quietly.
    The man snorted, took her by the arm, and led her away. “Get into your costume,” he ordered.
    A few minutes later, Dan Webster returned with the tickets. He walked with Nancy as far as the side shows. On the way she told him of her riding lessons with Senor Roberto, who used to be with Sims’ Circus.
    “So that’s where Roberto is,” Dan Webster exclaimed. “I wondered where he’d gone. I’d like to run out to see him tomorrow morning. What’s the address of his riding academy?”
    Nancy gave him directions, then left Dan to find Ned. When Nancy showed Ned the tickets, he shook his head in amazement. “I might have known you would accomplish the impossible.”
    The seats were in the front row of a box directly along the tanbark. To her surprise, Nancy noticed that the other seats in the box were empty. With the house sold out, why had no one claimed them?
    Nancy watched eagerly for the clowns to appear. Every one of them came out except Pietro.
    “Maybe Kroon is responsible,” Nancy thought.
    A few moments later Kroon stepped to the center of the ring and announced that the next performance would be a horse act.
    “This is the world’s smartest horse!” the ringmaster proclaimed. “He