The Secret in the Old Attic Read Online Free PDF Page A

stood against the far wall.
    “I’ll search that first,” she decided, crossing the attic.
    Setting the candle on the floor, she grasped the knob of the door and pulled.
    “Wonder what I’ll find?” she asked herself.
    The door did not give. At the same moment there was a creaking sound. Nancy could not tell where it had come from. She picked up the candle and looked around.
    “It’s nothing, I’m sure,” Nancy told herself, but she could not shake off the uneasy feeling that had come over her.
    Once more she put down the candle and tugged at the door. It gave suddenly, swinging outward on a squeaky hinge.
    From within, a long bony arm reached out toward Nancy’s throat!

CHAPTER V
    A Suspected Thief
     
     
     
    IT was impossible for Nancy to stifle a scream as the long bony fingers brushed against her throat. She staggered backward. The candlelight flick ered wildly.
    “Come away! Come away before that—that thing gets you!” shrieked someone behind her.
    The voice was Effie’s. The maid, worried about Nancy, had followed her to the attic.
    “It’s nothing. Nothing but a skeleton,” said Nancy, her own voice a trifle unsteady.
    “It struck you with its bony hand!” quavered Effie. “Oh, I’m getting out of this house tonight, and I’m never coming back!” she announced, starting down the steps.
    “Please don’t go downstairs and frighten Susan,” Nancy pleaded, her own momentary fear gone. “Surely you see what happened?”
    “You were attacked by a skeleton!”
    “No, Effie. The thing is hanging inside the wardrobe. One hand seems to be attached to a nail on the door. When I jerked it open, the arm swung out and the fingers brushed me.”
    Nancy reached into the closet and touched the chalk-colored bones.
    “What’s a thing like that doing here, anyway?” Effie asked in a voice less shaky than before. “I don’t like it!”
    Before Nancy could reply, they heard footsteps on the attic stairs. Mr. March called, “Anything wrong up there? I heard someone scream.”
    “We found a skeleton in the wardrobe,” Nancy explained. “It startled us.”
    Mr. March slowly climbed to the attic and went toward the open wardrobe.
    “Oh that!” he said in relief. “I’d forgotten all about it. Fact is, I didn’t know Fipp had put it in the closet.”
    The elderly man then explained that the skeleton originally had been brought there by a young medical student, a cousin of Fipp’s.
    “You know how boys are,” he added with a chuckle. “They used this skeleton on Halloween, and never did take it away.”
    “You’re sure your son put it here?” Nancy asked thoughtfully.
    “Who else could have done it?”
    Nancy did not reply. Instead she began an investigation of the wardrobe. She figured it was just possible Fipp March had rigged the strange figure to frighten away all but members of his own family.
    Perhaps this was his hiding place for the missing music!
    Excited, Nancy held up the candle in order to examine every inch of the old piece of furniture. When a hasty glance revealed nothing but dust and cobwebs, she tapped the sides, top, and bottom for sliding panels. None came to light.
    Effie, tired of waiting, coaxed Nancy to go downstairs. Mr. March, concerned about Susan during their long absence, said he thought they should all go below. Nancy did not want to give up the search, but out of deference to the elderly man’s wishes, she reluctantly followed the others to the second floor.
    “I’m going to look at that old wardrobe again soon,” she said to herself. “I have a hunch it holds a strange secret.”
    For two hours she and Mr. March talked and listened to the radio she had brought. Nancy was disappointed that they had not heard the song which he thought was his son’s. Finally at ten o’clock the elderly man arose and smiled at his guest.
    “I believe I will go to bed now. Thank you very much for everything.”
    “I wish the mystery were nearer to being solved,” Nancy