“You can pick up lots of pointers,” he said. Turning to Bess and George, he added, “Sorry I haven’t any more tickets.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” said Bess. “The trapeze stuff scares me, anyway.”
Since Nancy’s lesson was over, she said good-by to the cousins and the two men, and started for her car. Upon reaching home, she found Hannah Gruen busy in the kitchen preparing lunch.
“Oh, that soufflé looks yummy!” Nancy said, watching the housekeeper take the puffy, delicious-looking food from the oven.
“We’ll sit right down and eat,” Hannah stated. “Nothing should interrupt a soufflé.”
As if to belie her words, the front doorbell rang. As Nancy hastened to answer it, Hannah called, “Now don’t let anything or anybody ruin our lunch, please!”
Nancy laughed sympathetically. She knew that Hannah was only pleading for her own rights. Meals in the Drew household were forever being interrupted by Mr. Drew’s law cases and Nancy’s mysteries.
As she approached the door, Nancy wondered if the caller might be Pietro.
Opening the door, Nancy saw a young couple she did not recognize. The girl was attractively dressed and wore a small hat with a full-length face veil.
“Let us in quickly!” she said, stepping into the hall.
The man looked nervously over his shoulder toward the street.
CHAPTER VIII
Surprising News
As the pretty caller stepped into the Drew home, Nancy suddenly recognized her.
“Lolita!” she cried.
The young man with her smiled as Nancy invited him to enter also.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know you at first, Lolita,” said Nancy. “You look so different in street clothes.”
“And I rarely wear them,” the aerialist replied. “As a matter of fact, I borrowed these.”
The girl did not explain further, and Nancy wondered if perhaps poor Lolita had no street clothes of her own, since her father rarely let her leave the circus.
It suddenly occurred to Lolita that Nancy did not recognize her escort. Laughing, she said, “I’d like to present my fiancé, Pietro.”
Nancy’s eyes opened wide. The clown was a very handsome man with features quite different from the garishly painted ones which Nancy remembered from his trick act on the ladder.
“I certainly didn’t recognize you, Pietro,” she said, smiling. “And what’s this about you two being engaged? I think it’s wonderful!”
The couple blushed shyly and Lolita confided in Nancy that they had just decided an hour or so before that they would be married as soon as possible.
“There are two obstacles in my way, though,” said Lolita, her smile suddenly vanishing. “One is my father. I mean my foster father. He would never consent to my marriage if he heard about it.”
“But I’m not going to let that make any difference,” Pietro spoke up. “Lolita and I will go to another circus and find work.”
Nancy knew that both were excellent performers and any circus would be glad to have them. On the other hand, she recalled what she had heard about Kroon’s hold on people. It might prove difficult for the couple to get away from him.
“What is your other problem?” Nancy asked. “Is it about the mystery you asked me to help you with?”
The young aerialist said that she wanted to learn more about her own mother and father before she married. Perhaps she was too sentimental, but if either or both parents were alive, she wanted them to attend her wedding.
“The Kroons never legally adopted me, you know,” Lolita explained. “They have just taken it for granted that I belong to them, and it was not until recently that I found out I don’t.”
“Did the Kroons tell you that?” Nancy questioned.
“Oh, my goodness, no,” Lolita answered. “Pietro, suppose you tell the rest of the story.”
Nancy had led the way into the living room and now all three sat down. At this moment they heard a groan of disgust from the kitchen. The callers looked startled. Nancy tried to hide a smile and remarked that their housekeeper often sighed loudly.
Actually Nancy knew that Hannah Gruen was trying to attract her attention. The delicious soufflé which had just been taken out of the oven was not going to be eaten for some time and would be ruined as she had feared.