Nancy Drew #31. The Ringmaster’s Secret. Carolyn Keene

Mr. Drew had hired a comfortable car to use during their stay in England. Since it would be a little confusing at first to drive on the left side of the road, Pietro’s father offered to take the wheel.

Nancy was charmed with the countryside as they came nearer and nearer to the town of Tewkesbury. Presently Mr. Pietro asked her where she intended to search. He had already made inquiries in every place he could think of.

“I have an idea that Lola Flanders may be in some nursing home,” said Nancy.

“That’s a good hunch,” her father remarked, “Mr. Pietro, how can we go about finding out where the nursing homes are?”

The retired clown suggested that they go to the medical registry. He was sure they could find out there. He drove to the building and went inside with Nancy. They learned that there were two large and eight small nursing homes in the area.

As they went from one to another, Nancy asked if they had a patient by either the name of Lola Flanders or Laura Flynn. After they had inquired at six of them and received a negative reply, everyone in the group except Nancy became discouraged.

“Why, we have four more to investigate,” she said cheerfully.

The last home they came to was a very shabby place. The house was in disrepair and in need of painting. Unlike others in the neighborhood, it had a weedy, run-down garden.

The woman who answered Nancy’s knock proved to be the owner of the home. Her name was Mrs. Ayres and she was as shabby looking as her place. But in a moment, Nancy forgot all this. One of her patients was named Lola Flanders!

“I’ve come all the way from the United States to see her,” said Nancy excitedly.

Mrs. Ayres stared at the visitor. “Well, it’s too bad you went to all that trouble, miss,” she said. “You can’t see Lola Flanders. She’s a victim of amnesia!”

CHAPTER XXII

The Hunt Narrows

Mrs. Ayres started to close the door of her nursing home.

“Oh, please!” Nancy said hurriedly. “I must talk to you.”

The woman rather grudgingly invited Nancy to step inside and ushered her into a dark living room whose furnishings were threadbare and dilapidated.

“Would you mind telling me something about Mrs. Flanders?” Nancy asked, smiling disarmingly. “If she is the person I’m looking for, I know her daughter well. She would like very much to get in touch with her mother.”

Mrs. Ayres hesitated a few moments, apparently wanting to be sure that it was safe to talk freely to the stranger. Finally she said:

“Lola Flanders is an American. She worked in a circus. But she had a bad fall. I don’t know much about that part of it. First I knew, a man named Jones came here and asked me if I could board Lola. After a while he brought her. That’s all there is to the story.”

Nancy did not think so. Several questions popped into her mind.

“How long ago was that?”

“Let me see,” Mrs. Ayres said. “It was nearly ten years ago.”

The date exactly fitted the time when Lolita had been brought to America from Europe by the Kroons!

“Would you mind describing this Mr. Jones to me?” Nancy asked.

Mrs. Ayres’s description fitted Reinhold Kroon. The pieces of the puzzle were falling together fast!

“Did Lola Flanders bring any jewelry with her?” Nancy wanted to know.

Mrs. Ayres looked startled at the question. It was fully a minute before she replied. During the interim, Nancy wondered what was going through the woman’s mind. Had she been intimidated by Kroon, or was she, too, a partner in the mystery?

“Mr. Jones,” the woman began haltingly, “he’s kind of slow paying. He never sends checks but shows up here about once a year with the money. But three years ago he didn’t show up until very late. I couldn’t keep Lola here for nothing—you know how it is,” she said apologetically.

Nancy nodded and urged the woman to go on with her story. Mrs. Ayres said that when she had talked to Lola about what they could do, her patient had finally produced a very beautiful bracelet which she had secreted in her luggage.

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