Millie Francine proved to be a better dancer than singer, but she was nervous, and when her part in the show was over she sat down at a table not far from where Nancy and Ned were seated. They rose and went over to sit beside her. Looking straight into the dancer’s eyes, Nancy asked in a low tone:
“Where have you hidden the real Lola Flanders?”
Millie Francine fell back as if someone had struck her. It was several seconds before she recovered her wits, then she asked who Nancy was.
“I’m a detective and I know all about you,” Nancy replied. She gave the girl enough of the story to convince her.
Millie Francine had begun to shake with fright. She declared she was an innocent party.
“I used to work for Sims’ Circus,” she said. “Mr. Kroon knew I needed money. When he suggested that I could earn some extra cash by pretending my real name was Lola Flanders, I said I would.”
Millie Francine said she had been paid well by Kroon and Mr. Tristam, the owner of the agency.
“I didn’t see any harm in the pretense,” the dancer said.
“But what about the mail that came to you in care of the agency?” Nancy asked.
Millie Francine’s eyebrows went up. She said she had never received any mail there. Nancy now told her about the dividend checks and her suspicion that Kroon and possibly Tristam were stealing them.
The dancer began to weep. She insisted that she had done nothing wrong and did not want to go to jail.
“I don’t think you’ll have to go to jail,” said Nancy, “providing your story is true, and it will help a lot if you will tell us where Lola Flanders is right now.”
“I don’t know, really I don’t,” said Millie. “The agency busted up, you know.”
Nancy asked if Millie knew where the Tristams lived. She gave them an apartment-house address and said that perhaps Lola Flanders was there. But Nancy had already thought of this.
“How soon will the rehearsal be over?” Nancy asked the dancer abruptly.
“I’m all through now,” the girl replied.
“In that case, I’ll go to your dressing room and wait while you change. Then you’re going with us to the apartment.”
At first Millie Francine demurred, but Nancy was fearful the dancer might telephone the apartment and spoil everything.
“The easiest way to prove you’re innocent,” said Nancy, “is to face those people.”
“I never thought of that,” the dancer said, and willingly let Nancy accompany her to the dressing room.
Twenty minutes later the three set off in a cab. Unbeknown to Nancy, Ned had telephoned Captain Smith and asked that a policeman meet them at the apartment house. Upon their arrival, they found him waiting.
Nancy suggested that Millie Francine call up to She apartment that she was there, but not to mention that she had other visitors with her. The dancer did her part and the front door was opened to them.
They rode up in the elevator to the third floor and made their way to the Tristam apartment. Millie rang the bell. The door was opened by a woman with curly blond hair whom the dancer called Mrs. Tristam. The four callers burst in.
“What does this mean?” Mrs. Tristam cried.
While the policeman stood guard at the door, Nancy and Ned hurried inside to look for Lola Flanders. They found her in the living room, talking to Mr. Tristam.
“Oh, Nancy!” Lolita’s mother cried out. “It was dreadful of me not to have left a note. These kind people got in touch with me and we were going to leave in a few minutes to see my daughter.”
“Mrs. Flanders,” said Nancy, “these people are not kind. They have practically kidnaped you. They have been stealing your money for years. They never intended to take you to Lolita.”
As Lola Flanders fell back, stunned, Mr. Tristam walked forward. He demanded to know what this outrageous story was all about and who Nancy was.
“I’m quite sure you know who I am,” she said. “Possibly you do not know my escort, Ned Nickerson. And in case you do not know the policeman at the door, I suggest that you meet him quietly.”