His daughter went on, “I’ve even thought that
maybe Juliana is being held a prisoner some-
where.”
Mr. Drew looked surprised. “In the castle?”
“Who knows?” Nancy replied. “Dad, I can’t
decide where to begin looking for her. The ex-
plosion today kind of changed my plans.”
“In what way?”
“I heard that Walter Heath made scientific ex-
periments at his estate. If Mr. Hector suspects
there’s a secret within those crumbling walls-”
Mr. Drew gazed at Nancy. “Young lady, you’re
leading up to something!” he declared with a
twinkle in his eye. “Out with it!”
“I’m only trying to arouse your curiosity,”
Nancy confessed with a laugh. “Why not go to the
factory with me? You may find a clue I over-
looked. I need your help. Dad.”
“Well, if you put it that way,” her father said,
“Actually, I haven’t the time to spare, but I’ll go
to please you.”
“Tomorrow morning then.”
“So soon?”
“Dad, don’t forget, I must solve this mystery in
three weeks!”
CHAPTER VII
A Puzzling Message
Nancy and her father were up early the next
morning. They hastily made breakfast before
Hannah came downstairs, then drove to the lane
Mr. Drew knew led to the damaged button fac-
tory. The road was in very bad condition, and
there was no gate.
“I see why those men came by boat,” said Mr.
Drew, stopping the car some distance from the
building. “We’ll walk from here.”
Nancy led the way through the dew-laden grass
to the scene of the explosion. There was no sign
of anyone near the factory.
“The explosion did a good job of destruction,”
the lawyer commented as the Drews cautiously en-
tered the building.
“Here’s where the wall caved in between
George and me,” Nancy explained.
“Looks as if it might have been dynamited,”
her father remarked. “Let’s see if we can find any
evidence.”
For the next half hour father and daughter
scrambled among the rubble. When they discov-
ered nothing of importance in the corridor, they
decided to investigate the large workroom at the
rear. It was necessary to go outside and climb in
through a window to reach the room, because the
inside entrance was blocked.
“Oh, it’s like a ghost town,” Nancy said as she
surveyed the rusted machinery covered with lay-
ers of dust. “To think that this once was a pros-
perous factory, Dad.” She pointed. “What was this
machine used for?”
“Cutting,” her father explained. “The mollusk
shell is placed inside. An operator moves a lever
and down comes the circular steel saw. Presto! A
little shell disk drops into the hopper. Another
machine slices the disk into pieces of uniform
thickness and there you have some pearl but-
tons!”
“How clever!” said Nancy.
“The buttons pass through still another ma-
chine which polishes them,” Mr. Drew went on.
“In the last operation thread holes are drilled
through them.”
“Dad! Look!” Nancy cried suddenly.
A scrap of torn paper was sticking from a
comer of the rubble in the doorway. Near it, in
a thick layer of dust, were several footprints.
Nancy picked up the paper which had part of a
message on it. The writing was bold and read:
Dear C,
Some
cret which I
in a wall
famous
worthy
“Interesting,” Mr. Drew commented, scanning
the paper. “But I can’t say that it makes much
sense. The footprints might be a better clue.”
He stooped to examine them. “Freshly made,
no doubt,” he said. “Perhaps the two men have
visited here since the explosion.”
“If so, it proves they’re searching for some-
thing they think was hidden and could be found
only by blasting it out.”
“Not necessarily. The explosion could have
been an accident, or was set off for some other
purpose and may have nothing to do with Juli-
ana’s inheritance,” Mr. Drew remarked.
Nancy was staring at the torn note. “I believe
I’ve stumbled upon a worthwhile clue just the
same. I’m sure the partially missing word is se-
cret”
She pocketed the message and reluctantly left
the factory with her father. At home, later on,
Nancy spent more than an hour trying to figure
out the missing words of the note. Who had