Carolyn Keene - The Ringmasters Secret

Nancy was disappointed. Valuable hours would be lost in her search for Lola Flanders. Presently she said hopefully, "Ned, often the girls who perform in those places have afternoon rehearsals. Let's go over there, anyway."

On the way, another idea came to Nancy. She told her companion that should it be difficult to get into the place at this hour she was going to ask for an interview as if she wished to obtain a job there. This seemed the most feasible way of getting in to talk to Millie Francine.

Ned scowled at this proposal. Nancy laughed and said, "Oh, Ned, do stop worrying!"

To Nancy's delight, there was no doorman on duty and the Bon Ton was open. As she had predicted, a rehearsal was going on. She sat down at a table in an obscure, dark corner and watched.

It was not difficult to identify Millie Francine because presently a director called out, "Millie, what's the matter with you? Your voice sounds as if you'd been eating gravel!"

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 kidnapped 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."

Suddenly Tristam's eyes blazed and he became virtually a madman. He shoved Nancy aside and punched Ned. Then he started for the door to the hall. Before he could even reach the policeman, Millie Francine planted herself in his path.

"Oh, no, you don't, Mr. Tristam," she cried. "You don't go another step without telling these people I'm innocent!"

At that moment there was a tap on the door. The policeman recognized it as a signal from more of Captain Smith's men. He opened the door. The officer and two other men walked in.

Tristam, seeing that the game was up, quietly surrendered. He told the story much as Nancy had pieced it together from time to time. He added that it was Kroon's idea when Lola Flanders, then a widow, was discharged from the hospital, to keep her under the influence of drugs so that she would appear to be an amnesia victim, and to place her in a cheap nursing home. It was Mrs. Kroon who had literally abducted Lolita, partly because she had loved the little girl and partly because she knew that the aerialist had great talent and would bring a small fortune to them.

Nancy was fearful that the excitement might prove disastrous to Lola Flanders' mind, but she seemed to have recovered completely. When she reached Aunt Eloise's apartment, she asked how soon they might start for Melville and see Lolita.

"If you feel well enough, we'll take the first plane," Nancy promised her.

"I'm ready to go now," she insisted.

Ned obtained the reservations and within two hours they were all saying good-by to Aunt Eloise and setting off for the town of Melville.

As they climbed into the plane, the first person they saw was young Pietro! He explained that he had just arrived from England.

"I just couldn't stay away," he said. "Nancy, I had a hunch you would fix everything up, and that it won't be long before Lolita and I will be married."

"I think you're right," Nancy said, smiling at Ned, "and Lolita will have her wish—that her mother will be present at the wedding."

The plane reached Melville just before midnight. The group went to the hotel. Nancy suggested that Lola Flanders remain there until Lolita could be brought to her.

"I don't know whether Mr. Kroon has been apprehended yet or not," Nancy said. Turning to Ned and Pietro, she added, "Suppose we three go over to the circus at five o'clock tomorrow morning and mingle with the crowd that will be watching the workmen set up the tents. In that way, we won't be noticed by Mr. or Mrs. Kroon or any of their spies. We'll get Lolita and bring her back here."

This plan was agreed upon. Nancy was up at four thirty the next morning, and at five set off with the young men. Upon reaching the circus grounds, the three separated, Nancy going ahead. She made her way carefully to Lolita's trailer and knocked.

"Lolita, wake up!"

Sleepily the young aerialist tumbled out of bed and opened the door. Seeing Nancy, she started to cry out.