Carolyn Keene - The Clue in the Crumbling Wall

Gently Nancy warned her about Juliana's condition. The news was a shock, but Mrs. Fenimore took it bravely as Juliana was brought in. The sisters embraced and both cried a little. Then over and over the joyful women expressed their gratitude to Nancy.

The young sleuth said she was glad to have accomplished what she had, but was not satisfied to leave the case yet. For days afterward she was tormented by all the distressing angles of the affair.

In the meantime, Juliana had claimed her inheritance and had requested that all legal matters be attended to by Mr. Drew. The lawyer had lost no time in having Hector and the other men prosecuted, and also brought charges against the woman who had impersonated the dancer.

"Hooper and Biggs admit having found several bottles of dye and a formula marked, 'Perfected Formula ,' hidden in the cloister walls," Mr. Drew told Nancy. "They've surrendered them and I've had an analysis made. The dye has dried up but a newly made liquid would be of great value commercially if produced under the same conditions that Walter Heath used."

"What were they?" Nancy asked.

"Sea salt was mixed with the spring water in the pond. Marine whelks, which are a huge type of mollusk, were imported and put into it. They exude a beautiful purple dye. After Heath's death the whelks vanished."

Nancy was thoughtful. "It would take a good bit of money to start up that business, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," her father replied. "But it would be profitable for Juliana. The special shade of purple is difficult to imitate synthetically."

Nancy had been hoping that Hector's dire statement regarding the estate would not be true, but part of it was. Mr. Drew had learned that the total Heath assets were twenty dollars, the walled grounds, and a ruined castle with a few pieces of furniture. The debts, however, were illegal loans, which Hector had made against the estate and which he would have to pay back.

Account books had been falsified to show that huge sums had been paid to various detective agencies, supposedly for the purpose of conducting a search for the missing Juliana. But the wily lawyer had kept the money.

"Unfortunately we can't recover it," Mr. Drew remarked to his daughter. "Hector has spent it all and has little of his own left."

"How about the Heath pearl, Dad? You didn't find it?"

"No. I'll keep on trying, of course. Frankly, I don't feel hopeful."

"Somewhere on those grounds," said Nancy, "there must be something of value hidden. After all, Walter Heath told Sam Weatherby there was another treasure."

"I've had the place searched, Nancy. Workmen even removed the imprinted block of cement below the wall fountain, but there was nothing behind it. Heath Castle will have to be sold.

"But I'm afraid," he went on, "the sale price won't be much, considering its present condition. Juliana wants to keep the property, but she can't, she has barely enough funds to operate Jardin des Fleurs."

It was some consolation to Nancy that she had brought the sisters together, but she felt as if she had failed in one of the most vital tasks of her life.

"Even if I did find Juliana, I wasn't able to save the estate or help the Fenimores financially. And they need money so badly."

Unwilling to give up, Nancy drove out to the estate one day after lunch to try to find the treasure which Walter Heath had mentioned.

"What can it be and where?" she asked herself. "It's supposed to be in plain sight."

Nancy worked her way doggedly through the neglected grounds and examined the statuary. Though not an expert, she could tell that none of it was unusual. She looked at a grove of fruit trees which might become a source of profit. But the trees were too old.

Finally the young detective, hot, thirsty, and discouraged, arrived at the little garden off the cloister. As Nancy walked toward the fountain, she suddenly stopped short and stared at the sparkling stream of water.

"That's it!" she exclaimed softly. "Spring water! Cold, clear, delicious, and probably pure. It might even have minerals in it!"

Nancy could visualize the estate as a health resort where people came to rest and drink the water.

"Or it could be bottled and sold!" she thought. Excited by the idea, Nancy quenched her thirst, then hurried home to telephone her father. He promised to have the spring tested in the morning.

The next afternoon the Drews were delighted to learn that the water was pure and rich in minerals. A further search of the grounds revealed several more beneficial springs.

"The supply is plentiful," Nancy told Bess and George. "Dad will probably make arrangements with a bottling company to market it."

In the meantime Nancy had remembered the beautiful shells she had found in the pond. Saying nothing to Juliana, she sent one of them to a company in New York which specialized in making fine mother-of-pearl jewelry. The answer came back promptly: the firm would buy at a good price all similar shells.

"Nancy, you're wonderful!" exclaimed Juliana when Nancy telephoned her about it. The bottling company also offered financial backing to convert part of the castle and grounds into a health resort.

"That's wonderful!" Juliana cried out. "Now I can afford to turn a section of the castle and grounds into a free vacation spot for handicapped children, and, of course, my sister and Joan and I will occupy some of the rooms.

"You've certainly changed our lives. Nancy," she added gratefully. "And now the Heath property will become beautiful again!"

A year later, upon invitation, Nancy, Bess, George, Mr. Drew, and Lieutenant Masters journeyed to the estate to view the many changes. The great gate stood open. The visitors drove up a winding road between avenues of trimmed hedge and trees. The three girls smiled when they recalled how different everything had seemed to them on their former trips there.

"It doesn't make me feel a bit creepy now," Bess remarked.

"Those penetrating eyes that spied on us from behind the evergreen," Nancy said, "were Hooper's or Biggs'."

"With Cobb Hooper in jail, what has become of Mrs. Hooper and Teddy?" asked George.

"She's working," the policewoman replied. "Teddy has been sent to a special school, where he's doing very well."

The visitors got out of the car near the restored loggia and paused to admire the repairs to the crumbling walls. The gardens were a mass of bloom. The lawn in front of the castle was velvety smooth with no weeds.

"How did Juliana ever accomplish so much in such a short time?" George asked.

Nancy replied, "She imported her gardeners from Jardin des Fleurs."

Bess called the girls' attention to the children who had come out on the lawn to play. A few were in wheelchairs, but they pushed themselves about with amazing skill.

"Juliana is doing remarkable work with these youngsters," said Lieutenant Masters. "She's putting new spirit into them. Joan is developing into a fine little girl, too. She's proving to be a great help to her aunt."

"What is she doing?" Bess asked.

"Juliana, with the help of a therapist, teaches exercises to the children to restore nimbleness to their bodies. Joan does the demonstrating. And incidentally, Joan is the delight of her aunt. She's going to be a wonderful dancer someday."

"And carry on from where Juliana left off," Bess said dreamily.

The callers were greeted cordially by the mistress of Heath Castle and her sister, Mrs. Fenimore, now restored to health and looking very attractive with a fashionable new hairdo. Both women thanked Bess and George tor their excellent assistance to Nancy in solving the mystery. Joan hugged Nancy and the others happily.

"Oh, come see my garden," she exclaimed, and showed them a small plot of beautifully tended flowers in front of the castle.