The club members pulled out notepads from their handbags and announced that they were ready. Mr. Drew went into his assistant’s office, where the two neighbors were waiting. First he asked Mr. James to come in, and directed him to the chair near the judge. Nancy whispered to the girls that it was a good idea to question each witness out of earshot of the other.
“Now, Mr. James, please tell us in your own words exactly what happened,” Mr. Drew said to his client.
Mr. James stated that he was sure the property on which Mr. Jones had planted the flower garden belonged to him. “The flowers were pretty, and my family and I enjoyed them when we took a walk up to the brook,” he said, “so we did not object. The trouble started when our dog, Prince, began to visit another dog and made his way through the brook and the flower garden to get there. We tried to teach him to go along the road instead, but had no luck. I followed him once to see how much damage he did to the flowers. He seemed very clever and walked around the roses without knocking anything down. But I admit he did leave paw prints.”
Mr. Drew asked, “Are you saying that your dog did no damage to the garden?”
“Yes. He didn’t trample the flowers as Mr. Jones claims. Besides, for the past two weeks we’ve kept him tied and walked with him on a leash.”
“Now, how about the fence?” Mr. Drew went on. “Tell us about that.”
Mr. James said that his neighbor had erected a wire fence without saying anything. “I became angry at this and told him he had put it on my property. That night, I took it down and threw it in his field. The following day, while my family was away, he put it up again.”
Mr. Drew turned to Mr. Bromley and said, “Your witness.”
The opposing lawyer began: “Mr. James, you say your dog never ruined the flowers? My client insists that they were trampled so badly that he had to replace them. Isn’t it possible that you are not aware of the damage because new ones were planted?”
“He could not possibly have replanted them that quickly. I use that brook and see the flower bed every morning and every night.”
Mr. Bromley smiled. “You have testified that your dog picked his way carefully among the plants and did not step on any of them. This is hard to believe. I have often seen dogs whip through flower beds, and it certainly didn’t do the plants any good!”
The opposing lawyer turned to Mr. Drew. “I have no more questions.”
Mr. James was excused and followed Mr. Drew from the office. Nancy’s father now summoned Mr. Jones, who was shown to the seat near the judge.
Mr. Bromley questioned his client first. He asked him to name specific days when the dog had trampled the garden.
“Let me see,” Mr. Jones said. “He was there last Tuesday or Wednesday. Then he damaged the rest of the plants on Friday night.”
“How long has this problem been going on?” Mr. Bromley asked.
“We’ve argued about the dog crossing my land for years,” Mr. Jones replied. “But it wasn’t until I purchased special expensive plants that the real trouble began. Besides, the Jameses used to keep their dog in the house most of the time. But lately, they just let him roam a lot.”
Mr. Bromley nodded and said, “Mr. Drew, your witness.”
Nancy’s father stood up. “What proof do you have, Mr. Jones, that the land in dispute is yours?”
“I have an old map. It shows that the brook belongs to me. I let Mr. James use the water until his dog became a nuisance.”
Mr. James was brought in, and as his neighbor stepped down, he took the witness chair.
Mr. Drew repeated the various statements Mr. Jones had made. One by one, Mr. James refuted them. He and his family never let their dog out at night without having him on a leash. The problem over his roaming across the neighbor’s land had never come up until the time Mr. Jones had plowed the area for his flower bed. He had declared that it belonged to him, and Mr. James had done nothing until the fence went up because he and his family enjoyed the beautiful flowers.
After a few more questions, the two men were shown into the assistant’s office, while the attorneys and the judge discussed the matter.
All this time, Nancy and the Detective Club members had kept quiet and taken notes. Now they whispered in low tones, and all agreed that there were many discrepancies in the neighbors’ testimony.
Mr. Hallock pointed this out also and said, “Gentlemen, you asked me to give my opinion in this case. I believe that both men are at fault in a way, and they should settle their differences on friendly terms. Would you like me to tell them this?”
Mr. Drew nodded and went to get the two neighbors, who came in arguing. Mr. Hallock rapped his knuckles on the desk and said, “Gentlemen, the three of us agree that both of you are at fault. We think you should forget your differences and get along on better terms. Mr. Jones, suppose you take down the offensive fence, and Mr. James, will you please keep your dog tied up or on a leash?”
There was silence for a couple of minutes, then Mr. Jones burst out, “I won’t do it! I planted that garden. It belongs to me, and I don’t trust that dog!”
Mr. James in turn said, “You can see why Mr. Jones and I don’t get along. He doesn’t trust me, and he makes up false stories to get his point across.”
It was evident that neither man was going to give in. Mr. Drew and Mr. Bromley looked at each other. Nancy wondered if they were thinking, “Will it be necessary for this to be tried in court?”
Suddenly, Mr. Drew whispered to the judge and Mr. Bromley. The former nodded, and the opposing lawyer said after a moment, “Okay, go ahead.”
Mr. Drew turned to the members of the Detective Club. “We’ve agreed that you ladies should give your opinion and suggest a possible procedure in this case.”
Nancy was delighted and flattered by the suggestion. She looked at the girls, then at the lawyers, and said, “We have been comparing notes and find that the men’s testimony is unconvincing. We recommend that each be asked to bring in the deeds to their property and whatever maps they may have, to determine the property line and who owns the flower garden.”
“That’s a very sensible solution,” the judge agreed. “Mr. Drew, Mr. Bromley, I second the motion.”
Mr. Jones burst out, “I won’t do it!”
Mr. Drew did not seem surprised, but Mr. Bromley looked at the girls in awe. “Congratulations,” he said. “You have figured out exactly what should be done.”
Mr. James and Mr. Jones looked at Nancy and the club members. Finally both men declared they would have to go on a real hunt for the maps because unfortunately they had neglected to put them in bank safe-deposit boxes. They had been hidden in some desk or bureau drawer.
The next meeting of the group was set for several days later when, hopefully, the matter of the property line would be settled. The girls were eager for the time to arrive. Mr. Drew told Nancy that both men had accepted the old surveys made years before, which were used to write up the deeds and to make the maps.
“It’s unfortunate they didn’t have new ones made,” Mr. Drew remarked. “Those old deeds and maps are hard to read. They’re not computed in feet or yards, but in links and chains.”
“How does that work?” Nancy asked.
Her father replied, “A long time ago, the surveyor carried a sixty-six-foot chain consisting of a hundred links to measure distances. Each link was approximately seven and nine-tenths inches long. If a piece of property was sixty feet, it was approximately ninety links of the chain.”
“It sounds complicated,” Nancy remarked.
Nevertheless, she set to work studying up on the subject. First, she took a book from her father’s library, then went to the public library to get a surveyor’s book. By the time the group reassembled in Mr. Drew’s office, she had a good working knowledge of how to read old deeds and maps.
Those belonging to Mr. James and Mr. Jones were discolored and brittle, so they were handled carefully. Mr. Drew spread them out on his office desk, and Nancy was pe
rmitted to study the maps. To her amazement she discovered that both of them had been drawn by the same surveyor. She pointed this out to the men, who had been busy comparing the deeds. They nodded and went back to studying their documents.
The neighbors and their attorneys began to argue about what certain things meant. Nancy paid no attention to what they were saying. Her eyes and fingers followed certain lines on Mr. James’s map as she studied the barely discernible measurements. After making some notes on her pad, she traced the borders on Mr. Jones’s map.
Suddenly, she exclaimed, “Dad! Do you realize that these lines for the disputed property are exactly the same on both maps? Do you suppose—?”
Her father and the other men scrutinized the lines she had indicated. Mr. Drew took a magnifying glass from the desk drawer and placed it over the measurements.
“The area in question is exactly opposite on the two maps!” he said. “Now let’s refer to the deeds and see if there are any similarities.”
After reading both documents carefully, he and Mr. Bromley agreed that the deeds were correct but that the surveyor who had drawn the maps had followed the directions in Mr. James’s deed of the area in dispute. He had inadvertently put those on Mr. Jones’s map exactly in reverse.
Nancy whispered to her father, “Does this prove that the land belongs to Mr. James?”
“Without a doubt,” he replied, and pointed this out to Mr. Bromley.
Before the opposing lawyer could answer, Mr. Jones cried out, “This isn’t fair! Somewhere, at some time, someone pulled a bad error on my family!”
Mr. Drew remarked it was unfortunate neither Mr. James nor Mr. Jones had had the land surveyed when they had inherited the farms so the mistakes would have been found years before.
“Does this mean I lose the case?” Mr. Jones asked.
“I’m afraid it does,” Mr. Bromley said. “I’m sorry, Mr. Jones.” Then he turned to Mr. Drew. “Congratulations! Your daughter really won this case for you!”
Although Nancy was happy for her father’s client, she felt sorry for Mr. Jones, who murmured over and over, “Now I’ll have to give up my business of selling flowers. I can’t afford to plant a new bed.”
Nancy walked over to the members of the Detective Club and, for a few moments, held a whispered conversation with them. Finally she said, “Good. I’ll tell him.”
She returned to the desk, where the men were still lingering, and smiled at Mr. Jones. “I’m sorry you have to give up your beautiful garden. My friends and I want to offer our services to make a new one for you. We’ll do all the digging and transplanting.”
Mr. Jones looked at her in amazement. “You really mean it?” he asked hopefully.
By now the other girls were crowding around the desk. “Yes, we mean it!” they all said.
“That’s most generous of you,” Mr. Jones said. “You have no idea how bad I felt having to give up that garden.”
The expression on his face had changed from one of sadness to a happy one. “I’ll put the fence just inside my real property line, and you can make the garden right next to it. In that way both families can still enjoy the flowers.”
Mr. James spoke up. “I’ll pay for new ones to replace any that don’t survive, and take as much water as you need from the brook.”
ACTIVITY
Nancy suggests that you go to your local library and see how your town or city was originally laid out. Look at aerial maps and see how your town has grown and changed over the years. Compare how your town looked when it was established with how it looks today.
CHAPTER X
THE HAUNTED HOUSE
Sleuthing for a Ghost
THE minutes of the previous meeting had been read, and the Detective Club was ready for another mystery.
The members looked toward Nancy, who now addressed the circle of girls.
“How many of you would like to track down a ghost?” she began.
“A real one or somebody playing ghost?” asked Peg.
Nancy said that nobody knew. “There’s an old estate ten miles outside River Heights. At present no one lives there, but realtors who have taken prospective buyers to the place are scared away from it by ghostly figures and weird noises. The police have searched the premises but found no one.”
Karen spoke up. “That sounds like a ghost all right.”
Nancy told her that after the police had looked around the place, the strange happenings occurred only at night. She explained, “If we’re going to try solving the mystery, we must go there in the evening.”
The club members looked at one another, not sure that they wanted to visit a haunted house in the dark. Then they remembered several things that Nancy had taught them.
A good detective never gives up. A good detective must have no fear, only caution. A good detective must look for the unusual. A casual glance is not likely to turn up any evidence.
“I’m game!” Martie called out.
The other girls said, “We are, too.”
Sue asked Nancy to tell them more about the mystery. The young sleuth said that the owners of the estate, a Mr. and Mrs. Costello, were elderly and not well. They were living in a nursing home and had appointed their niece, Maria Costello, to be their guardian.
“It was Maria,” Nancy explained, “who came to me and asked if I would try to solve the mystery because she wants to sell the estate. She has keys to the house, the barn, and the stable, as well as to closets inside the mansion.”
Cathy spoke up. “Wouldn’t it be sensible for us to make our first trip in the daytime, in order to become familiar with the place? We’ll have to know the layout to find our way around in the dark.”
Nancy agreed and suggested that they go to Maria’s house for the keys. “I’ll phone her and see if she’s at home. Maybe she can tell us more about the old estate.”
Nancy called and learned that Maria would be happy to see the members of the Detective Club.
“I’m sure that you and your club can solve this puzzling mystery,” Maria told the young detective.
Twenty minutes later Nancy introduced her friends to the Costellos’ niece, a beautiful, dark-eyed woman, who invited them into her cheerful living room. They sat down.
A cart had been wheeled in on which stood a china pot of steaming hot cocoa and cups and saucers. On a plate next to them lay a mound of homemade cookies.
As the girls ate the delicious snack, Maria told them that the ghost or ghosts at the mansion were sometimes seen in filmy white garments, floating in the air toward the road.
“One group of people who went there with the thought of buying the place heard the weird sounds of a violin being played, yet no one was around. Naturally, the sale was lost. Other people reported a loud moaning coming from the third floor.”
Maria stopped. “Have you heard enough?” she asked with a smile.
“That’s plenty for me!” Karen declared. “You made chills go up and down my spine.”
The others laughed, but some admitted the same thing had happened to them. Then Sue said slyly, “Of course, Maria, we don’t dare let on to Nancy that we have any fears.”
Maria laughed softly. “I’ll get the keys.”
While she was gone, Nancy said to her friends, “I suggest that during your sleuthing on this case you use everything you have learned since you joined the Detective Club.”
Maria returned and handed over a large ring of keys to Nancy. Then the girls stood up to leave.
“I wish you luck,” Maria said. “The expenses for my aunt and uncle are very high, and we really need to sell the estate. By the way, we are trying to have the new owner buy everything in the house rather than have an auction. I’m sure you’ll be interested in looking at the old treasures.”
The girls were surprised that the furnishings were still in the mansion.
Peg remarked, “Isn’t it risky to leave all those things in the house while no one’s living there? Burglars could steal everything.”
After the girls said good-bye to Maria, they drove several miles until they came to a country road marked Sleepy Hollow Drive. It was full of potholes, and the club members were jounced so much that Karen advised everyone to be quiet so that they would not bite their tongues! About a mile from the main road they reached a high picket fence with barbed wire on top.
“I wonder if the fence is electrified,” Martie remarked.
“I doubt it,” said Nancy. “Maria told me the power has been turned off. We’ll need strong flashlights tonight.”
The girls finally came to the big gate, and Nancy stopped the car. Looking through the pickets, she decided not to drive in. The entranceway was completely overgrown, and she did not want weeds and grass to wind themselves around the car’s axles.
The girls got out and walked to the gate. Nancy took the key ring from her purse and inserted the larger keys into the lock one by one until she found a fancy brass key that fit perfectly.
The detective swung open one half of the enormous double gate, and the girls trooped inside. Then Nancy locked it again. As they picked their way along the barely discernible curving driveway, they spotted evidence of the former beauty of the landscape. Here and there bushes were in bloom, and fine old trees spread their branches. In one area, flowers struggled up between the choking weeds.
The mansion, constructed of yellow brick and partially covered with ivy, was huge. The girls went up the front steps, and Nancy unlocked the big door. As she pulled it open, it squeaked loudly.
Inside, there was dead silence. The club members walked around the center hall, admiring the winding stairway leading to the second floor. Before going up, however, they investigated all the rooms on the ground level. Each one was beautifully furnished, but dust covered everything.
“Let’s watch for any telltale footprints,” Nancy advised. “After all, the ghost may have been in here.”
The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book Page 8