The lady with the Minnie Mouse watch suddenly glanced up and said, “No. Don’t go. Wait a moment, please.”
It took a moment for Nancy to realize that the lady was speaking to her.
“I noticed your pendant. May I have a closer look at it?” the lady asked.
Nancy blinked. “You mean my necklace?”
Yes. That was what the lady wanted to see. And she looked very interested!
While Nancy unhooked the brand-new clasp on her necklace, she said, “Um—these aren’t real diamonds. They’re rhinestones. This is costume jewelry.”
The appraiser smiled and took the necklace. “Yes, I know that. My specialty is costume jewelry.”
A long chain she wore had a gold-rimmed magnifying glass attached to it. She peered through it at the back of Nancy’s necklace.
“Yes! Just as I hoped.” She showed Nancy that two tiny letters were stamped on the back: BL. “It stands for Babette Labelle. The costume jewelry she designed was very popular in the nineteen forties and fifties.”
Double ooh la la! This was exciting news. Her necklace was made by someone famous, someone who sounded French!
“Was the necklace made in Paris?” Nancy asked.
“Oh, no. The factory was in Brooklyn. Babette Labelle wasn’t the designer’s real name. She was born Barbara Levine. She was a housewife who liked making jewelry. And one day she just decided she was going into business.”
“So she was an entrepreneur!”
“Very much so. The company was very successful, but closed after her death in the nineteen eighties. Lately there has been renewed interest in Babette Labelle jewelry. This piece is smaller than her most famous pieces. One necklace looks like a waterfall of rhinestones. It would practically come down to your waist.” The lady turned the necklace right side up again. “Nevertheless, this is lovely and I’d venture to say that it’s worth about two hundred dollars.”
Two hundred dollars! Two hundred dollars was a fortune!
Nancy stood with her mouth open like a fish. She could feel her eyes bugging out. When she finally could speak, she said exactly what everybody on the show always said: “Wow! That is amazing! I had no idea!”
The lady returned the necklace. Nancy’s hands were trembling so much, she needed help putting it back on.
“If you ever want to part with your pendant, ask your parents to find out what shops in the area sell vintage costume jewelry. I’m sure one of them would want to buy your pendant.”
“Oh, I would never sell it. But merci! Merci beaucoup!” Nancy told the lady, and said good-bye.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mrs. DeVine and Bree rushing toward her from across the hall. Nancy raced to meet them.
Bree grabbed both of Nancy’s hands. She started hopping up and down. “Nancy, Nancy!” she screamed. “My army stuff is worth two hundred and fifty dollars!”
“My necklace is worth two hundred!” Suddenly saying that made it seem real. Nancy started screaming too. And they didn’t stop until one of the TV people came over and asked them to lower their voices.
So on the car ride home they filled each other in and screamed as much as they wanted.
It turned out that Bree’s great-grandfather had joined the army in a special year, 1948. Bree now knew that was the first time black and white soldiers lived together in the army. Before, they’d been kept separate. “The picture of my great-grandpa in his uniform—along with the actual uniform—makes my stuff a historical collection!”
Then Nancy explained how just by accident she found out about her necklace. “Only, the lady kept calling it a pendant.”
From the backseat Nancy asked Mrs. DeVine, “Did you know it was made by a jewelry designer named Babette Labelle? She was pretty famous in the nineteen fifties.”
“No, I didn’t.” Mrs. DeVine made a left onto their street. “But I’m awfully glad you both made out better than I did. The tea set is a copy of very valuable china made in England, and the silver tray turned out to be only silver plated.” She pulled to a stop. “Oh well. I am no richer than when we started out this morning. But I’m no poorer either.”
Later, after they calmed down, Nancy and Bree went to the clubhouse to discuss their good fortune.
“Of course, the army stuff doesn’t even belong to me—it belongs to my mom. She’d never sell it, and—” Bree thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t ever want her to.”
Nancy nodded. “I will never sell the neck—I mean, the pendant.” Nancy loved Mrs. DeVine. Having something special of hers, Nancy realized, meant way more than the money it was worth. To Nancy, the pendant was priceless.
It was an unusually mild night. So the Clancys ate dinner at the picnic table in their backyard. For dessert, they invited over Bree’s family and Mrs. DeVine.
“Look!” Her dad pointed up at the sky. “Have you ever seen so many stars?”
Nancy looked up. He was right. The sky was studded with stars—bazillions of them—and they seemed to be twinkling even brighter than usual. Nancy searched for all the constellations she knew. Then she and Bree made up their own constellations.
“There’s one group of stars that looks like the Eiffel Tower,” Nancy said, pointing.
Her mom was sitting next to her on the picnic bench. She slung her arm around Nancy and said, “You’ll get to the real Eiffel Tower one day. Of that I am sure, Mademoiselle Clancy.”
Nancy leaned back against her mom. Nobody had a better smell than her mother, who didn’t even wear perfume. They stared up at the sky together for a while, and suddenly Nancy remembered a line from the song Andy had taught her. The stars really did belong to everyone.
She ran to the house, went upstairs to her room, and got her guitar.
When she returned to the yard, Nancy began playing for everyone. Maybe what the song said was true. Maybe the best things in life were free.
BACK AD
JANE O’CONNOR is truly a native New Yorker. She was born and raised on the glamorous Upper West Side and, after graduating from Smith College, returned to the metropolis (that’s fancy for city) to begin a career in publishing. Currently Jane works as an editor for Penguin Books for Young Readers.
Jane has written more than sixty books for children, including the bestselling Fancy Nancy books, seven of which were #1 New York Times bestsellers.
Jane is married to Jim O’Connor. They have two grown sons and a rambunctious canine (that’s fancy for naughty dog) named Arrow.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
ROBIN PREISS GLASSER, a former professional ballet dancer, has illustrated more than fifty children’s picture books, including the New York Times bestselling Fancy Nancy series, written by Jane O’Connor. Robin lives in San Juan Capistrano, California, with her husband, Bob. She has two grown children, Sasha and Ben, and a dog, Boo, who looks exactly like Nancy’s dog, Frenchy!
CREDITS
Cover art © 2016 by Robin Preiss Glasser
Cover design by Jeanne Hogle
COPYRIGHT
FANCY NANCY: NANCY CLANCY SEEKS A FORTUNE. Text copyright © 2016 by Jane O’Connor. Illustrations © 2016 by Robin Preiss Glasser. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952522
ISBN 978-0-06-226969-0
EPub Edition © May 2016 ISBN 9780062269713
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FIRST EDITION
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Nancy Clancy Seeks a Fortune Page 4