Glenn grinned. "You"d have thought of something," he replied. "Just the same I"m glad you gave me a chance to help you."
By this time Miss Wilkin had come back to the visitors. Nancy explained what had happened to her and asked for an explanation.
The woman turned pale. "I have no idea. This place is getting very spooky and I don"t like it."
Miss Wilkin seemed to soften a little. She leaned over Nancy and asked how she was feeling.
"I"m practically well again," the young detective replied.
As Glenn continued to ma.s.sage her hand and arm, he asked, "Please tell us exactly how it felt when your hand was pinned to the wall."
Nancy said she had suffered small electric shocks before. "But this was different. It didn"t go racing through me as the others did. The effect was more like that of a magnet drawing my hand tighter and tighter against the wall. I guess instinct told me not to lean on it. Otherwise my whole side might have been glued to that panel."
Professor t.i.tus wrinkled his brow as if in deep thought. Then he said, "Is the wall covered?"
Glenn went to look. "Yes, with wallpaper."
The science professor said he believed that under the paper there was a metal plate on a screen attached to the wall itself. "Nancy must have been standing on some electric conducting material."
Again Glenn went to peer into the closet. He reported, "There is a rug on the floor."
Professor t.i.tus nodded. "Most likely it"s made of an electric conducting material. The hidden plate in the wall is no doubt positive and Nancy is negative. These unlike charges create a strong electrical force which pulled Nancy"s hand to the wall and held it there.
"Somewhere in the building there must be a control device which regulates the flow of electric current. In this case, there was enough to pin Nancy"s hand to the wall but not enough to hurt her permanently."
Miss Wilkin had listened carefully. Now she seemed paler than ever. "I do not feel very well," she said. "I would appreciate all of you leaving at once. I will close the museum and go home."
Glenn a.s.sisted Nancy to her feet and held her arm tightly as the trio walked toward the front door.
a.s.sured that Nancy was all right, Miss Wilkin dashed ahead of them and in a couple of minutes the lights were on once more in the museum. As Nancy neared the entrance, she noticed a pile of booklets on a table nearby. There was a sign alongside them, inviting visitors to help themselves.
The young detective picked one up and found that it contained a history of the museum and a list of its present officers.
Before leaving, Glenn said to Miss Wilkin, "I"d like to investigate that strange wall tomorrow. I"m an expert mechanic and know a lot about electricity and other sources of power."
The custodian cut him short. "I"m sorry but I couldn"t allow that. I want no more casualities. In fact, I feel that you people should not come here again."
Nancy and Professor t.i.tus looked at each other but made no comment. They said good-by and left the building. The professor had his car and offered to take Nancy to the fraternity house.
She accepted but said, "I noticed in this booklet that the president of the museum lives in Martin City and has an insurance office there. Glenn, could you take me over there tomorrow morning to call on him? His name is Mr. Schneider and here is the address on Main Street."
"I"ll be glad to, of course," Glenn replied. "What time would you like to take off?"
"Is nine o"clock okay?"
"Perfect."
He said good-by to Nancy and Professor t.i.tus and with a grin added, "Nancy, I believe now what your friends say about you-that you never go anywhere without having an adventure."
She laughed and waved as he took a shortcut toward the airfield to get to his helicopter. She and Professor t.i.tus went to his car and they drove to the Omega Chi Epsilon house.
When Nancy walked into the guest room, Bess and George were there changing clothes. They looked at her hard, then Bess exclaimed, "Nancy, something has happened to you! You"re as white as a sheet!"
Nancy flopped onto the bed and stretched out. "I do feel a little worn out," she admitted.
Briefly and haltingly, she told what had occurred at the museum.
Bess gasped. "Nancy, you might have been killed!" she exclaimed.
George felt Nancy"s pulse. "I don"t think you need a doctor," she said. "But your pulse is on the slow side. I recommend you stay in bed until tomorrow morning."
Nancy did not argue. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. She realized the shock to her nervous system had been greater than she at first thought. Knowing how much good Glenn"s ma.s.saging of her arm had done, she asked George to give her a stimulating rubdown.
George complied at once. She had learned some physiotherapy techniques through a course in gymnastics. Within minutes Nancy was asleep.
It was nearly ten o"clock that evening when she awakened. Nancy opened her eyes to see Bess, George, Burt, and Dave in the room. They had not made a sound and were watching Nancy carefully to make sure she was all right.
With vigor that startled her friends Nancy sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Hi, everybody!" she said. "You all can stop worrying. I"m fine." She grinned. "I"m hungry. It must be very late, but is there any chance of getting something to eat?"
Her friends were so relieved to hear this good report that each one offered to prepare something for her. Burt and Dave waved Bess and George aside. "We know what Nancy likes," Burt said. "We"ll get her something to eat and maybe we"ll bring a snack for the rest of us."
The boys brought an excellent meal of hamburgers on buns and a fancy fruit-and-ice cream parfait. It was a relaxing end to a trying day. Relieved and happy that Nancy was all right, the group finally said good night.
The following morning Bess and George drove Nancy out to the airfield to meet Glenn. They took off at once and were in Martin City before ten o"clock. Glenn inquired the way to Main Street and found Mr. Schneider"s office. Fortunately he was not in conference and said he would see the callers at once.
Henry Schneider was a good-looking, pleasant man. "Please sit down," he said. "What can I do for you?"
Nancy began her story by saying she was interested in the Anderson Museum, and its mystery. In trying to solve it, she herself had had a frightening experience.
"A mystery you say?" the insurance officer asked.
"Don"t you know anything about it?" Nancy queried in surprise.
The man shook his head. "I must admit I seldom go to the museum. I depend on Miss Wilkin to keep me posted."
"And you haven"t heard about what happened yesterday afternoon?" Glenn spoke up.
"No, I haven"t," Mr. Schneider replied. "Please tell me everything."
Nancy gave him the details of her first visit to the museum when the glowing eye had appeared on a wall. Then she told about going there the previous day, after learning from Mr. Fayne that the glowing eye had been removed.
Nancy went on. "Miss Wilkin a.s.sumed that students from Emerson who had been working there had taken it. When she showed the list of names to Professor t.i.tus, he said that not one of them attended Emerson."
"This is amazing," Mr. Schneider remarked. "A small group of young men headed by a somewhat older man with red hair came here a few months ago and asked if they might rent a small corner of the museum to carry on some harmless experiments."
Glenn smiled. "They"re far from harmless." He told the insurance man what had happened to Nancy.
Mr. Schneider"s eyes opened wide. "This is criminal!" he said. "I"ll certainly try to track down these people."