George suggested that her cousin study each newcomer carefully. If she felt suspicious about any person, she immediately was to call her friends to the lobby.
Nancy asked Professor t.i.tus if he would go into the room where they had seen the glowing eye and watch the wall carefully.
"If anything unusual takes place, give a shrill whistle and we"ll all come running."
George spoke up. "What"s my a.s.signment?"
Nancy said that she and George would explore upstairs. "I guess it"s not part of the museum itself because Miss Wilkin didn"t mention it as such and the map with directions to the exhibits shows only the first floor."
"How do we get to the second floor?" George asked. "I don"t see a stairway anywhere."
The young detective told her that they would have to hunt for it. She pointed out that the little map had an ST on a spot in the rear hall which probably indicated a door leading to a stairway.
The two girls went off and soon found the door. It opened easily and revealed a rather steep set of steps. Nancy led the way to the second floor, where there were several bedrooms with baths.
Nancy and George went from one to another. They were in perfect order and did not seem to have been used recently.
"I guess n.o.body slept up here," George said as they came to the last room. "Oh, oh, I was wrong," she added suddenly.
Though there were no clothes in sight, the bed looked as if it had been hastily and badly made and there were soiled towels carelessly slung over racks in the bathroom.
Nancy remarked that she was sure Miss Wilkin had not stayed in the room. "She"s too neat to have left the place looking like this."
"Then who was it?" George asked. "I"ll bet you"re thinking of Zapp Crosson."
Nancy smiled. "Yes, I"m thinking just that. But I"m also wondering if Ned was with him."
George said she doubted it because Ned would have left some kind of clue hoping Nancy would find it. Both girls began a thorough search of bureau drawers and even pulled the bed apart. They found nothing to help solve the mystery.
"I don"t think," George said, "Miss Wilkin knew anyone was using the place for diabolic schemes. Zapp probably worked on his weird inventions when she was not on duty."
"On the other hand," Nancy countered, "Miss Wilkin may have been intimidated by him to keep still, but our sleuthing frightened her and she resigned in a hurry."
Perplexed, the girls started to walk back to the stairway. At that moment they heard a thud on the third floor. The two young detectives stared at each other. Was the intruder up there?
Both girls had noticed a door which probably led to the third floor. Nancy tried to open it but the door was locked.
"I"d like to look up there," Nancy said. "Maybe there"s a key to this door downstairs somewhere."
Before going there to hunt for it, George said she would look in all the furniture drawers on the second floor. Nancy a.s.sisted but the girls had no luck. In the meantime, there were no further sounds from the third floor.
"Perhaps no one"s up there," George decided. "Something just gave way and fell."
The girls went to the first floor and began another search. When they came to the entrance hall, they asked Bess to look in the desk. There was no key in it.
"Did you hear a thud upstairs?" George asked her cousin.
Bess nodded. "I thought one of you knocked something over."
"It was on the third floor," George told her. "We were on the second."
Bess made a face and hunched her shoulders. "More spookiness. I"ll be glad when five o"clock comes. We haven"t had a single visitor. Maybe other people have had strange experiences here."
Nancy and George went into the large room where Professor t.i.tus was on guard. He reported nothing had happened, but said he too had heard the thud and had a.s.sumed the girls had caused it. When he learned otherwise, he did not take it lightly.
"Somebody may be up there. If so, we should call the police."
Nancy said she would like to investigate the third floor before doing this. "Perhaps there"s a ladder in the bas.e.m.e.nt, and I can climb up."
She and the other girls found none. Nancy suggested that they hunt for a secret stairway to the third floor. "Let"s examine the chimney in the center of the house first."
They made a search but stayed away from the wall which had proved dangerous for Nancy. Once more they met with disappointment.
"Now will you please give in, Nancy?" the professor urged. "One of us should call the police."
"All right," she said, and went to the entrance lobby to put in the call.
At once Bess spoke up, "Don"t use the phone. It"s dead. I tried to call the boys at the fraternity house. But come over here. I have something very exciting to show you!"
Nancy, George, and Professor t.i.tus hurried to the desk where Bess was seated.
"I made a discovery," she said. "After you asked me to look for the key, I thought I"d make a better search in the drawer and I found this!"
She showed the others a handwritten book of verses and began to read some of them.
"They"re weird!" Professor t.i.tus remarked. "Who wrote these?"
In answer Bess opened the book to the first page. Written on it was:To my lovely and understanding
aunt, Beatrice Wilkin.
Cyclops
CHAPTER XVII.
Paralyzing Light
BEATRICE WILKIN the aunt of Cyclops!
Everyone crowded around the small desk where Bess was seated and stared at the book she had found in the drawer.
"I can"t believe it!" George burst out. "That prim little woman the aunt of a criminal!"
Nancy suggested that they look inside the book for further information. Everyone was astounded at the contents and puzzled as to why Miss Wilkin had left the book there.
"You would think," Professor t.i.tus spoke up, "that she would want to conceal such information."