Whispering, Nancy instructed her friends to hold the man"s attention while she explored. In her purse she had a list and description of pieces taken from the Follett home. Mrs. Tenney had also provided her with a sketch of the George Washington tables.
As Nancy wandered about, she saw that Mr. Zinn"s pieces were mainly pine and maple, while the articles on the list were described as dark wood. But suddenly, in a comer, she saw a small cherry table. It matched the sketch perfectly!
Meanwhile, Bess and George were asking Mr. Zinn questions about some old pewter mugs.
Abruptly, the dealer whirled around, looked for Nancy and said, "Where is your friend?"
"Maybe she"s up in one of the lofts," Bess stammered.
The antique dealer eyed the cousins suspiciously. "Might she be snooping for some reason?"
At that moment Nancy hurried toward the group.
"Did you find something you like?" the chubby man asked, looking at Nancy intently.
"Yes, one piece interests me very much," the detective replied. "It"s that small, unusual cherry table in the corner." She led the way back and pointed out the article.
"Oh, that," Mr. Zinn said. "It"s not expensive -just a copy I made of a George Washington antique. A very good copy, I might add. I am a cabinetmaker as well as an antique dealer."
"Where is the original piece?" George asked.
"Well, actually, there are two of them," Mr. Zinn said. "One is in River Heights. I"ve no idea where its mate is, although I"ve searched and made many inquiries. I"d like to have it!"
The girls exchanged glances. Evidently Mr. Zinn did not know that Mrs. Follett had owned the matching table!
His eyes gleaming, the man went on, "The original tables have hidden drawers in them. It"s said that one holds a great secret."
Nancy, Bess, and George looked startled. Did Mrs. Tenney know this? Could it be one of the reasons she suspected her cousin of taking the antique furniture?
"Please tell us more," Nancy urged.
The dealer said that the River Heights table had belonged to his recently deceased great-aunt, Mrs. Sara Follett. Her belongings were to be divided between himself and his cousin, Mrs. Tenney, a resident of that town.
He sighed. "It will be difficult to apportion the furniture, once the estate is settled. I"m sure we"ll both want the Washington table. Anyway, I"m waiting to hear from the lawyer now."
"Do you think it contains the secret?" Bess asked.
"No, I purchased that antique for my aunt," Mr. Zinn said. "I learned of its secret drawer while it was in my shop being refinished. An old friend from Lancaster recognized the table from a picture he"d seen in a book of antiques. He said we ought to look for the secret compartment he"d read about, which we did. But when we finally found it, the hidden drawer was empty!"
"What a shame," George said.
"I agree. So the secret must be in the drawer of the matching antique table. That is why I"d like to find it before someone else does," the dealer concluded.
Nancy decided that it was only fair to tell Mr. Zinn what had happened. Unless he was a clever actor, he was not aware of the furniture theft. She said that she and her friends were from River Heights and his cousin was her neighbor.
"Mrs. Tenney asked me to accompany her to your great-aunt"s mansion a few days ago," Nancy went on. "When we got there, we found that the place had been burglarized. The antiques in the library have been stolen!" she announced.
"What!" Mr. Zinn shouted. His face turned red and his neck muscles grew taut. "The furniture-stolen?"
"Yes," Nancy said. "But there were two Washington tables in the collection, according to your aunt."
"But only one was authentic," Mr. Zinn informed her. "I made the other for Aunt Sara."
The sleuth now decided to show the dealer the paper with the hex sign. He said it looked familiar, and that he had seen similar symbols. Nancy next asked whether he knew Roger Hoelt or had ever heard of him. Mr. Zinn pondered.
"Yes, there was a fellow named Hoelt in my cla.s.s in high school. But I don"t think his first name was Roger," he said.
"But you do remember that people named Hoelt lived in this area?" Nancy persisted.
Mr. Zinn nodded absently, then suddenly he exclaimed, "It"s a crime! All that furniture gone!"
Nancy asked whether the thief might have known of the secret drawer in the Washington table. "If so, that might have been his real motive."
"That"s possible," Mr. Zinn agreed. "Particularly if he has already found the other authentic table and it didn"t contain the secret. He could easily learn Aunt Sara owned its mate and in his haste, he took both of her tables with him. Maybe he couldn"t distinguish the genuine from the reproduction. Oh dear, this is confusing!"
Just then a woman appeared in the barn shop. Mr. Zinn introduced her as his wife. She was as round as her husband and wore a full skirt, a shirred light-blue ap.r.o.n, and ruffled collar and sleeves. Her pretty face was dimpled and she had a radiant smile, which vanished when she heard the news of the robbery.
"Papa, it is a great loss to you, ain"t?"
Her husband tried to hide his distress. "What one does not own is never a loss"," he told her, and perhaps the furniture will be found."
"What? Stolen!" Mr. Zinn shouted.
"Papa, I came to tell you that dinner is ready," Mrs. Zinn said. She added, "It would please us to have you girls break bread with us."
"Oh, that would be wonderfull" Bess exclaimed. Nancy and George also accepted.
Mrs. Zinn led the way into the farmhouse. It was gayer than that of the Kreutzes, with flowers, window draperies, and quaint hooked rugs in every room. The cloth on the kitchen table was hand-embroidered with red and blue pigeons.
Mrs. Zinn set three more places at the table, and soon the five were eating a hearty meal. The dessert was shoofly pie. Between courses, the Zinns asked where the girls were staying.
When they told them, Mrs. Zinn frowned. "Mr. Kreutz is too strict," she complained. "He never allowed Manda to have a good time. He said he would pick her a husband. That"s why she ran away. You know she ran away?"
Nancy nodded and said that Mr. Kreutz now wanted his daughter to come home, and that the girls had promised to help find her. She told of the clue the bakery woman had suggested, but the Zinns did not know of any new Amish couple in town.
An hour later Nancy and her friends were on their way back to the Kreutz farm. Bess, looking out the rear window, suddenly declared that she thought they were being followed by a car.
"Maybe the hex is working again," she said.
George, disgusted, told her cousin to stop talking nonsense. Suddenly a horn blasted. Nancy pulled into a service station and the car shot past them so quickly that the girls caught only a glimpse of the Amish driver. He was bearded and his black hat was pulled far down over his ears.
"That speed demon didn"t follow us long," George observed.
When Nancy"s car was refueled, they set out again. As she rounded a sharp turn, she suddenly gasped and stepped on the brake. Strewn across the road, directly in their path, were cinder blocks. There was no way to avoid plowing into them!
The car hit several of the blocks. All three girls were thrown forward. Bess, seated in the middle, struck her head on the mirror and blacked out!