Nancy's Mysterious Letter Part 13

Search for a Bride

"IT's starting to snow," Bess remarked as a few flakes. .h.i.t the windshield of Nancy's convertible.

Before leaving home, she had put the top up because the day was cloudy and raw, with a hint of stormy weather.

Bess went on, "Oh, I hope it won't be bad. Nancy, does this car have snow tires?"

Before Nancy could reply, George spoke up. "Bess, you have so little faith in people. Of course Nancy would have snow tires and good ones at that."

Her cousin defended herself quickly. "After working with Nancy on all the mysteries she's asked us to help her solve, you know even the smartest people can be forgetful sometimes!"

Nancy laughed. "You girls have driven with me in snowstorms many times. Nevertheless I promise to be careful. Oh, it's getting to be worse fast."

Due to the storm, it took longer to get to Ridgefield than Nancy had hoped, but she was buoyed up by an exciting thought. Soon she would either come face to face with Edgar Nixon or find out whether or not he was married.

When the girls arrived on the outskirts of Ridgefield, the snow was deep. Nancy asked directions to Harrison Street. She found it blocked off by a snow removal machine which had stalled.

Nancy turned down a hill and parked near the foot of it. The three girls climbed back up, turned right on Harrison Street, and trudged along the unshoveled sidewalk.

Finally they came to Mrs. Hemmer's guesthouse. By this time the girls were covered with snow. Before stepping onto the porch, they brushed off what snow they could and stamped their boots.

Nancy rang the bell. In a minute it was answered by a plain-looking woman in her sixties. She looked surprised to see the three callers.

"What can I do for you?" she asked. "You lost or just cold?"

The girls smiled and Nancy replied, "We're all right. We had to park on the next street so we got covered with snow walking up here. Is Mr. Edgar Nixon at home?"

"Why-uh-no," Mrs. Hemmer answered. "What do you want to see him about?"

"When will he be back?" Nancy replied, deliberately evading the woman's question. Mrs. Hemmer surveyed her callers from head to toe before saying, "You look like nice honest young ladies. The answer is that Edgar Nixon moved out this morning."

"Oh!" the three girls chorused.

"Did you know ahead of time he was going?" Nancy queried.

"No, I didn't," the woman said. "He never hinted at such a thing. As a matter of fact, he seemed quite happy here. But then, I suppose when you inherit money you want to move to better quarters."

The girls tried not to show their excitement at this statement. Nancy said nonchalantly, "So Edgar inherited some money?"

Mrs. Hemmer became more talkative. "It's kind of cold for me standin' here. Won't you come inside?"

Nancy and her friends followed the woman. She led them to her living room, which was cheerful despite the dull day.

"Mr. Nixon didn't say where the money was coming from," Mrs. Hemmer went on, "but he told me it was a big sum and now he was going to change his type of work."

"What sort of work did he do?" George asked.

"That I don't know," the woman replied. "Mr. Nixon was kind of mysterious about his affairs, but I suspect he was in some mail-order business. He received lots of letters."

Nancy could see her excellent clue fast petering out. No doubt Edgar would have notified the post office already of his change of address. Finally Nancy asked the question that was uppermost in her mind.

"Did Edgar Nixon say he was going to be married, Mrs. Hemmer?"

"Not this morning he didn't," the woman said. "But he mentioned it yesterday."

"I suppose he was pretty excited about it," Nancy remarked, trying hard not to show her rising excitement. "Who's the young lady?"

Mrs. Hemmer said he had not mentioned her name. "But I suppose she was the one who came here this morning."

The three girls looked at one another. Before they had a chance to ask anything about her, Mrs. Hemmer went on, "To tell you the truth, I don't think it was very polite of Mr. Nixon not to introduce her to me. I went to the door and let her in. He came rushing down the stairs with his two suitcases and said, 'Let's go!' "

Nancy heaved a sigh, but tried not to reveal her great disappointment. "I'm sure she's the person we're trying to find. Too bad you didn't learn her name. Can you tell us anything about her?"

"I didn't pay particular attention," Mrs. Hemmer answered. "She was tall and all bundled up in fur. I did notice, though, that she spoke with a British accent."

Now there was no doubt in Nancy's mind that the person who had come to the house was Nancy Smith Drew. Her heart sank as she thought that by this time she and Edgar Nixon might be husband and wife.

"We must go," Nancy said. "Thank you for all the time you've given us." She smiled. "Don't be surprised if we come back and call on you again."

"Glad to see you any time," the woman told her.

As the girls trudged up the snowy street, Bess said, "Do you plan to do any more sleuthing in Ridgefield?"

"I'm going to the Town Hall and see if Edgar Nixon took out a marriage license," Nancy told her.

Through inquiries she learned that the building was not far away, so the girls decided to walk there. They were told that no marriage license had been issued to the couple.

"They could have been married almost any place," Bess spoke up. "Trying to get that information would be like hunting for a needle in a haystack."

Nancy turned back to the clerk and said, "Do you have a justice of the peace in this town?"

"Yes we do. He has an office on the second floor."

Nancy thanked the clerk and motioned for the girls to follow her up the stairs. The justice of the peace was a short, rotund man with a jolly look. He seemed amused by Nancy's inquiry. She guessed that he was thinking, "This girl's disappointed about losing her fiance and is trying to find out about his elopement with someone else!"

"I haven't married anybody for a month," the justice of the peace said, "and never anyone named Edgar Nixon or Nancy Drew."

He suggested that one of the clergymen in town might have performed the ceremony. "Suppose I give you a list," he said, "and you can go around and find out for yourself."

He opened a drawer and pulled out a pad. In a few moments he had written out a rather long list.

"I appreciate this," Nancy said. "Because of the storm I don't think I'll try visiting all these people."

The justice of the peace told her there was a pay telephone booth in the main lobby of the building. "You'll keep drier if you try calling up, instead of going out in the snow."

Nancy agreed, thanked the man for his help, and went downstairs with the girls. They pooled their coins and took turns dialing the names on the list. Fortunately all the men were at home, but said that they had not performed any marriage ceremony for a couple of weeks. Furthermore, they had had no requests for any during the next week.

When Nancy completed the last call, Bess remarked, "Nancy, you look pretty downcast. This trip in the snow is all for nothing."