By the time they reached the starting point for the pageant, everyone had assembled. As Nancy's group rode around for their final bow, the applause was loud and genuine. Nancy stole a quick look at her father and friends. They were clapping and waving madly.
This was the last performance in River Heights. The next day Sims' Circus would show at a town called Danford. Nancy hoped it would have as warm a reception as it had had in River Heights.
When she and Erika reached their tent, the young detective began to put on her street clothes. Erika asked why she was doing this.
"I'm going home. I'll see you in Danford tomorrow."
Erika looked worried. "It's against the rules for anyone to leave the circus overnight," she said.
"But I'm not a regular member of the troupe," Nancy replied. "I'm sure it won't make any difference if I return home for the night."
Erika advised her to speak to Dan Webster. She went to his office and fortunately found him there.
He instantly agreed with Erika. "Kroon has an insidious way of checking up on folks around here," the horse trainer told Nancy. "It would be much safer if you moved with the circus. We're leaving tonight, you know."
"Tonight?" Nancy said. "You mean we don't sleep here?"
Dan Webster laughed. He said Nancy had a lot to learn about circus life. By the time she returned home with her clothes, the tents would be down and the performers and workmen in buses and trucks on their way to Danford.
"But I'll need extra clothes," Nancy said. "How am I going to get them?"
Dan advised her to telephone her home at once and have someone bring a suitcase to her within the next fifteen minutes.
Nancy hurried from the office and went directly to the main gate where she had asked Ned Nickerson to wait for her. He was there, watching with fascination as the big top suddenly swooped to the ground.
"I see this place is packing up," he remarked, as Nancy joined him.
"And I am too," Nancy told him, quickly explaining what she had been told to do. "Ned, I'll telephone my house and have Hannah pack a suitcase. She should be home by now. Will you dash over there and bring it back to me? I'll meet you here in fifteen minutes."
"It sounds like a big order, packing any girl's suitcase in that short a time." He laughed. "But I'll be here."
Ned kept his promise and was back with the suitcase in record time. He reluctantly said good-by to Nancy, and added that he would be very willing to drive to Danford if she needed him for further sleuthing.
"You're a dear," she said, smiling. "If I need your services, I'll let you know."
Nancy waved good-by to him and hurried back to Erika. The rider was wearing a long, attractive dressing gown and slippers. She said she preferred traveling this way since she would have to sleep all night in the bus.
A few moments later a truck came by and picked up their suitcases. Then the Vascon troupe hurried to board the bus which had been assigned to them.
Nancy hardly slept a wink during the trip. The ride was bumpy and the bus stuffy. At Kroon's insistence the circus group stayed together. This meant that they traveled slowly. Every once in a while one of the circus's wild animals would cry out and disturb Nancy. But the regular troupers did not seem to mind any of these disturbances and slept soundly.
The following morning at Danford, Nancy, left to herself, decided to do some detective work. She went from performer to performer asking diplomatically for information about the Kroons, the circus itself, and particularly about Lolita's parents. The young sleuth learned little that she did not already know until she came to the oldest of the clowns, a grizzled man named Leo Sanders.
He was sitting in front of his tent, looking through a scrapbook. Nancy seated herself on the ground beside him, smiled, and chattingly began to question him.
"Before I divulge anything I may know," he said, "suppose you tell me why you want the information."
Quickly Nancy revealed why she was trying to help Lolita and that she suspected there might be a secret in connection with the girl's early life.
Sanders began to turn the pages of the scrapbook. Reaching a section not far from the beginning of the book, he laid it face up on Nancy's lap.
"You may find part of the answers here," he said.
CHAPTER XVA Unique Admission
In the old clown's scrapbook, now on Nancy's lap, were several pictures of performers and acts of the European circus in which Lolita's parents and Sanders had appeared. Poised in flight on a double trapeze were a dainty woman and a handsome man. Under the photograph was the caption:
John and Lola Flanders.
"They were a very talented couple," the old clown remarked wistfully. "Too bad about their accident."
There were various other pictures of the famous couple, performing their difficult stunts. Nancy could see that Lolita had indeed inherited her great talent from them.
"Yes, it was unfortunate that they fell," Nancy replied. "Mr. Sanders, can you tell me anything more about them?"
For answer, the man turned the page of the scrapbook. The two following pages were filled with clippings from European newspapers. None of them was in English, but the old clown helped Nancy translate them. All gave practically the same account. John Flanders had been killed outright. The injuries to his wife had been very serious and she had not been expected to live.
"But none of these clippings," said Nancy, "tell whether or not Mrs. Flanders did recover."
The old clown looked around as if he feared someone might hear what he was about to tell Nancy. Finally he whispered:
"That has been a mystery all these years. One story was that Lola Flanders was taken to England and disappeared."
Nancy's pulses quickened. Probably Pietro's father had seen Lola Flanders in Tewkesbury!
Thinking of England reminded Nancy that she had forgotten to ask her father to start his investigation there. She decided that as soon as she finished talking with Leo Sanders, she would telephone the lawyer.
"I've heard," said Nancy to the old clown, "that John and Lola Flanders were reputed to have had a lot of money. Do you know whether this is true?"
Again Sanders spoke in a low voice. "Yes, the couple amassed a fortune with their brilliant act. Whatever became of the money no one knows. Some of the folks around here, who don't like Kroon, hint that maybe he's handling it and Lolita will never get it."
Nancy wondered about this, but Sanders had nothing further to offer. Nancy then asked the clown whether the Flanders had made all their money in the circus.
"No, not exactly," he replied. "John and Lola were very popular with nobility and other aristocrats in Europe. They were often asked to give special command performances outside the circus. They were exceedingly well paid for this."
The clown went on to say that a certain queen was particularly fond of Lola. She had given her beautiful jewelry, including a unique bracelet.
"Please tell me about it," Nancy asked eagerly.
"I only saw it once," Sanders replied, "but I never could forget it. The bracelet was solid gold and had six little horses dangling from it. Five of them represented a different gait. Two were cantering. It was the most artistic piece of jewelry I had ever seen," he concluded. "And now, I understand, you may own this very bracelet."
Nancy nodded and added, "I was told that the horse charm which Lolita wears on a necklace was given to her by her mother. Do you think it could have come from my bracelet?"
Sanders thought for a moment. He glanced at Nancy as if he were reticent to say what was in his mind. Finally he blurted out:
"I don't think the one Lolita wears is real. It doesn't glisten as much and isn't so finely made as the ones I saw on her mother's bracelet."
Here was a strange twist, the young sleuth thought. If the old clown was right, then someone had substituted an imitation horse charm for the lovely one which Lolita's mother had given her!