"Captain Smith," Nancy said, "will you go with me and my aunt to the shop where she purchased the bracelet? I'm sure that the owner will be able to identify the one you're holding if it is the original."
The officer said he would be glad to accompany them. He made arrangements to meet Nancy and her aunt in twenty minutes.
At the appointed time the three walked into the shop. After hearing their story, Mr. Abrams, the shop owner, made a quick examination of the bracelet and confirmed the captain's theory that it had been tampered with recently.
Using a special powder and a piece of chamois, he began to rub the bracelet. Presently the stain which had been used on it began to rub off. In a few minutes the bracelet looked exactly as Nancy remembered it, except for the addition of the sixth horse.
"Whoever put this one charm on," said Mr. Abrams, "was an amateur. This was a hurried, clumsy job."
Nancy's thoughts flew at once to Mr. and Mrs. Kroon. Had the woman attached it and wrapped the bracelet for mailing while George and Little Will had been acting as lookouts at the trailer? Had the Kroons stolen the original charm from Lolita's necklace some time ago and kept it, hoping to locate the valuable bracelet and attach the missing horse, and sell the jewelry at a high price?
"Mr. Abrams," said Nancy, "would you mind looking in your records and telling me where you purchased the bracelet?"
"I'd be very glad to," the shop owner said, smiling.
He disappeared into a back room and was gone for some time. Finally he returned and handed Nancy a piece of paper.
"I purchased the bracelet from a London pawnshop," he said. "Here's the name and address."
Nancy and the others thanked Mr. Abrams for his information and left the shop. When they reached the sidewalk, Captain Smith gave Nancy the bracelet. She thanked him and asked the captain if he would cable the shop in London and find out who had signed the pawn ticket.
"Certainly," Captain Smith said, "only I believe I'll do it through the London police. But it will take hours."
The following morning Nancy waited impatiently for a call from Captain Smith. He telephoned her about eleven o'clock.
"It begins to look as though you were getting somewhere in your mystery, Miss Drew," he said. "The pawn ticket was signed with a nervous scrawl which was hardly legible. The pawnshop owner thought it looked something like Laura Flynn."
"Oh, it could have been Lola Flanders!" Nancy cried excitedly.
"I believe you're right," the captain agreed. "The ticket was signed three years ago. The shop keeps things for only two years. That's why they were able to sell it."
After putting down the telephone receiver, Nancy continued to think about this latest news. Suddenly her eyes sparkled. She picked up the telephone and dialed long-distance. Nancy gave the operator the number of her father's office. When he answered, she told him what she had discovered since her arrival in New York. Then suddenly she said:
"Dad, will you fly to London with me right away?"
CHAPTER XXA Vicious Trick
There was an exclamation of surprise on the other end of the telephone as Mr. Drew asked Nancy if he had heard her correctly.
"Did you say 'Let's fly to London?'"
"That's right, Dad. How about it? You need a vacation, anyhow, and you can help me solve the mystery. Who knows, we may find Lolita's mother and bring her back with us."
The lawyer laughed. "You're very persuasive, Nancy. Let me think a minute."
Nancy could hear her father mumbling. Here and there she caught a word which she recognized as the names of various clients. Presently Mr. Drew said:
"All right, Nancy. We'll go. I have some important things pending, but they can wait a week or so."
"Oh, Dad, you're a sweetheart!" Nancy told him. "When can you get here?"
"I might as well leave right now," he said. "I can catch the night plane from here. Suppose you see if you can get reservations for tomorrow."
Nancy said she would call him back as soon as she found out.
"In the meantime, Dad, will you please try to find out if there have been any new developments in Sims' Circus?"
"I can answer part of your query right now," her father replied. "Bess called here a little while ago. She said that Lolita had been in touch with her. The poor girl is very unhappy. Kroon is keeping her virtually a prisoner. What's worse, he has dismissed Pietro."
"That is bad news," Nancy remarked. "Where is Pietro?"
Mr. Drew said that he did not know. Kroon did not permit Lolita to receive mail or telephone calls of any kind. She had made the call to Bess through Erika.
"Lolita is hoping that Pietro will get in touch with Bess, and that Bess will be able to forward the message to Erika."
Since this was all the information the lawyer could give Nancy at the moment, they said good-by. Nancy at once got in touch with the airport to find out about reservations. She was told that there were no seats available, but that she would be notified should any cancellations come in.
Nancy waited impatiently. Finally she decided to phone her father to tell him that it would not be necessary for him to take the evening plane from River Heights.
"When is the next one you could get?" his daughter asked.
Mr. Drew said that one left at two in the morning. It would arrive in New York in plenty of time to catch the afternoon overseas plane.
"Call me again if you have any luck with reservations," he directed her. "By the way, I have more news for you. The police interviewed Kroon about the package to Lola Flanders. The man insisted that he never had anything to do with sending a package to a Lola Flanders and knew no one by that name."
"But what about the boy who mailed the package for him?" Nancy questioned.
"Oh, he's exonerated," Mr. Drew replied. "The boy says he mailed a package for Mr. Kroons all right, but he didn't read the name and address on it."
As she put down the receiver, Nancy wondered whether the boy had been coached by Kroon to say that he had not looked at the address. Three hours later the telephone rang. Nancy hurried to it and was delighted to learn that the call was from the airport.
"I have your two reservations, Miss Drew," the young woman at the other end of the wire informed her.
"When will I have to pick them up?" Nancy asked. "And may I get them here in the city?"
She was told that she must claim them by noon of the following day and that she could pick them up at the airline's office in the heart of the city.
"I'll do that," answered Nancy.
She immediately telephoned her father and told him the good news. He said he was glad to hear it because he had been looking forward to a vacation with his daughter.
"We're so rarely alone," he said. Then he laughed. "I shan't have you all to myself until we're actually on the plane. Ned is coming with me to see us off." Mr. Drew added that he would bring along their passports and other papers necessary for the trip.
Nancy smiled as she hung up. It would be nice having a little send-off party with Ned and Aunt Eloise at the airport.
She and her aunt arose early in order to meet the plane from River Heights. To her amazement, not only did her father and Ned step off the airliner, but Pietro as well.
"Oh, it's good to see you, Pietro!" Nancy cried.
Ned looked as if he did not wholly approve of Nancy's extremely friendly greeting to the clown. And a frown creased his forehead when Pietro announced that he was going to London with the Drews to see his father.
After Pietro had been introduced to Aunt Eloise, the group found a taxi and drove to Miss Drew's apartment. Ned made it plain that he wanted to absorb as much of Nancy's attention as possible. With the excuse that he wanted to do some shopping, Ned finally managed to get her away from the apartment.
While they were having lunch in a cozy restaurant, he suddenly warned Nancy not to get any crazy ideas about staying in England permanently.