The Clue Of The Whistling Bagpipes Part 17

Nancy pulled up to the main entrance of the huge gray stone building. Bess, intrigued by the many small, leaded-gla.s.s windows, began to count them. She had reached thirty when the front door was opened by a man whom the girls a.s.sumed was the butler.

"I am glad you and your friends made a safe journey, Miss Drew," he said, and led the visitors through the s.p.a.cious center hall into a highceilinged living room. "I will announce your arrival to Lady Douglas."

Even though Nancy had heard about Douglas House since her childhood, she was overwhelmed by its grandeur. On the floor were priceless Oriental rugs. The furniture was a combination of beautifully carved oak pieces and small, dainty French gilt tables and chairs.

There were two enormous, exquisitely painted j.a.panese lamps, and in the rear of the room was a large hanging tapestry. It depicted a scene of a young woman, dressed in a flowing robe and a bonnet, standing high on the balcony of a castle and looking at a jousting match between two knights armed with lances.

"Oh, those exciting old days!" Bess murmured. In a few moments the butler reappeared and said Lady Douglas would see her visitors upstairs. They followed him up the heavily carpeted stairway, which had a room-sized landing, to the second story.

Here the walls were lined with portraits in oils, apparently of deceased members of the Douglas clan. Finally the girls paused before the pleasant, elegantly furnished living room of Lady Douglas' suite. The servant stepped inside and announced them.

"Thank you, Tweedie," came a rather high but musical voice.

"So the butler's name is Tweedie!" Nancy thought. "I love it!"

She entered the room first and found herself looking upon a very slender, frail, white-haired woman with a beautiful face and of dignified mien.

Nancy made a slight curtsy and said, "Lady Douglas, I am so happy to be here."

The elderly woman arose and smiled. "No need for medieval formality, my dear," she said. "I am your great-grandmother and I would much prefer to have you call me that."

Nancy was delighted. She and her great-grandmother embraced. Nancy now turned to her friends and introduced them one by one. They were warmly welcomed and Lady Douglas said that she would be very pleased to have Fiona remain also.

"Now, let us all be seated." Lady Douglas indicated a grouping of brocaded chairs. "Morag will serve tea."

She pulled a bell cord on the wall near her, and shortly a middle-aged woman, who reminded Nancy of Hannah Gruen, appeared. She wore the conventional maid's black dress and small white ap.r.o.n, but the cap on her head was quite different from anything the Americans had seen. It was a frilly half-bonnet, with two long black streamers down the back.

The maid wheeled in a teacart which contained dainty, blue-flowered china, an ornate silver tea service, and several plates of tiny sandwiches and cakes.

For the next half hour the group chatted and ate the delicious food. Nancy found herself feeling that she had known her great-grandmother for years. There was an instant sense of closeness between the two.

Although eager to hear more of the missing heirloom, Nancy refrained from bringing up the subject. Finally Lady Douglas herself did so. It was apparent that the elderly woman felt Fiona, too, could be trusted with a secret, and said:

"The heirloom which Nancy was to have received was my most prized possession. It was a brooch with a large topaz in the center surrounded by diamonds."

Nancy gasped. "What a wonderful gift! It must be gorgeous!"

Her great-grandmother nodded. "The brooch was given to an ancestor of mine by Bonnie Prince Charlie."

"Oh!" Bess exclaimed. "The handsome, romantic young man who got away in a maid's disguise?"

Lady Douglas smiled. "He is the one." Then her face took on a serious expression. "Nancy, I have spent many sleepless nights since losing the pin. I last remember taking it from the safe to see if it were in proper condition to give you. The brooch appeared to be all right, and I pinned it to my dress to see how it looked.

"At that moment the room seemed a little stuffy, so I decided to go outdoors and take a walk in the garden. When I returned, it was my bedtime. I took off the dress and hung it in my wardrobe. It was not until the next morning that I thought of the brooch and decided to put it back in the safe. The pin was gone!"

"How very unfortunate!" Fiona said. "Indeed it was," Lady Douglas agreed. "At first I thought the brooch had become unclasped and dropped off during my walk. But every part of the house and garden where I had been was thoroughly searched, and the pin was not found."

"You are sure you lost it?" Nancy asked.

Her relative asked wryly, "You think I might have absent-mindedly misplaced it?"

"No, Great-Grandmother dear," Nancy answered. "I wondered if it might have been stolen."

Lady Douglas looked somewhat startled. "But there was no one here except Tweedie and Morag. They are my only two servants, and both are strictly honest."

"I wasn't thinking of them," Nancy said quickly. "Perhaps your brooch did drop off outdoors, and some outsider who came here found the jewel and took it."

"That is a possibility, of course," Lady Douglas replied. "But not many people come to this lonely spot. I had a fine watchdog, but the dear creature died the very night I lost the brooch."

All this time, Nancy had been thinking of the newspaper article in the River Heights Graphic. She had never given up the idea that a thief or thieves had the heirloom and he had given out misleading information concerning it. But she said nothing about it.

After the tea hour was over, the visitors were shown to their rooms. Bess and George began to unpack, but Nancy and Fiona decided to go outdoors and make a search of their own. There was not a sign of the brooch, but the two girls spotted deep boot prints leading from a field at the rear of Douglas House, and back across it.

"These were certainly made by a bigger, heavier man than Tweedie," Nancy remarked.

Seeing him at work pruning some bushes, she walked over to speak to him. He a.s.sured her that he had not made the prints and that to his knowledge no other man had been on the grounds.

"Then some stranger was here very recently, perhaps even last night, no doubt spying on the house," said Nancy. "Tweedie, do you realize that these boot marks might belong to someone who was here the night Lady Douglas lost the brooch, and that the same person might have killed your watchdog?"

The man looked startled. "Champion didn't look as if he had been hurt and we couldn't figure out what had caused his death."

Suddenly Nancy recalled her theory about the sheep thieves anesthetizing the stolen animals. Could the same method have been used on the dog, Champion, so that he could not alert those in the house?"

Another disturbing possibility occurred to Nancy. "So far the thief has taken only the brooch," she thought. "He may have come the second time to do a really big theft job!"

Nancy turned to the servant. "Tweedie," she said, "maybe there was a thief in the house last night. Let's find out if anything has been stolen."

CHAPTER XIV.

Trouble on the Mountain

TWEEDIE raised himself proudly to his full height. "Miss Nancy, nothing could be stolen from Douglas House. Every door and window is wired to a burglar alarm. If anyone should try to sneak in, the bell would sound and the thief would soon be caught."

"I'm glad to hear that," Nancy replied, "because there are certainly some valuable pieces of furniture and silver. It is wonderful to think that sightseers from all over the world will come here and enjoy looking at the beautiful old house and grounds and the treasures inside it."

"From the first families of Scotland!"Tweedie added with pride, and walked off to continue pruning the bushes.

A few minutes later George and Bess joined the two girls. They all strolled around the grounds, at the same time reviewing the various points in the mystery. Nancy said she was convinced the brooch had been stolen.

"But by whom?" Bess asked. No one could venture a guess.

"One thing puzzles me," George declared. "If the thief who took the brooch got away safely, why would he or any of his gang try so hard to keep you from coming to Scotland, Nancy?"

"Yes, why?" Bess echoed. "Don't forget, George and I might have been killed along with you near Loch Lomond. And in the last accident-Fiona, too."