Free The Secret in the Old Attic by Carolyn Keene

out through the dark pines.
    “Nancy never broke a promise to me before,” she told Mr. March. “She knows I’m scared to stay here at night without her.”
    “I’m sure something important came up,” he replied. “Better stop worrying.”
    When ten o’clock came he retired. Effie decided that it would be futile to wait longer for Nancy. Reluctantly she went to her room and prepared for bed.
    “What a dark, gloomy night!” the maid observed as she looked out a window. “Not even a moon—”
    Her thoughts on the weather ended abruptly. Beneath the window she saw a stealthy, indistinct figure move. Someone was creeping along the high, untrimmed hedge which ran beside the wing of the rambling house!

CHAPTER XI
    The Mysterious Letter
     
     
     
    EFFIE tried to scream, but no sound came from her throat. She recoiled a step from the window. When the girl regained sufficient courage to look out again, the man was gone.
    Terrified, Effie leaped into bed. For a long while she lay absolutely still, the covers pulled up to her ears.
    “I locked all the doors and windows before I came to bed,” she encouraged herself. “A man couldn’t get into this place—or could he?”
    A sudden sharp breeze rattled the windows. Overhead timbers groaned.
    “Now was that the wind, or was it someone walking across a loose board?” Effie speculated.
    The maid could not sleep. She was convinced that the man she had seen outside had slipped into the house.
    “Maybe he knows a secret way to get in,” Effie tormented herself. “Maybe he’s in the house right now! Oh dear! What was that?”
    Distinctly she heard a door down the hall open with a squeak. Then footsteps with measured tread came along the hall.
    Effie could bear the suspense no longer. Though frightened half out of her wits, she tiptoed to her bedroom door and opened it a crack.
    “Oh, it’s you, Mr. March!” she exclaimed in relief, recognizing him in a moment. “I thought it was someone sneaking along the hall!” She told him of the prowling figure outside.
    “There’s no one in here,” he said. Though Mr. March himself had heard suspicious noises, he did not wish to alarm the maid. “You’d better go back to bed, Effie.”
    “I can’t sleep for thinking of Miss Nancy,” the girl wailed. “She promised to come back tonight. Oh, I hope nothing has happened to her.”
    Mr. March tried to reassure Effie. “She probably thought it was too late to phone us.”
    Satisfied, Effie returned to her bed and immediately dropped into a deep slumber. Mr. March himself felt jittery.
    “I wish Nancy had stayed here tonight,” he muttered. “I’m going upstairs.” The elderly man went to get a candle.
    Warily he climbed the attic stairs and looked around. There did not appear to be anyone on the third floor. He poked among the various boxes and trunks, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
    “Both Effie and I distinctly heard sounds,” he kept telling himself.
    Finally Mr. March went downstairs and got back into bed. But he could not sleep.
    Suddenly the elderly man became aware of a car motor and voices outside. Going to a front window, he was relieved to see Nancy and her father.
    Mr. March hurried below to welcome the Drews. Nancy’s father stayed only a moment before heading back to his own home.
    “I’m sorry to be so late,” Nancy apologized. “I was delayed.”
    Soon she was listening to an account of the strange noises and the prowling figure at Pleasant Hedges.
    “But there’s no point in investigating further tonight,” he finished. “All seems quiet now, and Effie has settled down.”
    “I’m just sorry I wasn’t here earlier,” Nancy declared. “I was doing some sleuthing for Dad.”
    “You must be tired, Nancy,” Mr. March said gently. “Get some sleep and we’ll tackle this mystery again tomorrow.”
    Nancy was glad to say good night, and quickly got into bed. She fell asleep almost at once.
    As Nancy was finishing a late breakfast