Free The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene

picked a different spot, but the results were the same. There was no open space behind that portion of the attic wall.
    “My hunch wasn’t so good,” said Nancy.
    Helen suggested that they give up and go downstairs. “Anyway, I think the postman will be here soon.” She smiled. “I’m expecting a letter from Jim. Mother said she would forward all my mail.”
    Nancy did not want to give up the search yet. But she nodded in agreement and waved her friend toward the stairs. Then the young detective sat down on the floor and cupped her chin in her hands. As she stared ahead, Nancy noticed that Helen, in her eagerness to meet the postman, had not bothered to go quietly down the attic steps. It sounded as if Helen had picked the squeakiest spot on each step!
    Nancy heard Helen go out the front door and suddenly realized that she was in the big mansion all alone. “That may bring the ghost on a visit,” she thought. “If he is around, he may think I went outside with Helen! And I may learn where the secret opening is!”
    Nancy sat perfectly still, listening intently. Suddenly she flung her head up. Was it her imagination, or did she hear the creak of steps? She was not mistaken. Nancy strained her ears, trying to determine from where the sounds were coming.
    “I’m sure they’re not from the attic stairs or the main staircase. And not the back stairway. Even if the ghost was in the kitchen and unlocked the door to the second floor, he’d know that the one at the top of the stairs was locked from the other side.”
    Nancy’s heart suddenly gave a leap. She was positive that the creaking sounds were coming from somewhere behind the attic wall!
    “A secret staircase!” she thought excitedly. “Maybe the ghost is entering the second floor!”
    Nancy waited until the sounds stopped, then she got to her feet, tiptoed noiselessly down the attic steps and looked around. She could hear nothing. Was the ghost standing quietly in one of the bedrooms? Probably Miss Flora’s?
    Treading so lightly that she did not make a sound, Nancy peered into each room as she reached it. But no one was in any of them.
    “Maybe he’s on the first floor!” Nancy thought.
    She descended the main stairway, hugging the wall so she would not make a sound. Reaching the first floor, Nancy peered into the parlor. No one was there. She looked in the library, the dining room, and the kitchen. She saw no one.
    “Well, the ghost didn’t come into the house after all,” Nancy concluded. “He may have intended to, but changed his mind.”
    She felt more certain than at any time, however, that there was a secret entrance to Twin Elms Mansion from a hidden stairway. But how to find it? Suddenly the young sleuth snapped her fingers. “I know what I’ll do! I’ll set a trap for that ghost!”
    She reflected that he had taken jewelry, but those thefts had stopped. Apparently he was afraid to go to the second floor.
    “I wonder if anything is missing from the first floor,” she mused. “Maybe he has taken silver-ware or helped himself to some food.”
    Going to the back door, Nancy opened it and called to Helen, who was now seated in the garden with Miss Flora and Aunt Rosemary. “What say we start lunch?” she called, not wishing to distress Miss Flora by bringing up the subject of the mystery.
    “Okay,” said Helen. In a few moments she joined Nancy, who asked if her friend had received a letter.
    Helen’s eyes sparkled. “I sure did. Oh, Nancy, I can hardly wait for Jim to get home!”
    Nancy smiled. “The way you describe him, I can hardly wait to see him myself.” Then she told Helen the real reason she had called her into the kitchen. She described the footsteps on what she was sure was a hidden, creaking stairway, then added, “If we discover that food or something else is missing we’ll know he’s been here again.”
    Helen offered to inspect the flat silver. “I know approximately how many pieces should be in the buffet