Free Make No Mistake by Carolyn Keene Page B

lie back on the bed, then went back downstairs. She paused at the landing to phone home to let her father and Hannah know that they were all waiting out the storm at Glover’s Corners.
    Nancy found Bess and George in the library. George was feeding pine cones to the fire, while Bess was lazily flipping through the pages of a magazine. Nancy picked up a magazine to look at, too.
    â€œHow’s Mrs. Adams?” Bess asked at last, putting her magazine down.
    Nancy plopped down on the sofa beside her. “Resting. I’m sure she’ll feel better in a while.”
    â€œShe’s had a lot to deal with, what with Matt coming back and all,” Bess said sympathetically.
    â€œIf it really is Matt,” George added quietly. “I’m sorry, Bess,” she said in response to thedark look her cousin shot her, “but you’ve got to be prepared for that possibility.”
    â€œI just know it’s Matt,” Bess insisted. “I would be able to tell if it weren’t.” She was about to say something else, but paused before going on excitedly, “Listen—the sleighs!”
    They all rushed to a window. The storm had begun to let up, and Nancy could see that fresh snow lay deep and thick around Glover’s Corners and in the woods beyond. The sun was low on the horizon, and the sleighs and snow all had a pinkish glow to them.
    â€œThere’s Matt!” Bess exclaimed, pointing to a figure in an Eskimo-style parka driving the first sleigh.
    â€œThat must be someone from Thurston’s stables in the other sleigh,” said George.
    Bringing up the rear was a four-wheel-drive Land Rover—the only kind of vehicle that could make it through the snow before the plows came.
    â€œI wonder why he rented two of them?” Nancy asked. “One is big enough for the four of us.”
    George was already heading for the front closet, where their jackets and boots were. “Who cares why? It’ll be so much fun. Let’s go!”
    They struggled into the warmest clothes they could find in the cloakroom. Bess wound a long, fluffy, red muffler around her neck and picked up a pair of matching mittens. “Hey, Nan,” she said, pointing to a bright blue woolen hat hangingfrom a peg, “you should wear that. It’ll look fantastic with your hair.”
    Nancy’s hat was still wet so she pulled on the cap, then the girls went outside. As they tromped through the snow to the sleighs, the man who had driven the second sleigh was climbing into the Land Rover. “We’ll be back in an hour,” Nancy heard him tell Matt. “Enjoy your ride.”
    Matt’s face was glowing from the cold. “Hey, my hat looks good on you,” he complimented Nancy.
    For a second Bess looked the tiniest bit jealous of the compliment, but at Matt’s next words her face lit up. “I thought Bess and I would take one sleigh and you two the other,” he said to Nancy and George. “You do know how to drive?” he asked Nancy. She nodded.
    â€œWe’ll follow the old trails through the woods and meet back here in an hour if we split up.”
    â€œTerrific!” said Bess, hopping up next to Matt in the first sleigh.
    As Nancy and George climbed into the second sleigh, George commented in an undertone, “Bess’s nervousness sure disappeared in a hurry.”
    â€œI’ll say,” Nancy agreed, pulling the heavy lap robe over their knees. “Her crush on Matt is getting even bigger. I just wish she’d back off a little until we’re sure about him.”
    Nancy watched as Matt and Bess led the way,starting out for the woods. Taking the reins, she urged their horse to follow.
    There seemed to be no sounds in the world but the jangling sleigh bells, the creak of leather, and the snorts of the horses as they went forward in the snow.
    â€œThis is great.” George sighed. “I’d forgotten how wonderful a sleigh