NANCY DREW 8. NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER

CHAPTER 19. A TRAP

MRS. RODERICK and Ned waited breathlessly for Nancy’s interpretation of the Shakespearean quotations.

As Nancy continued to study the words, Mrs. Roderick said impatiently, “If Miss Drew left that paper for me, how in the world did she expect me to get any message out of it? I’m not familiar with Shakespeare’s plays.”

“I can’t answer that,” Nancy replied, “but this is what I think she was trying to tell you. First of all, Miss Drew believes she has fallen in love but she has some doubts.”

“I should think she would,” Mrs. Roderick said, “if the man she thinks she has fallen in love with is as bad as you picture him.”

Ned, interested in Nancy’s findings, begged her to go on.

“Well, Miss Drew is about to take a chance anyway,” Nancy said.

The others nodded and waited for her to proceed.

“The bride and groom, or the couple, are going traveling, probably by air. I think that was the reference to the stars. And it will be a night flight.”

“Why couldn’t it be on a ship?” Mrs. Roderick asked.

Ned grinned. “I think I can guess that one. The quotations mentioned that the stars had governed the condition. That could mean weather. If it’s a bad night, their plane wouldn’t be able to take off.”

Mrs. Roderick looked at the list again. “Here’s one you haven’t told us the meaning of. It says, ‘Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.’ ”

“That is puzzling,” Nancy admitted, “but my guess is that Nancy Smith Drew, having some real doubts about the whole thing, wishes that you, Mrs. Roderick, could come to the plane before she flies.”

A frightened expression came over the woman’s face and she threw her hands into the air. “My goodness, I couldn’t go to New York! I’d like to help Miss Drew. She is a lovely person and if she is in trouble she needs help. But I must say she could at least have left me a note I could understand and say good-by and make her request in plain English.”

“I have a hunch,” said Nancy, “that Edgar Nixon was with her when she came here and the poor girl had no chance to write you an explanation. The next best thing she could do was to put a message in the form of a code and the first thing that came to her mind was Shakespearean quotations.”

Mrs. Roderick shook her head. “This is too much for me. Well, I just hope that whatever Miss Drew is going to do she won’t be sorry for it. I’m afraid I can’t help her, though.”

Ned spoke up. “If Edgar Nixon is as slick as you think, Nancy, I bet I know what his next move was. When he got to thinking about the quotations, he’d deduce that you’d come here and find out they had a special meaning. My hunch is that he has already canceled their flight reservations.”

Nancy agreed and asked him to telephone the airline and find out. In a few minutes he learned that the reservations for Mr. Nixon and Nancy Smith Drew for the Monday night flight to London had indeed been canceled.

Mrs. Roderick was very upset. “Do you think they are still around here?” she asked.

Nancy shook her head. “By this time Edgar Nixon knows the police are after him. He has probably changed cars again and left Emerson. It’s likely he sold his red one to the pal who nearly ran us down.