Nancy Drew and The Mystery Of The Ghost Maiden

Chapter Fourteen

Fighting the urge to run into the hidden passageway, Nancy turned back towards the guestrooms. Realizing getting caught and possibly kidnapped would not help this situation at all. Once she reached Bess and George's room, she quietly slipped inside. Bess was fast asleep, so Nancy had to gently shake her. The girl sat up and almost screamed when she saw Nancy's outline in the dark. Fear took over Bess as Nancy instantly reached covering her friend's mouth!

"Bess, it's me, Nancy! I need you to calm down. I've found a hidden passageway, but I need your help to investigate it safely." she said, feeling overwhelmed with excitement.

"But why did you sneak in here and scare me half to death? There is no need for that!" Bess fussed as she playfully hit Nancy with a pillow.

Nancy wore a sly smile as she leaned forward, "The intruder seems to know this place very well. I figure that they have had to be here visited many times or perhaps one of the hired help is involved. I think that we need to keep this information on the down low to not escalate the situation."

"You do have a point. We need to think things through. Extra caution is advised in this situation." Bess added as she slipped back on her shoes before fallowing Nancy to her room. They grabbed a flashlight and continued down the dark hallway to find out what awaited them.

One there, Nancy said "I need you to wait right here. Just in case I'm no back in thirty minutes, I need you to call the others," She then showed Bess how to reopen the hidden door.

Bess meekly peered inside before adding "I do not like this Nancy. Anything bad could happen to you in there."

Nancy was untouched by her friend's words of caution. She took one long look inside the secret before announcing, "Adventure is out there!" Once the girl was inside, the door quietly closed on its own behind her. As Nancy entered she could smell motor oil. She guessed intruders had used it at some point in time to oil the hinges on the old door to keep from alerting anyone of their presence.

Nancy looked around to find herself at the top of a long dark stairway. The only thing in sight was lots of old cobwebs that covered the ceiling. This place must have been long forgotten by the owners of the home. She went slowly down the stairs. Some of the steps felt as if they were about to give way under Nancy's weight. In response, she grabbed the handrail firmly and continued downward.

Once at the bottom, Nancy found herself just outside a small door that left halfway open. After a quick glance inside, she could tell no one else was there. So, the teen stepped inside to get a better look. It was a very small room with a low ceiling that was just a few inches over Nancy's head. "Maybe there is the truth in the theory that people are growing taller through the centuries." Nancy mused as she reached up to touch the ceiling.

The room looked abandoned with just a rough wooden desk and matching chair inside. Above the desk was an old faded painting, on a hunch, Nancy checked behind it. There she found an old wall safe that was unlocked but was found to be empty. Glancing down at the desk, Nancy found a modern notebook and under it was the stolen love letters! She looked through the notebook inside appeared to be someone notes about deciphering what was left of the letters and filling in the missing words in them. "Looks like they have only gotten through half of the letters. Maybe we can set a trap to catch them once they back to continue their work." thought Nancy.

She quickly tore out the pages from the notebook, then closed it. She put it back into its original spot, however, she took all the letters hoping no one would find out just yet. She did not feel it was worth losing the letter gain to us them as bait. It did not take long to finish going through the small desk. It was filled with plain writing paper and lots of trash from old food. After leaving the tiny room Nancy noticed a lever on the opposite wall, after pulling it the wall opened inwardly into the library. This door was hidden behind a built-in bookshelf.

"Let's see if I can find the way back in," said Nancy quietly as she began looking for the furniture. She began to pull on the books until she reached Journey to the Center of the Earth. This triggered the hidden spring and the passage open once again. "Bingo Bongo," she said while smiling like a cat that just ate the canary.

This time, as she back upstairs to Bess through the passageway this brave young girl timed herself. This time she used a pulley that hung from the ceiling to open the door. When she reemerged, Nancy found that it had saved her ten minutes coming up this way. "I'm so glad to see that you are alright, I was just about to go and get the others," remarked Bess as she reached over to hug her best friend.

"There was no sign of the intruders. I am guessing they are long gone. This does prove, however, that they have another way of sneaking around, instead of just the office window that they were using before. This home has to have at least one other secret passage that can be used for entering the home." Nancy commented.

"What makes you say that?" asked Bess.

"Many of these old mansions originally had escape routes built into them and I have a hunch this one does as well."

"Did you find anything useful?" while you were risking your life.

"Yes, the letters," Nancy said, as she pulled them from her pocket. "I think we should go eat some smores before the others eat them all," Nancy suggested.

"Sounds really good to me. So, you got the fire going?" Bess asked.

"Ned was just about to light the fire when I came inside," Nancy said, as they walked along outside. Once they had gotten outside they found the other two already eating smores. Nancy sat in the chair to the right of Ned. He handed her a fully cooked smore which she gladly ate.

They were only out there about thirty minutes before they were called in for supper. Nancy's Aunt gladly offered for Ned to join them. He, however, had to get back to his cousin's house before they started to worry about him. Just before leaving he gave Nancy a peck on the cheek and promised to come back to visit the next day around noon. Nancy was sad to see her sweetie go but was too tired to stay up must longer, anyways.