Table of Contents
Suddenly a panel in the wall slid open
CHAPTER I
Mysterious Canoe Mishap
NANCY Drew! How did you and Helen paddle that canoe up here so fast from River Heights? cried Doris Drake in astonishment.
Nancy, an attractive titian blond, grinned up at her friend. Doris was weeding a flower garden at her home along the riverbank. How do you know when we left home? Nancys blue eyes twinkled.
My friend Phyl told me on the phone just half an hour ago that shed talked with you, Nancy, at the Elite Drug Store in River Heights.
Nancy looked surprised. She couldnt have. Helen and I were on our way here at that time.
Slender, pretty Helen Corning, three years older than Nancy, frowned. You must have a double, Nancy. Better watch out!
I cant understand it, Nancy murmured. You say Phyl talked to her and she didnt say it was a mistake?
Thats right, Nancy, said Doris. But Phyl was wrong, of course. After all, she doesnt know you terribly well. Say, where are you and Helen going?
To visit overnight with Emily Willoughby and her aunt at Lilac Inn. Theyre family friends. Emily and her fiancweve never met himhave bought the inn, and Em tells me, plan to run it full time.
Helen added, Nancy and I are to be Emilys bridesmaids. Well talk over wedding plans.
How wonderful! Doris exclaimed.
Nancy and Helen said good-by and paddled off upstream. The Angus River, a tributary of the Muskoka, was banked on either side with dense shrubbery, willow trees, and wild flowers.
Were almost to Benton, Nancy said. The old inn should be just beyond the next bend.
The next second something rammed the canoe violently. The impact capsized the craft, hurling Nancy and Helen into the chilly May water!
Fortunately, the girls were excellent swimmers. Each instinctively grasped her buoyant, waterproof canvas traveling bag, bobbing nearby, and swam to a grassy bank.
Whew! said Nancy, as she dropped her bag to the ground. Are you all right, Helen?
Her friend nodded, shivering in her bedraggled shirt and slacks, despite the warm sun. What made us capsize?
The impact capsized the canoe
Nancy shrugged. She kicked off her moccasins and plunged into the water again to find out, and to retrieve the canoe. It was drifting upside down a short distance away.
After righting the canoe, Nancy towed it to where they had overturned. She ducked her head beneath the unruffled surface, but saw nothing unusual in the twenty-foot-deep water.
Thats strange, she thought. Maybe we hit a floating log. But this explanation did not fully satisfy her. A drifting log probably would be still in sight, and there was none.
Nancy pushed the canoe toward shore. Helen grabbed the stern, and pulled the canoe far enough up the bank so the girls could examine it. To their relief, it was undamaged.
Did you see that man with the crew cut in the rowboat? Helen asked,
No. Where?
Helen pointed to a small, high dock fifty feet downstream. She said that while Nancy was swimming, the man had climbed from the water into a rowboat, glanced their way, then gone in the opposite direction.
He didnt even try to help us! Helen said indignantly. Do you think maybe he upset our canoe?
I dont see how he could have. Nancy smiled. But he has upset you. Lets go!
The girls stepped back into the canoe and pad-died off. As they rounded the next bend, Helen cried, Theres the Lilac Inn dock!
When the canoe came abreast of the dock, Nancy secured it to a post. The girls hopped out and started up the path that led to the inn. On both sides of the path were groves of lilac trees which displayed a profusion of blooms, from creamy white to deep purple.
As the girls gazed in delight, a voice called, Nancy! Helen! Im so glad to see you. But what, ever happened?
Emily! Pretend Im hugging you, Nancy said with a laugh, and explained their accident.
Emily Willoughby, a dainty young woman, had chestnut-colored hair, set off to advantage by her white linen dress.
Beside her stood a handsome, well-built man with wavy, black hair. Nancy and Helen assumed the young man was her fianc, Dick Farnham, but Emily introduced him as John McBride, an old friend of Dicks.
John is going to be Dicks best man, Emily explained.
John smiled cordially. Dick and I were boyhood friends in California, and roommates at college. Im an Army sergeant on a months leave. He looked at the new arrivals with twinkling eyes. Emily will tell you why Im here. And Im sure glad I am.
Now dont go making up to my friends, John, Emily teased. Helen is engaged to Jim Archer, who has a position with an oil company overseas, and Nancywell, shes mighty busy these days.
The visitors laughed, as Emily added, You girls change into dry clothes at once.
John carried their bags, as Emily led the way along a shrubbed path which opened onto the spacious lawn surrounding Lilac Inn. Helen and Nancy looked with admiration at the historic hotel, erected in Revolutionary times.
Here are the new guest cottages, Emily said, as they reached a group of twelve trim white units. And this one is where youll stay.
She unlocked the door of the second cottage and the friends stepped inside. John set down the bags. See you girls later, he said.
As Helen admired the attractive colonial-style bedroom, Nancy noticed a look of anxiety in Emilys eyes. But the next instant it vanished.
Nancy and Helen listened with great interest while their friend said that she and Dick were enlarging the inn. John has been a big help with our projects. Dick is in New York working on publicity for us.
Im sure Lilac Inn will be a bang-up success, Nancy told her.
Oh, I hope so, Emily said. For a fleeting moment Nancy again detected a worried look in the young womans eyes. Why?
Emily went on, Youre almost the first guests in our cottage sectionJohn was first. Hes staying near you. The official opening of the inn wont be until July first. That is, if we can complete everything by then, she added dubiously.
If your aunt is here, Em, Id love to see her, Nancy said.
Aunt Hazels been looking forward to seeing you. Ill tell her youve arrived. Come over to the inn after youve unpacked.
Nancy and Helen changed into pastel cotton dresses, put away the few belongings they had brought, then headed for the inn. As they walked across the lawn, they passed gardeners who were pruning trees and cultivating flower beds edged with pansies.
Its perfectly beautiful here, Helen remarked.
The girls went to the front of the inn, a two-story clapboard building with a one-level wing on either side. All around it were lilac trees and other flowering bushes. Nancy and Helen mounted the wide steps and entered the center hall. Its paneled walls, old staircase, and beautiful cut-glass chandelier made them feel as though they had stepped back into an earlier century.
