Read (#24) The Clue in the Old Album for Free Online

the sidewalk.
    “This is the worst yet!” Nancy said when she returned to Bess and George. “That woman may have bought the very doll I’m trying to find!”
    The manager overheard Nancy’s remark. He introduced himself and said, “If you’re interested in fine dolls, perhaps you’d like to see one that is more valuable than any sold here today.”
    “Is it for sale?” Nancy asked, hope reviving in her.
    “No, and we never have displayed the doll. Wait here and I’ll bring it from the back room.”
    The manager was gone at least ten minutes. When he returned, the girls saw at once that something was wrong.
    “What became of that doll we kept in the office safe?” he asked several salesmen.
    “You removed it this morning,” one of the men reminded him.
    “Yes, one of the doll’s hands needed repairing. I took it out of the safe and put it on my desk. Now it’s gone! Someone must have sold it by mistake!”
    Each of the salesmen denied taking part in such a transaction.
    “Then the doll has been stolen!” the manager cried. “In the hands of the wrong person, it can be a very dangerous thing!”

CHAPTER VI
    Upsetting News
    NANCY asked the manager of the Jefferson Galleries what he meant about the doll’s being dangerous, but he was reluctant to tell her.
    “Is the doll one of the poisonous types?” she asked.
    The man gave her a startled glance. “Why ... er ... yes. It is,” he admitted nervously. “We intended to sell the witch doll to a museum, and therefore hadn’t removed the poisonous powder from it. When you touch a certain spot, the powder sifts out. Its fumes induce deep sleep. An overdose could be fatal!”
    “Oh!” Bess cried.
    “You’ll notify the police and the newspapers at once?” Nancy suggested. “If the information is published, the thief or anyone else will be warned before he’s harmed.”
    “Yes. I’ll call them right now,” the manager promised. As he started away, he mumbled something about how it would serve the thief right if he were poisoned.
    The girls were about to leave the galleries when Nancy noticed a half-opened chest filled with dolls. A salesman came toward her and asked if she were interested.
    “There are some unusual items in this chest,” he said. “Here’s one that may interest you,” he added, offering Nancy a strange-looking figure with four different faces. “It dates back to about 1870.”
    One side of the bisque head laughed, one cried, another pouted, and the fourth had its eyes closed as if in sleep. The head rotated in a socket so that a child playing with the doll could choose whatever expression she desired.
    “How much is this one?” Nancy asked. She felt sure Mrs. Struthers would like to add it to her collection.
    The man mentioned a price below what Nancy had expected, so she quickly made the purchase. While the young girl waited for the package to be wrapped, her gaze fastened on a counter stacked with albums. Eagerly she looked among the old plush-covered books. Several were family albums decorated with raised, ornate words.
    “Albums like those aren’t unusual,” George said impatiently. “My grandmother has a couple of them. Please come!”
    But Nancy continued to look through the stack of albums. Then a name on one at the bottom of the pile caught her eye.
    Euphemia Struthers
    Eagerly Nancy flipped the pages, but was disappointed to find that every photograph had been removed. Nevertheless, hopeful that this Euphemia might have been related to Mrs. Struthers, and that the album might contain the clue Rose’s mother had spoken of on her deathbed, Nancy purchased the book.
    “Now, let’s leave before you find something else to buy!” George pleaded, pulling Nancy away.
    The girls lunched at a tearoom across the street. Later they went for a walk before returning to the airport.
    As they passed an empty lot at the end of a dead-end street, Bess kicked aside a soiled and stained piece of paper. George picked it