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nice!” Nancy declared.
    “Well, now, I think you’re prejudiced,” Hannah said. “That’s fine stock she sold me!”
    “What makes you think so?” Nancy asked.
    “In the afternoon mail I received some money from the Forest Fur Company—a nice, fat dividend,” Hannah stated triumphantly.
    Nancy stared at her in amazement. “That fake fur company actually paid you?” she asked.
    “Yes, indeed!” said Hannah. “And Mrs. Martin phoned me that she received her payment, too.”
    “Why—why, it simply doesn’t make sense,” Nancy said, walking to the telephone. “I’m going to call Mrs. Clifton Packer.”
    The wealthy widow greeted Nancy cordially, and admitted she had been mailed a sizable dividend. But Mrs. Packer did not sound pleased.
    “I suppose the payment was not very large,” Nancy remarked, thinking that the woman was no doubt accustomed to receiving sizable dividends.
    “It’s not that,” Mrs. Packer replied. “Nancy, there’s something queer about the way the money was sent. And one doesn’t get dividends so soon after buying stock. I wish you’d investigate!”
    Nancy’s fingers tightened on the telephone receiver. “Something odd about the payment?”
    “Yes,” Mrs. Packer went on. “As you might guess, I have stock in various companies. They all send their dividends by check. The checks are signed by the treasurer of the company.”
    “And this payment was different?”
    “It certainly was!” said the widow. “It was a money order mailed from New York. No legitimate business would work that way.”
    Nancy thanked Mrs. Packer for the information and hung up. “Well?” asked Hannah Gruen.
    “Mrs. Packer agrees that something is wrong,” said Nancy. “Do you still have the letter that came with your dividend?”
    “There wasn’t any letter.” The housekeeper frowned. “Just the money order in an envelope.” Hannah said that she had cashed the money order and thrown the envelope away.
    After a frantic search, Nancy located it in a wastebasket. She smoothed out the crumpled bit of paper to study the sender’s name and address. There was no name, and the street number was blurred.
    “Who sent the money orders?” she asked herself. “Not Mrs. Channing—she was in River Heights at the time this was mailed.”
    Nancy concluded that the woman must have a confederate in New York, someone to whom she sent lists of her victims and who then mailed the dividends. Could the person be Mrs. Channing’s husband? she wondered.
    Nancy was eager to follow up the clue. “If Dad doesn’t need me yet, I’ll take the early plane for New York tomorrow,” she decided.
    After supper she telephoned her father and told him the news. “May I make a quick trip to New York before I join you?” she asked.
    “If you think it’s worth while, go ahead,” the lawyer replied. “I’ve found some extra work up here that’ll keep me busy a few days.”
    The next morning Nancy was optimistic as she boarded the jetliner. She always enjoyed trips to New York, which invariably meant a visit with Mr. Drew’s younger sister, a schoolteacher.
    The slim, titian-haired woman resembled Nancy in more than looks. Eloise Drew had assisted her niece in solving several mysteries.
    Nancy took a taxi from the airport to Miss Drew’s apartment. Her aunt greeted Nancy with a warm smile. “I was just hoping I could see you during my vacation next week!” she declared. “And here you are, and with that old twinkle in your eyes. You’re involved in another mystery. Right?”
    Nancy laughed. “Right! Will you help me?”
    While she and her aunt prepared lunch, Nancy told of the case and the envelope clue.
    “What do you plan to do next?” Aunt Eloise asked.
    “Go to the address on the envelope. I think Mrs. Channing’s husband may be there. If he sent the money orders, I’ll call the police.”
    “I’ll go with you,” Aunt Eloise announced.
    After the two finished lunch, they started out. The address