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adopted daughter out of his sight.
    “So the two young folks rarely have a chance to be alone,” he said. “And between you and me, I’m afraid Kroon and the circus would fold up if Lolita should ever leave.”
    After a pause, Dan Webster turned to Nancy and asked if she would try another stunt. “A somersault across the horse’s back while it’s moving,” he said. “Want to try it?”
    Nancy hesitated. Then she said that perhaps the stunt was not so difficult as it looked. It would depend on correct timing.
    “You’re absolutely right,” he said. “Watch the rhythm of the horse’s gait. Hum a tune to Belgian Star’s slow canter. Then decide exactly from which point you should start to run. When you’re sure of your timing, take a few steps toward the horse, place your head and shoulders on the mare’s back, and over you go.”
    Roberto insisted that Nancy put on a padded jacket and hat before attempting the trick. Then, with precision timing, Nancy did the somersault perfectly.
    “Splendid!” Webster cried jubilantly. From his pocket he pulled out a ticket to the afternoon performance of the circus.
    “Come to the show and watch the bareback riding very carefully,” he said.
    Nancy thanked him, said good-by to the two men, and drove home. She found Hannah Gruen busy in the kitchen, preparing lunch.
    “Oh, that soufflé looks yummy!” Nancy exclaimed as the housekeeper took a puffy, delicious-smelling dish from the oven.
    “We’ll sit right down and eat,” Hannah stated. “Nothing should interrupt a soufflé.”
    As if to belie her words, the front doorbell rang. As Nancy hastened to answer it, Hannah called, “Now don’t let anyone ruin our lunch!”
    Nancy laughed sympathetically. Meals in the Drew household were forever being interrupted by Mr. Drew’s law cases and Nancy’s mysteries.
    Opening the door, Nancy saw a young couple she did not recognize. The girl was attractively dressed and wore a scarf that nearly hid her face.
    “Please let us in quickly!” she said, stepping into the hall.
    Suddenly Nancy recognized her caller. “Lolita!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry I didn’t know you at first. You look so different in street clothes.”
    “I rarely wear them,” the aerialist replied. Then, seeing that Nancy did not recognize her escort, she said with a laugh, “I’d like to present my fiancé, Pietro.”
    Nancy’s eyes opened wide. The clown was a very handsome man with features quite unlike the garishly painted ones Nancy remembered from his trick act on the ladder.
    “I certainly didn’t know you, Pietro,” she said, smiling. “I think it’s wonderful you two are engaged.”
    Lolita confided that they had just decided to be married. “There are two obstacles in my way, though,” she said. “One is my foster father. He will never consent to my marriage.”
    “What is the other problem?” Nancy asked.
    The young aerialist said that she wanted to learn more about her own father and mother before she married. And if her parents, or one of them, were alive, she wanted them to attend her wedding.
    “The Kroons never legally adopted me,” Lolita continued. “They have always told me I belonged to them. Recently I found out I don’t.”
    “Did the Kroons tell you that?” Nancy asked.
    “Oh, goodness, no,” Lolita replied. “Pietro, you fill Nancy in on the details.”
    The young man explained that his father, a retired clown, had been in Sims’ Circus with The Flying Flanders. He had told Pietro that Lolita’s parents had had an accident in their trapeze act and had been taken to the hospital. There, according to Kroon, they had died. Mr. and Mrs. Kroon had taken Lolita, although they had never really adopted her.
    “Just this morning I had a letter from my father, who lives in England. He said that while attending a circus in the town of Tewkesbury, he had seen a woman in the audience he was sure was Lolita’s mother,” Pietro continued.
    “Isn’t that