Read The Secret of the Old Clock for Free Online

father if he could help them.
    "From what you say, it does look as though Josiah Crowley might have made another will which included them as beneficiaries," Mr. Drew commented thoughtfully. "I'll be glad to do anything I can to help the Hoover girls."
    He asked whether the sisters had given Nancy any specific information about Mr. Crowley's habits or other helpful clues. When Nancy shook her head, Mr. Drew suggested that she invite the girls to his office for a little conference. "Perhaps if I ask them some questions, it will recall helpful incidents." The lawyer studied his desk calendar for a moment, then looked up at his daughter. "How about tomorrow afternoon at two-forty-five? I can give them about half an hour."
    For answer, Nancy gave her father a hug and then asked if she might use his telephone to call the Hoovers at once.
    Grace and Allison eagerly accepted the Drews' invitation, and Nancy said she would drive out to bring them to the conference and take them home afterward.
    "You're a doll!" cried Allison, who had answered the telephone. "Nancy, I just know you're going to solve this mystery!"
    Suddenly an idea came to Nancy. She asked Allison how long the girls would be able to stay in River Heights.
    "Oh, as long as you need us," Allison replied.
    "Good. Then I'd like you both to stay and have supper with us," Nancy said.
    "Sorry I can't join you," Mr. Drew told his daughter as she hung up. "I have a dinner engagement and conference in the evening."
    Just then, the mayor of River Heights was shown into the lawyer's office, and Nancy arose to leave. She spoke to the mayor for a moment, then said, "See you later, Dad."
    Before Nancy returned home, she stopped at an old-fashioned house on a side street. It was the home of Signer Mascagni, a famous voice teacher who had retired to the small city the year before, but took a few outstanding pupils. Nancy introduced herself to the white bushy-haired, florid-faced man, then said:
    "Signor Mascagni, would you be willing to listen to the voice of a friend of mine and give your honest opinion as to whether or not she might become a great singer? If she might, and she can obtain the money for lessons, would you be able to take her as a pupil?"
    Signor Mascagni studied Nancy for several minutes before replying. Finally he said, "You do not look like the kind of girl who would come here on a foolish errand. Ordinarily I do not accept beginners. But in this case I would be willing to hear your friend sing." He laughed. "Mind you, I will give you nothing but the truth, and if your friend does not measure up, I hope her feelings will not be hurt too deeply."
    Nancy laughed too. "I like honesty," she said. "As a matter of fact, this girl knows nothing about what I am asking you. Coming here will be a complete surprise to her. I'm probably no judge of voices, but I think she's a natural. However, we will both appreciate having your opinion, and will certainly abide by it."
    She arranged for a meeting the following afternoon at four o'clock and left Signer Mascagni's house in an excited mood. "Maybe I'm going way out on a limb," Nancy mused, "but this is another one of those hunches of mine that Dad talks about, and I must carry through."
    When she picked up the Hoovers the following day, Nancy did not mention the appointment with the voice teacher. The three girls went directly to Mr. Drew's office and at once he began to quiz Grace and Allison about Mr. Crowley.
    "I understand that he was a rather eccentric man," the lawyer began. "Suppose you tell me everything you can remember about what Josiah Crowley did and what he said which would help us figure out where he might have secreted a later will."
    "Uncle Josiah was rather absent-minded," Grace spoke up. "I often saw him hunting for his spectacles, which he had pushed up on his head."
    "Did he ever hide things?" Mr. Drew asked.
    "Oh, yes." Allison laughed. "Uncle Josiah was always putting articles away in what he called a safe