Read Online Mystery at the Ski Jump by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online

pleased. Perhaps she could get Chuck to forget skiing and talk about himself.
    “I’d like to take you out to dinner tonight,” he said, “and perhaps go dancing.”
    Nancy hesitated. The young man read her mind. “If your father would care to come—”
    “Suppose I ask him,” Nancy replied. She liked Chuck Wilson.
    “Then it’s settled,” Chuck said. “I’ll drive you back to the hotel now and be on hand again at six-thirty. Or is that too early?”
    “Six-thirty will be fine,” Nancy agreed.
    Mr. Drew was pleased when Nancy told him that Chuck Wilson had invited them to dinner, but he said that he would not go along.
    “I’d rather have you encourage him to talk without me there,” he said. “Sometimes a young man will talk more freely to a girl than to his lawyer. I feel Chuck has been holding something back. See if you can find out what it is.”
    Promptly at six-thirty Chuck walked into the hotel lobby and greeted the Drews. He expressed regret that Mr. Drew was not joining Nancy and him.
    “Your daughter can become a very fine skier, Mr. Drew,” Chuck observed. “All she needs is practice.”
    “I’ve no doubt of it.” The lawyer smiled proudly. “But I guess Nancy will always be better on ice skates than she is on skis. She was fortunate to have a very fine teacher. I sometimes thought he might encourage her to be become a professional!”
    “Why, Dad, you’re just prejudiced,” Nancy protested.
    “If you like skating,” Chuck spoke up, “how about going to see an exhibition that’s being held here tomorrow night? I’m going to skate. If you could use two tickets—?”
    Mr. Drew shook his head. “I’m afraid Nancy and I won’t be here, my boy. Thank you, though. And now, I must leave you two.”
    Nancy wondered if her father’s decision to depart from Montreal had anything to do with Chuck. Mr. Drew had said nothing about their time of departure. In any case, she had better get started on her work!
    It was not long before Nancy and Chuck were seated in an attractive restaurant. “Chuck,” she said, “have you skated professionally very long?”
    “Several years.”
    “Did you ever hear of a Mitzi Adele?”
    “No, I never did. Is she a skater?”
    Before Nancy could reply, the orchestra started a catchy dance number. Chuck grinned, rose, and escorted her onto the floor.
    Nancy had never danced with a better partner. She was thoroughly enjoying it when suddenly Chuck seemed to forget he was on a dance floor. The musicians had switched to a waltz and Chuck became a skater.
    He gave Nancy a lead for a tremendous side step backward which strained the seams of her skirt. Then he lifted her from the floor as if to execute a skating lift.
    “Chuck thinks he’s skating,” Nancy said to herself.
    But with a laugh he gracefully put her down again, continuing to dance. “What next?” she wondered.

    “Chuck thinks he’s skating,” Nancy said to herself
    Chuck swung around alongside her and they glided arm in arm in skating style around the dance floor. He gave her a twirl, then the music ended. Chuck clapped loudly.
    “Nancy, you’re wonderful,” he said.
    Back at the table, she remarked that he must have been dancing all his life. Chuck looked at her searchingly a moment, then said:
    “My parents were dancers. Would you like to hear about them?”
    “Oh yes.”
    “They were quite famous, but they were killed in a train crash when I was twelve years old. It stunned me and for a long time I wished I had died too. I had to go live with an ill-tempered uncle. He hated dancing, and would never let me even listen to music.”
    “How dreadful!” Nancy murmured.
    “That wasn’t the worst of it,” Chuck went on. He explained that only recently he had found out that his grandfather had left him an inheritance, but apparently it had been stolen from him by his uncle.
    “Uncle Chad had a small ranch in the north country,” Chuck went on. “He gave me a miserable time in my