Read Online The Secret in the Old Attic by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online Page B

exit!”
    Inching her way, Nancy followed the stream of air. Not far ahead she saw a dim patch of light. Stumbling toward it, she came to the entrance of a low tunnel with a tiny electric bulb above it.
    “This must be the way out!” she decided.
    Bending over, Nancy crept along. The tunnel was not long. Soon the floor began to slope at a steep angle. In another dozen yards Nancy came to a heavy door with a small barred opening in it. The door was not locked from her side, so she opened it without difficulty. After closing the door which locked itself, she climbed a flight of stone steps to an alley.
    “Free!” she congratulated herself. “But what a scare!”
    Nancy stood for a moment by the factory wall. Breathing deeply of the night air, she sought to get her bearings. Some distance away she saw a street lamp and a main thoroughfare. She decided that it must be at the south boundary of the plant.
    Nancy started forward, but immediately paused. A man had just entered the alley. He held his head so low, she could not see his face. His manner of walking, however, was familiar.
    “That’s Bushy Trott!” she thought in panic. “If he catches me here, all of my night’s work may be a total loss!”
    Frantic, Nancy looked about for a hiding place in the alley. She did not want to go back to the cellar.
    “Perhaps he won’t notice me behind this gasoline drum!” she thought hopefully.
    The alleyway was in deep shadow, lighted only by the far-off street lamp at the entrance. Crouching behind the drum, Nancy waited.
    The man came nearer, and passed within a foot of Nancy but did not see her. Trott descended to the cellar passageway. A moment later Nancy heard the dull click of a lock as the heavy door swung shut.
    “Lucky I didn’t hide down there!” she thought. “Now to get home!”
    Out in the street Nancy got her bearings and headed for the convertible. As she stepped inside, the young detective breathed a sigh of relief.
    “I really must watch my step,” Nancy said to herself.
    In a short time she reached her own house. Through an unshaded window in the living room, she could see Hannah Gruen talking excitedly to her father. He was pacing the floor nervously.
    “Wonder if they’re worried about me,” Nancy thought as she unlocked the front door and hurried inside.
    “Nancy! Where have you been?” exclaimed Mr. Drew.
    Mrs. Gruen was equally relieved. “I’ve been so worried about you!”
    With a great sigh Nancy dropped to the sofa. Now that the strain was over, she realized how utterly exhausted she was.
    “I’ve had a perfectly awful experience,” she confessed. “I was locked in the Dight factory.”
    “Locked in!” her father cried.
    “Mr. Dight has a room where he keeps black widow spiders. One of the horrible things was only a few inches from my shoulder. But I’m glad I went there, just the same.”
    “I shudder to think of your taking such risks to help me, my dear,” her father said. “Come have dinner, and tell me everything.”
    While the housekeeper hurried to reheat Nancy’s meal, the young detective removed the tiny bottles of fluid from her pocket and carefully placed them on the table.
    “Here’s some of the solution from Mr. Dight’s private laboratory. It certainly looks as if he has copied Mr. Booker’s method of making the beautiful silk thread.”
    “I’ll take this sample to Mr. Booker tomorrow!” the lawyer exclaimed. “If it proves to be the same formula as his, then I can institute proceedings against Mr. Dight.”
    Nancy related her adventure in detail as she ate, then said she had promised Effie she would return to the March mansion for the night.
    “Dad, would you drive me out to Pleasant Hedges?”
    “Glad to.”
    Meanwhile at the March home Effie was growing more and more alarmed because Nancy had failed to arrive. Every time Effie heard a car on the road, she would listen and wait for it to appear, pressing her face against the windowpane and peering