(#30) The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene Read Free Book Online

third had probably stationed himself to listen to Nancy and Bess, the only other two young women in the car.
    Nancy settled back in her seat and opened a magazine but did not read. The man in the seat ahead paid no attention to the other passengers and devoted himself to a copy of a New York newspaper.
    An hour later the conductor called out the name of a small but busy town. Nancy noticed that the stranger had put aside his newspaper. Was he going to leave the train? Had she been entirely mistaken about him?
    Nancy and Bess did not venture even a whispered remark. But they exchanged glances.
    The train began to slow down for the station. Nancy and Bess looked up to see what the couple across the aisle from George would do.
    The dark-haired woman rose, stepped across the aisle, and bent over George. When she straightened, the masquerading “Nancy Drew” had slumped over, apparently in a faint!
    “Oh dear! Our daughter is ill,” the woman proclaimed in a loud voice. “We must get her off the train at once!”
    By this time they had reached the station. The woman seized the suitcase with the initials N.D. Her companion gathered George up in his arms, carrying her toward the front exit.
    Alarmed, Nancy and Bess grabbed their bags and started in pursuit. But their way was immediately blocked by the man who had seated himself directly ahead of them.
    “What’s the hurry, sister?” he asked, swaying from side to side to prevent their pushing past him.
    Nancy knew now why he had taken that particular seat. George’s kidnapping had been planned —her abductors wanted no interference!
    “Let us through!” Nancy ordered.
    “There’s plenty of time, girlie.”
    “No, there isn’t,” Bess fairly yelled.
    By now several other passengers began to take an interest in the commotion.
    “The rear exit!” Nancy whispered.
    She wheeled and Bess followed her. They leaped down the steps, and looking up the platform, saw the unconscious George being put into a waiting automobile. As Nancy and Bess dropped their bags and ran toward it, the car sped away from the station!

CHAPTER VII
    Double Talk
     
     
     
    “STOP! Stop that car!” Bess cried frantically. “They’re kidnapping George!”
    “It’s no use,” said Nancy, seizing her friend’s arm. “I’ll go look for a policeman. Now brace up, Bess,” she added sternly. “Try to find the man who stopped us.”
    As Nancy raced off, Bess bit her trembling lip and turned back. She spotted the man; but, to her dismay, he was driving away, in a different direction from the one which the kidnappers’ car had taken.
    In the meantime George was slowly regaining consciousness. But she could not move a single muscle, not even those of her eyelids. As if from a great distance she heard a man say:
    “Well done. This time Nancy Drew wasn’t so smart. You got the mask?”
    “It should be in her suitcase,” a woman’s voice informed him.
    “Then dig it out fast! We haven’t got all day, you know. It has to be burned before this girl comes to. Then we’ll make her talk.”
    “The whiff I gave her will easily last that long,” the woman said.
    George could hear her opening the locks on the suitcase.
    “Something’s wrong,” the woman muttered. “It’s not here.”
    “What!” the man thundered.
    “Look at this blouse with the initials G.F. This girl isn’t Nancy Drew!”
    “Idiot!” another man stormed. “Are you sure?”
    “But we thought from the suitcase and her hair—”
    “You thought!” the man mocked her. “I’ll take a look at the girl myself.”
    He pulled the car into a clearing at the side of the road. Alighting, the driver opened the back door and stared at the seemingly sleeping George.
    “She’s a phony! Look! She’s wearing a wig!” he cried, snatching it off.
    “You’ve been outwitted, and by Nancy Drew!” the other man yelled. “No telling what she’s done about those dates in the mask by this time. Now we’re really in a spot. And