Тайна загадочной лестницы [with w_cat] | страница 37

[536] The minuet was repeated, then as Miss Flora stopped playing, the girls sat down.

[537] "Oh, that was such fun!" said Nancy. "Some time I'd like to— Listen!" she commanded suddenly.

[538] From outside the house they could hear loud shouting. "Come here! You in the house! Come here!"

[539] Nancy and Helen dashed from their chairs to the front door. Nancy snapped on the porch light and the two girls raced outside.

[540] "Over here!" a man's voice urged.

[541] Nancy and Helen ran down the steps and out onto the lawn. Just ahead of them stood Tom Patrick, the police detective. In a viselike grip he was holding a thin, bent-over man whom the girls judged to be about fifty years of age.

[542] "Is this your ghost?" the guard asked.

[543] His prisoner was struggling to free himself but was unable to get loose. The girls hurried forward to look at the man.

[544] "I caught him sneaking along the edge of the grounds," Tom Patrick announced.

[545] "Let me go!" the man cried out angrily. "I'm no ghost. What are you talking about?"

[546] "You may not be a ghost," the detective said, "but you could be the thief who has been robbing this house."

[547] "What?" his prisoner exclaimed. "I'm no thief I live around here. Anyone will tell you I'm okay."

[548] "What's your name and where do you live?" the detective prodded. He let the man stand up straight but held one of his arms firmly.

[549] "My name's Albert Watson and I live over on Tuttle Road."

[550] "What were you doing on this property?"

Albert Watson said he had been taking a short cut home. His wife had taken their car for the evening.

[551] "I'd been to a friend's house. You can call him and verify what I'm saying. And you can call my wife, too. Maybe she's home now and she'll come and get me."

[552] The guard reminded Albert Watson that he had not revealed why he was sneaking along the ground.

[553] "Well," the prisoner said, "it was because of you. I heard downtown that there was a detective patrolling this place and I didn't want to bump into you. I was afraid of just what did happen."

The man relaxed a little. "I guess you're a pretty good guard at that."

[554] Detective Patrick let go of Albert Watson's arm. "Your story sounds okay, but we'll go in the house and do some telephoning to find out if you're telling the truth."

[555] "You'll find out all right. Why, I'm even a notary public! They don't give a notary's license to dishonest folks!" the trespasser insisted, Then he stared at Nancy and Helen, "What are you doing in those funny clothes?"