To their surprise the policeman remarked soberly, "This isn't the first time queer things have happened in this section of the city."
No additional information was gained by calling on the photographer, who maintained his innocence in the affair. Bess and George obtained their pictures, but the man insisted that the plate with the spirit writing had disappeared.
When the girls were in their hotel suite once more, George remarked, "Queer about the warning message-'Beware your client's request.' Do you think it meant Mrs. Putney's case?"
"I'm sure it does. But," Nancy said with a determined smile, "now I'll work even harder to solve the mystery!"
"Nancy," said Bess, "is there anything else we can do down here? I feel we should go home and report to Mrs. Putney."
"Maybe she's had another message!" said George.
"Do you suppose she goes to seances?" Bess asked, "and then later dreams she's hearing her husband talk to her?"
"It's possible," Nancy replied. "But it would be hard to get her to admit it."
Bess and George were glad to leave New Orleans. Nancy's experience had frightened them, and they felt that some sinister motive was back of her temporary abduction. Nancy herself was reluctant to leave.
"I think several people were involved in an effort to get me out of the way so that I couldn't find out too much," she said.
Despite the danger, she thought a further search should be made for the mysterious woman. Yet she agreed there was some justice in the girls' argument that Mrs. Putney should be consulted.
Learning that a plane which stopped at River Heights left within an hour, the girls quickly packed and reached the airport just in time. The trip home was uneventful, but during the flight, Bess revealed that she had a little mystery.
"That's what I wanted to ask Amurah," said Bess. "You remember Mrs. White, who comes to our house once a week to clean? She has a daughter, Lola, who is eighteen. Her mother's terribly worried about her."
Nancy recalled the woman, a very gentle, patient person who had suffered a great deal of misfortune. At present her husband was in a sanatorium, and she was struggling to pay the debts his illness had piled up.
"Where does the mystery come in?" Nancy asked.
It seemed that lately, Lola, ordinarily good-natured and jolly, had become unnaturally subdued. She acted as if she were living in a dream world. Mrs. White said there had been no broken romance, nor had her daughter lost her job.
"In fact," said Bess, "Lola earns good wages at a factory and used to give her mother most of the money. Now she gives her practically nothing but won't say why. Something has happened to her," Bess insisted. "Oh, Nancy, won't you go to see Lola? Maybe she'll tell you what's wrong."
"All right, I will," Nancy promised.
Nancy kept her promise the day after she returned from New Orleans. After calling Mrs. Putney and making an appointment for the following day, she started for Lola White's home, wondering what she would say.
Evidently Bess had told Mrs. White she might expect the visit from Nancy. No sooner had Nancy rapped, than the door was opened by Lola's mother. It was evident that she had been crying.
"Oh, Nancy, I'm so relieved you've come!" she said, her voice trembling. "Lola didn't go to work today. Ever since breakfast she's acted like someone in a trance. Please see if you can do something for her!"
CHAPTER V.
The Figure in White "LOLA dear, Nancy Drew is here to see you," called Mrs. White.
The woman had led the way to the back yard, where her daughter sat motionless, staring into space.
"It is quite useless," sighed Mrs. White. "She will talk to no one."
"Oh, Lola needn't talk," Nancy said in a friendly voice. "I came to take her for a little ride in the country. It's a beautiful day."
"Yes, it is!" Mrs. White agreed. "Lola, wouldn't you like to go for a ride, dear?"
Lola, though looking none too pleased, made no protest. Once in the car, she sat in silence, gazing ahead as if hypnotized.
Nancy pretended to pay no attention as the car sped along the picturesque river road. The prolonged stillness seemed to wear upon Lola, who kept pushing back her long blond hair. Several times she glanced at Nancy. Finally, unable to bear the strain, she asked: "Why did you bring me out here?"
"To help you if I can." Nancy smiled. "You're worried about something to do with money, aren't you? Is it about your job?"
"Well, sort of," Lola confessed. "It's just that my wages at the factory aren't mine any-" She broke off and gazed forlornly at Nancy.
"Why not tell me everything?" Nancy urged. "Perhaps I can help you."
"No one can. I've pledged to give away almost every cent I earn."
"Whatever induced you to do that, Lola? To whom are you giving the money?"
"I can't tell you," the girl replied, her head low and her voice scarcely above a whisper.
"Do you feel that's fair to your mother? She must need part of your earnings."
"That's what worries me," Lola said miserably. "I've pledged myself and I can't get out of it. I don't dare tell Mother the truth either. Oh, I'm in a mess! I wish I were dead!"
"Now that's silly talk!. We'll find a way out of this. If I were you I'd ignore the pledge."
"I don't dare," Lola said fearfully.
Nancy told her that any legitimate organization would not take money to the point of depriving Mrs. White of needed support. If Lola were paying money to unscrupulous persons, she should have no qualms about breaking the pledge.
"You really think so? If only I dared!"
"I'm sure that your mother would tell you the same thing."
"I guess you're right," Lola admitted. "Maybe I've been foolish."
For another half hour, Nancy talked to the girl in a friendly way, seeking to learn to whom she had pledged her salary. Lola, however, would not reveal the information.
When Nancy finally drove her home, Lola thanked her and promised to follow her advice. The next day Nancy was pleased to hear from Bess that Lola White seemed to be herself again.
"Splendid!" Nancy commented. "I only hope whoever was taking her money will leave her alone now."
As soon as Bess had gone, Nancy hurried to the widow's home. Mrs. Putney herself opened the front door of the big house.
"Oh, I'm so glad you came," she cried excitedly. "While you were gone I remembered something I had forgotten to tell you. In the directions given me by my dear husband as to where I should conceal my jewelry, he mentioned specifically that I was to look for a sign of three twigs placed on the ground and that I should bury the jewel case two steps from the sign in the direction of the big walnut tree. When I reached the clearing I found the three twigs lying crossed on the ground, just as the spirit had directed me."
"Oh, Mrs. Putney, I wish you had told me about this when we were at the spot before!" exclaimed Nancy.
She glanced at her wrist watch. "It's only four o'clock. I'll pick up my friends and drive out now to see if the crossed twigs are still there."
When the girls reached the clearing in the woods, there lay the three crossed twigs. The position seemed too perfect for Nature to have placed them there. Yet Nancy doubted that they were the same ones which Mrs. Putney had seen. Rain and wind would have displaced the others.
"The thief may use this method to communicate with his confederates," Nancy mused. "But why would-"
Her voice trailed off. Through the trees Nancy had seen a flash of white.
"Someone's over there," Bess whispered uneasily.
"Let's try to get closer without being seen!" George urged.
Taking care not to step on dry twigs, the girls entered the woods. Through the bushes, they could see the back of a young woman with long blond hair.
"That almost looks like Lola White!" Nancy exclaimed.
The girl appeared to be reaching high into the crotch of a black walnut tree.
"She's hiding something there!" Nancy whispered excitedly.
The girl suddenly moved off in the opposite direction. Soon she disappeared.
Nancy went quickly to the big walnut. Standing on tiptoe, she reached into a hollow in the trunk of the tree. Triumphantly she pulled out a sealed envelope. The others crowded around her.
The envelope bore no name or address, but on its face was a crude drawing of three crossed twigs!
"Wow!" said George. "The mystery deepens!"
"What's inside?" Bess asked in awe.
"If I had one guess, I'd say money," Nancy replied. "I feel justified in opening it, too, for I'm sure it was meant for the person who stole Mrs. Putney's jewelry."
The other girls agreed. Carefully Nancy slipped her thumb under the flap, gradually peeling it free. Inside was a sheet of paper and ten five-dollar bills.
There was no message but the name "Sadie." So the girl had not been Lola!
"I wonder who the girl was," said George.
"What I want to know is why she left the money here," said Nancy. "We must overtake her and find out!" On second thought she added, "Maybe the thief will come to the tree to get the envelope. I'll stay here. You two go."
"She's hiding something!" Nancy whispered The cousins darted off, leaving Nancy alone beside the black walnut tree. Carefully Nancy put the envelope back in the hollow, and sat down a little distance away to watch.
As Nancy sat with her back to a tree trunk, she thought she heard the soft pad of steps. She straightened up, listening intently, but heard nothing.
"Probably some animal," Nancy decided.
Nevertheless, she glanced about carefully. Her skin prickled, as if in warning that some stranger might be nearby.
"Nerves!" she told herself.
At that moment Bess and George, unsuccessful in their pursuit of the blond girl, were returning. Coming within view of the big walnut tree, George was astonished to see a strange sight. Though no wind was blowing, a leafless branch of a tree behind the walnut seemed to bend slowly downward.
"Bess, look-" she began, then ended lamely, "Never mind! It's gone now."
"What's gone?" Bess demanded.
"A branch. I guess my eyes tricked me," George admitted.
Hearing the voices of her friends, Nancy quickly arose and came to meet them. Seeing that they were alone, she said in disappointment: "You weren't able to overtake her?"
"We had miserable luck," Bess admitted. "We didn't even get close enough to see her face."
"We trailed her to the main highway, where she must have hopped a bus," George added.
"I think we should take the money with us," Nancy said. "I'll ask Dad what to do about it."
On tiptoe, Nancy reached into the hollow of the tree. A puzzled expression came over her face.
"The envelope's gone!" she exclaimed.
"It can't be!" insisted Bess.
Nancy groped again and shook her head. "The envelope is gone! But no one was here!"
"I've got an idea," said George. "Maybe someone climbed another tree, crossed over into the big walnut, and then snatched the letter from above!"
"The trees are so close together I suppose it could be done," Nancy admitted doubtfully.
"Wait a minute," George cried out excitedly. Then she told about the slowly bending, leafless branch.
Nancy peered intently up into the old walnut and the maple next to it. "No one there," she observed. "George, you're sure it was a branch and not a fish pole with a hook on the end that was used?" she asked.
"It could have been a pole."
"I understand several things now!" Nancy exclaimed, thinking aloud. "That metal object I saw near here the other day must have been part of a collapsible pole! I'll bet it belonged to the same person who was here today!"
"And the same one who robbed Mrs. Putney!" added Bess.
"George, did the stick bend down out of the tree, or did it come from the direction of the bushes?" Nancy asked.
"I couldn't see well enough to be sure," George replied. "But from where I stood, it appeared to bend down out of a tree behind the walnut."
The three went back to the convertible, agreeing that it might be a good idea to keep a lookout for visitors to the walnut tree. Obviously it was being used as a collection station by someone extracting money from gullible people.
Later, as she drove homeward, Nancy began to wonder whether this might not tie in with Lola White's peculiar actions.