It was exactly two-thirty when she reached the outskirts of River Heights. Following the boulevard, she came within sight of her own home and was relieved to see her father’s automobile standing at the door. That meant that he had not yet taken Hannah to the railroad station.
Swinging into the driveway, Nancy Drew halted the roadster and sprang out, but before she could reach the house her father, suitcase in hand, came out the front door, followed by Hannah Gruen. The housekeeper was the first to catch sight of Nancy.
“Oh, Miss Nancy,” she began apologetically, “I’m dreadfully sorry to leave you in a mess like this; but my poor sister—”
“Of course you must go,” Nancy told her quickly. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get along somehow.”
“You’re so kind, Miss Nancy. I’ll come back just the first minute I can, but it may be several months.”
“Stay as long as your sister needs you.”
“We must hurry if you’re to catch your train, Hannah,” Carson Drew interrupted. “It’s a long way to the station.”
He rushed the housekeeper to the waiting automobile and started the motor.
“Better get in touch with an employment agency right away,” he called back to Nancy as the car moved away. Nancy watched the automobile until it was out of sight and then walked slowly toward the house. She knew that Hannah had indeed left her in a “mess.”
Since the death of her mother many years before, Nancy Drew had managed the household. On the whole she had engineered everything so