"When did Teddy tell your daughter this?"
"Oh, some time ago."
There was nothing more of importance that Mrs. Fenimore could remember. After learning that the family was not in need of food or anything else, Nancy and her father got up to leave. Nancy remarked that they were on their way to interview a woman who might have information about Juliana.
"Oh, I hope she does!" Mrs. Fenimore said. As soon as the Drews were in the car, Nancy told her father of her suspicion regarding Cobb Hooper.
"I thought Cobb was a last name," she commented. "It never occurred to me that Biggs' companion might be Teddy's father. The man I overheard in the cloister didn't act very paternally toward the boy."
"Maybe it's only a coincidence."
"Possibly. But Cobb is not a common name. Shouldn't we talk to the police again?"
Mr. Drew glanced at his watch. "All right. But we haven't much time if we're to get to Hampton tonight."
At headquarters the sergeant on duty consulted the files and informed the Drews that Cobb Hooper had a prison record.
"Have you a mug shot of him?" Carson Drew asked.
"Sure."
The photograph was brought out. With only one glance Nancy knew that he was the same man she had seen in the castle garden.
"Cobb Hooper was one of the men who was hacking at the stone walls," she revealed. "He also rammed me with his boat."
"I'll try to get a warrant for his arrest," the officer said.
Nancy and her father thanked him and left for Hampton. They arrived at ten o'clock, and the next morning waited in the motel lobby to meet Emily Foster. She was fifteen minutes late.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it on time," she said as she rushed in breathlessly. "You are Mr. and Miss Drew, aren't you?"
As the two nodded she went on, "The nurse who was to relieve me was late."
Nancy and her father liked Miss Foster at once. She was in her early forties, brisk and efficient, with a friendly smile.
After some polite conversation, she came right to the point. "Mr. Drew, you said over the telephone that you wanted to ask me about a former patient of mine. I'll be glad to help you if I can."
"The information we are seeking concerns Juliana Johnson," Mr. Drew began, "but I believe she gave the name Julia Flower at the hospital. She was injured in a hit-and-run accident." He showed Emily Foster Juliana's photograph.
" Yes, I knew her as Miss Flower," the nurse said.
"Tell us about her," Mr. Drew urged. "Whatever you can remember."
"Well, I had a hunch right away that Miss Flower gave us an assumed name," Emily Foster recalled. "For one thing, she never had any visitors. No messages came for her, no letters. She would not allow the authorities to notify anyone of her accident. 'I don't want anyone to know,' she would say. 'Not until I'm well.' "
"Did she believe she would recover?" Nancy asked quickly.
"Only in the beginning. Then the doctor told her the truth-that she'd be lame for the rest of her life.'
'How did she take it?" Mr. Drew questioned.
"Very hard. Miss Flower cried for days, saying the strangest things. One remark I recall was, 'His little Cinderella will never dance for him again.' Oh, it was heartbreaking to listen to her."
Cinderella!
Nancy was so sure she was on the right track that her mind leaped from one possibility to another. She nearly missed hearing her father's next question.
"Where did Miss Flower go after she left the hospital?"
"I don't know," Miss Foster admitted regretfully. "From her remarks, I surmised she intended to live in some secluded place near Hopewell."
"That name Flower," Nancy mused. "Juliana was interested in gardening," she added, recalling what Mrs. Fenimore had told her about the dancer. "She would pick a place with flowers and trees and vegetables, probably a farm."
"Miss Flower no doubt did," the nurse said. "She was always asking me to buy her garden magazines. Why, the day before her release, I remember she cut an advertisement from the local paper-"
"What was it?" Nancy asked eagerly.
"The ad offered a small fruit and vegetable farm for sale-a place known as Clover Farm."
"Where is it?"
"It seems to me there used to be a Clover Farm at Milton about ten miles from here. I don't know whether it's the same one, though."
Nancy turned to her father.
He sensed her thoughts and said, "Yes, we'll go there today. It may be a futile trip, but we must follow every lead."
"Oh, I hope it's the right place!" said Nancy. "We must find Juliana soon. Time is getting short!"
CHAPTER XVIIKidnapped!
After the Drews had said good-by to Emily Foster, they drove toward Milton. At a service station near the edge of town, they stopped and inquired where Clover Farm was.
"Never heard of it," was the attendant's disappointing reply. He also did not know of a Julia Flower or Juliana or Julie Johnson. The local telephone book had no listing for any of the names.
"Oh, Dad," Nancy said, "have we run into another dead end?"
She had never felt more frustrated. Her father went into two shops to make the same inquiry, but had no better luck. A distressing thought came to Nancy that maybe the former dancer had moved to another part of the country or was no longer alive. Mr. Drew, trying to cheer his daughter, suggested that the elusive woman might be living in the area under another name.
At once Nancy took heart. "Let's drive all over this place. Maybe we'll pick up a clue." Silence followed as they rode up one road and down another. About a mile out of town Nancy suddenly exclaimed, "Look!"
On one side of the road was an attractive white arched arbor at the entrance to the grounds. Fields of flowers, shrubs, and a nursery of trees lined either side. A neatly painted sign on the arbor read:
Jardin des Fleurs
Juliette Fleur, Prop.
"I'm sure this is the place!" Nancy cried excitedly. "Julia Flower translated her name into French, and calls her place Garden of Flowers."
It was a quarter of a mile to the house, which was surrounded by a high white picket fence with a locked gate. A terrier with a staccato bark raced from the building toward the callers.
"There's no bell or knocker," said Nancy. "How does one get in?"
Her question was answered when two gardeners hurried from the rear of the enclosure.
"No visitors allowed here!" one of them said curtly.
"We came to see Miss Fleur," Mr. Drew explained, then introduced himself and his daughter.
"Did she send for you?"
"No," Mr. Drew admitted, "but if she's the person we're looking for, we have important information for her."