"Ridiculous!" Hector cried furiously. "Lies lies! Nothing but lies!"
Hector had not seen Juliana yet. She was seated on the winding stairs in the tower behind Nancy.
The young sleuth now stepped aside. Hector stared at the crippled dancer.
"So what?" he demanded after a moment. "I had nothing to do with bringing her here! And she can't prove she's the missing dancer. Just look at her!"
"Oh, yes, I can prove it," Juliana retorted with spirit. "The imprint of my dancing shoe is embedded in a wall at Heath Castle. Furthermore, I still have the slipper that made the imprint!"
"What's that got to do with it? The real Juliana is at the Riverview Hotel!" the lawyer blustered. "She has a note to prove her identity. A note signed Walt."
"Don't you mean half a note?" Nancy asked. "I have the rest!"
Cobb and Biggs looked startled. "You?" Biggs cried. "Where did you find it?"
"At the factory after the explosion."
The three men hung their heads guiltily, admitting they had been there. Biggs added, "Hooper here found the note in a desk Hector sold. He tore it in two pieces, expecting the lawyer to put up more money for the second half. When one piece was lost, we thought Hector had found it."
In answer to Nancy's question if he were Teddy's father, the man nodded sullenly.
Nancy explained to Juliana that Teddy had learned about the estate from Joan. Teddy had told his father that Juliana was missing. Cobb and Biggs got together. Biggs suspected his former employer had hidden some valuable things in the estate walls and the two men convinced Hector he ought to hire them to look for the treasure. When they found a few items, the men kept them.
"You guessed right, but I can't figure out how," said Biggs.
"I know nothing about all this!" shouted the lawyer.
"Yes, you do," Cobb Hooper said bitterly. "You were behind the whole thing. You brought the dogs to guard the estate, but later I kept 'em tied up and then took 'em back to the kennel."
"We were afraid of them ourselves," Biggs added.
"Mr. Hector," said Lieutenant Masters, "it looks as if the case against you is pretty serious."
"I tell you I never saw these men before," the lawyer insisted. "Nor that crippled woman, either. Now all of you get out of here!"
For a long second there was silence. Then Juliana slowly got to her feet. Her eyes ablaze, she pointed a finger at Hector and exclaimed:
"Arrest that man! Arrest him for kidnapping!" The wily lawyer's jaw dropped. Then he recovered. "The woman is crazy!" he shouted.
"The night you came to my farm and brought me here you wore a disguise," Juliana said accusingly. "At first I didn't recognize you. But your voice-I know your voice." Her eyes snapped with anger as she added, "I will bring charges against you to the fullest extent of the law for Walter Heath's sake!"
Daniel Hector knew he was beaten. But he would not give up yet. He glared at Nancy and cried out:
"If you had minded your own business, there wouldn't have been all this trouble! But don't be so smug. You think there are treasures and money for Juliana. You're wrong. There's nothing in the estate but debts. She has inherited a wreck!"
CHAPTER XXA Last Surprise
"Nothing in the estate!" Nancy exclaimed. "What do you mean?"
The angry lawyer refused to reply. He and the other prisoners were led away by the police.
Nancy,-Miss Masters, and Juliana headed for the Fenimore home. When they arrived, Juliana asked Nancy to go in first and break the news.
"Oh, you've found my sister!" Mrs. Fenimore cried, after Nancy had told her. "You wonderful girl! I don't care if we never have Heath Castle. To think Juliana is alive, and we can be together again!"
Gently Nancy warned her about Juliana's condition. The news was a shock, but Mrs. Fenimore took it bravely as Juliana was brought in. The sisters embraced and both cried a little. Then over and over the joyful women expressed their gratitude to Nancy.
The young sleuth said she was glad to have accomplished what she had, but was not satisfied to leave the case yet. For days afterward she was tormented by all the distressing angles of the affair.
In the meantime, Juliana had claimed her inheritance and had requested that all legal matters be attended to by Mr. Drew. The lawyer had lost no time in having Hector and the other men prosecuted, and also brought charges against the woman who had impersonated the dancer.
"Hooper and Biggs admit having found several bottles of dye and a formula marked, 'Perfected Formula,' hidden in the cloister walls," Mr. Drew told Nancy. "They've surrendered them and I've had an analysis made. The dye has dried up but a newly made liquid would be of great value commercially if produced under the same conditions that Walter Heath used."
"What were they?" Nancy asked.
"Sea salt was mixed with the spring water in the pond. Marine whelks, which are a huge type of mollusk, were imported and put into it. They exude a beautiful purple dye. After Heath's death the whelks vanished."
Nancy was thoughtful. "It would take a good bit of money to start up that business, wouldn't it?"
"Yes," her father replied. "But it would be profitable for Juliana. The special shade of purple is difficult to imitate synthetically."
Nancy had been hoping that Hector's dire statement regarding the estate would not be true, but part of it was. Mr. Drew had learned that the total Heath assets were twenty dollars, the walled grounds, and a ruined castle with a few pieces of furniture. The debts, however, were illegal loans, which Hector had made against the estate and which he would have to pay back.
Account books had been falsified to show that huge sums had been paid to various detective agencies, supposedly for the purpose of conducting a search for the missing Juliana. But the wily lawyer had kept the money.
"Unfortunately we can't recover it," Mr. Drew remarked to his daughter. "Hector has spent it all and has little of his own left."
"How about the Heath pearl, Dad? You didn't find it?"
"No. I'll keep on trying, of course. Frankly, I don't feel hopeful."
"Somewhere on those grounds," said Nancy, "there must be something of value hidden. After all, Walter Heath told Sam Weatherby there was another treasure."
"I've had the place searched, Nancy. Workmen even removed the imprinted block of cement below the wall fountain, but there was nothing behind it. Heath Castle will have to be sold.
"But I'm afraid," he went on, "the sale price won't be much, considering its present condition. Juliana wants to keep the property, but she can't, she has barely enough funds to operate Jardin des Fleurs."
It was some consolation to Nancy that she had brought the sisters together, but she felt as if she had failed in one of the most vital tasks of her life.
"Even if I did find Juliana, I wasn't able to save the estate or help the Fenimores financially. And they need money so badly."