"I'm afraid that's not much identification to go on," Nancy said. She smiled ruefully. "Anyway, he didn't succeed in keeping me from going to England as he probably hoped to do."
Nancy stooped to the ground and looked in dismay at her suitcase. The acid had spilled on some of the articles and the robe was ruined. Luckily, it had not damaged the bag itself, and Nancy was able to retrieve some of her belongings.
Over the loud-speaker came the announcement: "Flight 1205. Passengers for Flight 1205 aboard!"
Mr. Drew turned to his daughter. "Nancy, are you sure you feel well enough to make the trip?"
"I'm perfectly all right, really I am," she replied.
Pietro and the Drews said good-by and found their seats in the plane. A few minutes later the door was closed. The pilot taxied down the runway, then waited for clearance. Finally the overseas airliner roared along the ground and took off gracefully.
Nancy watched from the window as long as land was in sight. Then, as the plane went higher and higher into the clouds, she settled down to read the magazine Aunt Eloise had given her. But reading seemed to hurt her eyes and she decided not to take a chance of straining them. When evening came, Mr. Drew changed seats with Pietro. Nancy asked the clown how long it was since he had seen his father.
"Several years," Pietro answered. "Not since Dad retired. You'll like him," the young man went on. "My father is one of the kindest and most humorous men I have ever known."
The couple discussed the history of the circus at great length—in fact, until Mr. Drew came to invite them to take a stroll with him. They toured the great plane, had dinner, and then decided to have a long night's sleep. The next morning Nancy watched excitedly as they approached the London airport. It amazed her that so little fuss was being made in connection with their arrival. To her the trip had been wonderful and unusual. She realized that to those at the airport the arrival of an overseas plane was an hourly occurrence.
When they landed, Nancy and her companions were among the first to leave the ship. After going through the customs, they walked toward the exit gate. Pietro looked eagerly for his father. Suddenly he saw him and started to run.
Nancy enjoyed watching the joyful reunion as the two men clasped each other in their arms. When the Drews walked up, Pietro introduced his father.
"This is the young lady I wrote you about," the down said, "the one who is trying to straighten out everything so that Lolita and I can be married."
"Then I am doubly glad to meet you, Miss Drew," the older man said, smiling. He shook her hand warmly.
"I'm very glad to meet you," Nancy said. "And you know you're involved in this mystery, too. It was because you thought you saw Lola Flanders in Tewkesbury that we're here."
"But I didn't turn out to be a very good sleuth," Pietro's father said. "Well, let us be on our way. I have made reservations at a quiet hotel."
They took a taxi and soon were riding through the narrow, busy streets of the city.
Pietro told his father what had happened to Nancy just before they took off. A frightened look came over the older man's face and he remarked that he hoped Nancy would be perfectly safe in England.
"Oh, I'll be all right," Nancy insisted. "But you men will have to be patient with me while I do some shopping. That awful man and his acid ruined some rather vital parts of my wardrobe."
After breakfast, the group set off for the shopping trip and a visit to the pawnshop from which Nancy's bracelet had come. When they reached the door of Liberty's Department Store, Mr. Drew suggested that Nancy be given half an hour for her shopping.
"We men will look around and meet you here," he suggested, as he handed her some English currency.
Hurrying from one counter to another, Nancy not only bought the necessary articles for which she had come but several others as well.
"And I ought to pick up a few souvenirs while I'm here," she told herself. "I must get something for Hannah. And George and Bess, too. They were certainly wonderful, helping me on the mystery."
Nancy actually forgot the time, and when she rejoined her companions was profuse in her apology for having kept them waiting twenty minutes.
"You did pretty well at that," her father teased. "Most girls would have taken half a day to do what you did," he said, looking at her many packages.
The pawnshop was not far away. The owner proved to be very helpful. Though it had been three years since the woman who had signed her name as Laura Flynn had visited his shop, he remembered her well.
"I felt so sorry for her," he said. "She seemed frightened and ill at ease. Apparently it was very hard for her to decide to part with the bracelet." When he described her, Nancy was at once reminded of Lolita. Apparently mother and daughter strongly resembled each other.
"She's the one I saw in Tewkesbury, all right!" Mr. Pietro cried.
Nancy wanted to set off at once to look for Lola Flanders. But the others insisted that she should do some sight-seeing in London. And Mr. Drew wanted to call on the lawyer with whom he had communicated. The following morning they set off, however.
Mr. Drew had hired a comfortable car to use during their stay in England. Since it would be a little confusing at first to drive on the left side of the road, Pietro's father offered to take the wheel.
Nancy was charmed with the countryside as they came nearer and nearer to the town of Tewkesbury. Presently Mr. Pietro asked her where she intended to search. He had already made inquiries in every place he could think of.
"I have an idea that Lola Flanders may be in some nursing home," said Nancy.
"That's a good hunch," her father remarked, "Mr. Pietro, how can we go about finding out where the nursing homes are?"
The retired clown suggested that they go to the medical registry. He was sure they could find out there. He drove to the building and went inside with Nancy. They learned that there were two large and eight small nursing homes in the area.
As they went from one to another, Nancy asked if they had a patient by either the name of Lola Flanders or Laura Flynn. After they had inquired at six of them and received a negative reply, everyone in the group except Nancy became discouraged.
"Why, we have four more to investigate," she said cheerfully.
The last home they came to was a very shabby place. The house was in disrepair and in need of painting. Unlike others in the neighborhood, it had a weedy, run-down garden.
The woman who answered Nancy's knock proved to be the owner of the home. Her name was Mrs. Ayres and she was as shabby looking as her place. But in a moment, Nancy forgot all this. One of her patients was named Lola Flanders!
"I've come all the way from the United States to see her," said Nancy excitedly.
Mrs. Ayres stared at the visitor. "Well, it's too bad you went to all that trouble, miss," she said. "You can't see Lola Flanders. She's a victim of amnesia!"
CHAPTER XXIIThe Hunt Narrows
Mrs. Ayres started to close the door of her nursing home.
"Oh, please!" Nancy said hurriedly. "I must talk to you."
The woman rather grudgingly invited Nancy to step inside and ushered her into a dark living room whose furnishings were threadbare and dilapidated.
"Would you mind telling me something about Mrs. Flanders?" Nancy asked, smiling disarmingly. "If she is the person I'm looking for, I know her daughter well. She would like very much to get in touch with her mother."
Mrs. Ayres hesitated a few moments, apparently wanting to be sure that it was safe to talk freely to the stranger. Finally she said:
"Lola Flanders is an American. She worked in a circus. But she had a bad fall. I don't know much about that part of it. First I knew, a man named Jones came here and asked me if I could board Lola. After a while he brought her. That's all there is to the story."