Nancy Drew and The Mystery Of The Ghost Maiden

Chapter Ten

"I didn't believe any of this, when my husband and I first moved here, however, I will tell you the old family legend passed down for generations. Over a hundred years ago, my husband's great-grandfather, Albert, had a daughter named Heather. She was said to be very pretty, kind, bright, and very musical.

Heather was his favorite child, because of how much she favored her deceased mother. From her, the girl inherited striking beauty and a witty personality. Her father spoiled the child with everything she ever wanted. He even had a music room built to give her a creative outlet.

When Heather was nineteen years old, she met a young sea captain, Earnest Brown. It was not long before the two of them fell madly in love. They became engaged and was due to be married in five months. But the young man had to go back out to sea one last time before he could retire to a new line of work, as a banker. There was a bad storm which swept him overboard, unfortunately, he was never to be seen again.

It took five months for the news to get back, but by then the young lady had died of scarlet fever. The story goes that she still waits for him on the top floor, to return." "But did you say that you didn't believe it at first?" Nancy asked.

"Well, my husband's family has always claimed that strange things happen in this home. Things such as hearing her singing coming from upstairs, strange noises, floating objects, the lights flickering, candles going out, and seeing glances of her. What convinced me was when we were coming home from a party. As we drove up the driveway, I a glimpse of her up on the third-floor balcony. She was just standing there leaning on the railing and looking out towards the sea. Thank God she has never been seen outside of the third floor for all these many years, at least, until the gardener saw her that is." said the women with a tired look on her aged face.

For several seconds, Nancy stared at her aunt in disbelief. This new information was sure to scare Bess if she ever learned the old mansion was haunted. She would just have to keep this to herself for the time being.

After leaving the sitting room she was lost in thought while walking through the corridors. Her young mind was so full of questions. Instead, of helping Nancy, what her aunt had told her only seemed to confuse her even more. Nancy didn't believe in ghosts, however, that would be a good answer for what had caused the strange happenings. If the ghost was real, why did the letters disappear?

"Come on Nancy, think! There is a logical answer here somewhere!" she said to herself, before almost walking right into a wall from being so deep in thought. She had just begun to awaken from a deep trance when she looked around to find herself in a part of the home that she had never been to before. She really had no idea how she had come upon this hallway, it was brightly lit from a large stain glass window that had birds in flight design on it.

"I wonder how old this window is. It seems to be made with a more masculine design in mind." Nancy mumbled. All the other stain glass windows she had seen in the home had flowers designs like roses and lilies. She walked closer to get a better look in the background. Behind the birds looked to be chapel.

She ran her hand over the colored glass. It was spotless, and she could feel the different textures of the glass. But something felt off about the last piece of glass it almost felt like something was scraped into it. "I know I have a pencil and some paper in my purse somewhere." Nancy thought as she tried to dig through her bag. "Note to self, I must remember to empty this thing out later. It's so full of receipts and makeup that I rarely even wear anymore."

Just as she was about to dump the bag's contents on to the floor, she felt a pencil inside a side pocket. She used the pencil and a receipt for the paper she went gently over the piece of glass to copy the texture. She could tell something was hidden here.

A few feet away, a sound started coming from behind a door. It sounded like bumping and scratching noises. Taking a few steps closer she reached the door. She reached out her hand to turn the knob when she heard a scream. "That sounded like Bess!" she said before forgetting all about the door and running toward the sound of her friend's screams.