The Phantom of Pine Hill

Table of Contents

 

 

WHEN Nancy Drew, together with her two close friends, arrive for the Emerson University June Week celebration and learn there has been a mix-up in their motel reservations, the confusion leads to a baffling mystery.

Uncle John Rorick, a descendant of the early settlers of the town of Emerson, invites the three girls to be his guests at his historic mansion on Pine Hill. Shortly after their arrival, he tells them about the phantom who haunts the mansion’s library. Uncle John also relates the weird family saga of a lost French wedding gown and valuable gifts which went to the bottom of a nearby cove in the sinking of the
Lucy Belle
a hundred years before. Could there possibly be some connection between the phantom and the old ship disaster? Nancy wonders.

In between enjoying the university’s June Week boat races, river pageant, and fraternity dances, Nancy and her friends work diligently to solve the mystery of Pine Hill and to find the long-lost wedding treasures.

The exciting climax will be as much of a thrill for the reader as it was for the famous teen-age detective herself.

Copyright
©
1993, 1965 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group,
New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.
NANCY DREW MYTERY STORIES
^®
is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster,
Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 65-13774

eISBN : 978-1-101-07743-6

2008 Printing

NANCY Drew stared incredulously at the motel clerk. “But I made reservations!”

The man shrugged. “Sorry. No vacancy. We’re jammed with visitors for Emerson University’s June Week.”

The two girls with Nancy looked despairingly at their attractive, titian-haired friend. One, George Fayne, dark-haired and boyish, declared, “The motel can’t get away with this!”

Blond, pretty Bess Marvin, George’s cousin, asked in a worried tone, “What will we do, Nancy?”

“Here comes our answer—Ned Nickerson!”

A handsome, athletic young man was striding toward them, grinning broadly. He and two fraternity brothers had invited the girls for the long weekend. After greeting Ned, Nancy told him about their reservation problem.

“I’ll find rooms for you,” Ned assured the girls, “if Nancy wants to solve a mystery while she’s here.”

“Of course I do!” she exclaimed.

Ned went to a lobby phone booth and dialed a number. After a few minutes’ conversation he rejoined the girls, his eyes twinkling.

“I called the uncle of one of our young professors. He lives a short distance out of town in a fine old house on Pine Hill—it’s a big place with grounds that run down to the river. He’s an elderly bachelor and has a housekeeper.”

“Yes. Go on,” Nancy urged.

“His name is John Rorick, but everyone calls him Uncle John. He likes young people and we fellows go there often.”

Bess spoke up. “We’re to stay at his house?”

“Yes. Uncle John was eager to have you girls as guests when I told him Nancy is an amateur detective with two fine assistants. Queer things have been happening out there lately.”

Bess looked concerned. “Do you mean we may be getting into something dangerous? Dave invited me up here to have fun.”

“That’s why Burt asked me,” said George. “But what’s the mystery?”

Ned whispered, “All you have to do is catch the phantom of Pine Hill!”

“Catch the what?” Bess cried out. “A spook?”

“Uncle John will tell you all about the phantom. I’ll phone Burt and Dave of the change in plans, then drive you to Pine Hill.”

The girls’ luggage was put back in Nancy’s convertible and the group piled in, with Ned at the wheel. They drove through the pretty, tree-shaded little university town which lay at the end of a cove on a tributary of the Ohio River. Presently they turned down a side road and could see the glistening water in the distance.

“Part of the June Week entertainment will bea pageant in the cove depicting the life of the early settlers in the Ohio Valley,” Ned told the girls. “Burt and Dave and I will be in it.”

“We’ll get front-row seats,” Bess said. With a dimpled giggle, she added, “I can’t wait to see you boys in costumes. What are you going to wear?”

“That’s a secret,” Ned replied. “But we’ll wow you!” In a few minutes he called out, “Here we are!”

He swung left into a curving driveway and pulled up at the front entrance of the Georgian Colonial house The door was opened by a tall, white-haired man with bright blue eyes.

“Hello, Ned!” he called. “This is my lucky day. A bevy of beautiful girl detectives!”

Ned introduced them and at once the elderly man said, “Call me Uncle John. And welcome to my home.” He stepped aside and his housekeeper appeared. “This is Mrs. Holman, my right-hand man!”

“Thank you,” the three chorused, laughing, and Nancy added, “It is very kind of you to let us come here. In return I’ll try hard to capture your phantom.”

She was thinking, “Mrs. Holman is so much like our Hannah!” Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ housekeeper, had helped Mr. Drew, a busy, well-known lawyer, rear Nancy since she was three, when her mother had died. Nancy and Hannah were the closest of confidantes.

The trio’s luggage was carried inside. From the moment the girls stepped over the threshold, they felt at home. The large center hall of oak-paneled side walls and the graceful spiral stairway, all heavily carpeted, lent a welcoming atmosphere.

Nancy noticed, however, that the door to a room at the left of the hallway had a stout padlock on it. Was this because of the phantom? she wondered.

Ned announced that he had to return to the university. Nancy offered to drive him there, but Ned said that the girls just had time to unpack and dress for the late-afternoon party at his fraternity house.

“I’ll hop a bus at the next road. Be seeing you!”

After he had gone, Mrs. Holman led the way upstairs to two adjoining rear bedrooms. They had been newly decorated with Colonial-style wallpaper, in keeping with the lovely old four-poster beds and hooked rugs. Nancy put her bag in the smaller room, then joined her friends and the housekeeper.

“Isn’t it charming!” Bess exclaimed.

Nancy hurried to a window and sighed in delight. Below was a garden of roses in a wide expanse of lawn. Back of this stood a large grove of pine trees with the sparkling water beyond.

“That’s Settlers’ Cove,” Mrs. Holman explained. “In the 1700’s Mr. Rorick’s ancestors came down the river on a flatboat and landed here. They put their log cabin up on Pine Hill because of the lovely view. Later they built this house.”

Crowning the hill across the cove were the sprawling buildings of Emerson University.

“What a marvelous sight!” Nancy exclaimed.

“It used to be beautiful at night, too, when the moon was out,” said Mrs. Holman. “But now—” As the housekeeper paused, Nancy thought she detected a frightened expression. The girls waited for Mrs. Holman to finish the sentence. Finally, with fear in her voice, she burst out, “Now the phantom flits among the trees like a giant firefly.”

“You’ve seen it?” Nancy asked, intrigued.

“No, but he’s there all right. I’ll have Mr. Rorick tell you the rest. Come down when you’re ready.” She left the room.

Curious to hear more of the mystery, the girls quickly hung up their dresses and went downstairs. Uncle John Rorick met them at the foot of the stairway and escorted his guests through an open doorway to their left into the living room. It ran the full depth of the house and was attractively furnished with fine eighteenth-century pieces.

Uncle John motioned his guests to tapestried chairs. Smiling, he said, “I dare say you want to learn about the phantom of Pine Hill. Apparently he wants something in my library. That’s the locked room across the hall. The first time I noticed books out of place I made sure the windows were locked and put a padlock on the door. Despite these precautions, the intruder got in and has kept right on entering mysteriously!”

“It certainly sounds weird,” George declared. “Do you have any clues?”

“Not one.” Uncle John chuckled. “Mrs. Holman declares he must be a phantom and come through our walls!”

Nancy asked Mr. Rorick if he kept any money in his library. He nodded but said he had never missed any. “I must confess though,” Uncle John went on, “I may have overlooked something. I’m pretty forgetful.” He added, “It gives me a creepy feeling to know there’s a ghostly visitor in my home.”

“Oh goodness, yes,” Bess agreed. “I hope I never see this phantom. I’ll lock my door and cover my head at night!”