Nancy said she would come back in a couple of hours. In the meantime, she and Glenn would return to the house for lunch. She picked up Miss Hanson's telephone and called Hannah.

"We'll be back to have lunch," she said. "Anything you want me to pick up in town? Dessert, perhaps?"

"I think not. Your dad ordered a special one for dinner. I'll serve some of it to you."

"What is it?" Nancy asked.

Hannah laughed. "It's one of your favorites too. I want to surprise you."

Nancy and Glenn walked back. As soon as they had finished eating Hannah's delicious lemon meringue pie, Nancy went to phone the Faynes and Marvins and tell them the latest news about their daughters. When she called the Fayne home, George's father answered.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"h.e.l.lo. This is Nancy. I flew home for a few hours and I thought you and Mrs. Fayne would like to know how we're progressing on the case."

"Indeed we would."

When Nancy finished telling him, Mr. Fayne said, "Nancy, I, too, have some information in which I'm sure you will be vitally interested!"

CHAPTER XIV.

Chilly Conference

MR. FAYNE told Nancy that the previous day he had been on a business trip to Martin City.

"I had finished my conference early, so I decided to run out to the Anderson Museum at Hager and take a look at that glowing eye you girls talked about."

"What did you think of it?" Nancy asked him.

His answer surprised her. "It wasn't there."

"You mean somebody took it?" Nancy exclaimed. "But who?"

George's father told her that when he went into the museum he had introduced himself to Miss Wilkin. "I said that I'd like to see the glowing eye which my daughter had viewed there a few days before.

"The woman at once became very nervous," he reported. "She said there was no such thing at the museum. When I insisted, she finally admitted that the eye had been removed."

"By whom?" Nancy asked quickly.

Mr. Fayne replied that Miss Wilkin had said she had no idea. It had happened when she was off the premises, and she had a.s.sumed that it had been taken back by the Emerson College authorities.

Nancy was amazed to hear this. "What else did Miss Wilkin tell you?" she asked Mr. Fayne.

"Something that contradicts what you were told-that no student from Emerson had been there in a long time."

"Anything else?" Nancy asked Mr. Fayne.

"No, nothing else, so I left the museum. But I thought you'd want to know what I had learned."

"I certainly do," Nancy replied, puzzled over this latest turn of events.

She thanked Mr. Fayne for giving her the information. As soon as she finished the phone call, she dialed Professor t.i.tus. He was as surprised as the young detective had been upon hearing Miss Wilkin's story.

"One thing she's right about. No student from my department has gone there to study in a long time. The glowing eye never reached the college. There is no reason why it should, since it isn't our property."

He and Nancy discussed this new angle of the mystery, then the professor said, "Could you meet me at the museum at four o'clock? I'd like to find out more about this whole thing."

"Please hold the line a couple of minutes while I talk with the pilot who flew me over here. I'll see if he can take me to Hager."

She put down the phone and went to talk to Glenn, who was looking at a wall picture of an early biplane. In answer to Nancy's question, he said he would be glad to take her on the errand. Nancy relayed this to Professor t.i.tus and then said, "I'll see you at four."

Nancy and Glenn walked back to Mr. Drew's office. The lawyer still had not returned.

"But Marty King is here," Miss Hanson told her. "Want to talk to her?"

"Yes."

Turning to Glenn, Nancy said, "Will you excuse me a few minutes while I see Marty?"

The pilot nodded. "Watch the time, though," he advised. "Remember your four-o'clock date."

"I will," Nancy promised, and opened Marty King's door. "h.e.l.lo," she said. "I'm sorry I missed you before and that Dad is not here now. Tell me, how is he?"

"He seems fine," Marty replied. "Is there some message I can give him?"

"No, but I thought I'd bring both of you up to date on the glowing eye mystery."

Marty King leaned forward in her desk chair.

Nancy asked, "Marty, when did you last hear from your contact?"

The young lawyer did not answer at once. She seemed to be searching for an answer. Finally she said, "Why-uh-not recently."

Nancy decided to catch this secretive young woman off guard if possible. Looking directly at her, she asked, "When did you last hear from Zapp Crosson?"

Marty was so amazed that she gave a convulsive start and did not reply. She jumped from her chair and came from behind the desk. Her eyes were flashing.

"I don't know how you learned about him," she said, "but I'll tell you this. I found out he's a red-haired nut!"

Excitedly Nancy thought, "Those were Ned's exact words in his note to Burt!"

"So I've heard," Nancy said aloud. "What I want to know, Marty, is when did you last see him? Recently?"

"I haven't seen him in a while and don't want to-ever again," Marty said angrily.

Nancy felt that she had the advantage and pressed on with her queries. "When did you last hear from Zapp Crosson?"