Nancy has been poisoned!” the doctor announced.

Mr. Drew examined the sword doll. It took him a few minutes before he found a tiny button at the hilt of the sword. When he pressed it, a needle shot out. From it dripped a single drop of fluid.

“How dreadful! ” Mrs. Struthers cried.

Dr. Burney identified the poison by its odor and prepared an antidote. “Your daughter will probably sleep heavily for an hour, ” he told the lawyer, “and should be kept quiet until tomorrow.”

Mr. Drew wanted to take Nancy home, but the physician advised against this. Mrs. Struthers insisted that the young girl remain where she was. Mr. Drew suggested that it might be helpful if Hannah Gruen stayed with Nancy for the night.

Mrs. Struthers agreed to the plan, and within half an hour Mrs. Gruen arrived in a taxi. She listened to the doctor’s orders and promised they would be carried out to the letter.

“Call me if Nancy fails to awaken within an hour, ” the physician instructed as he was leaving.

When almost an hour had elapsed and she had not awakened, Mr. Drew became alarmed. As he was about to call the doctor, Nancy opened her eyes. “Where am I? ” she mumbled, sitting up.

“With Hannah and me, ” said Mr. Drew. He placed his daughter back gently against the pillow. “Everything is all right.”

Reassured, Nancy sighed and snuggled down for some more sleep. Mr. Drew was satisfied that she was out of danger and left.

The next morning Mrs. Struthers brought in the River Heights Gazette from the porch. She gasped as she read the headline.

NANCY DREW POISONED BY MYSTERIOUS

DOLL AT STRUTHERS HOME

“Good gracious! ” the woman exclaimed. “Where did the paper ever learn about this? ”

She was sure no one in the house had given the story to the newspaper. As her mind flew from one possibility to another, she stopped short in her thinking.

Rose!

Mrs. Struthers recalled that her granddaughter had been away from the house after Nancy’s accident the previous afternoon. As soon as Rose appeared, Mrs. Struthers showed her the headline.

“Rose, what do you know about this? ”

“Oh, I told some kids down the street, and Lorna’s father writes for the paper.”

“This article even describes how that couple in the car stole our fan doll, and I didn’t want any publicity about it! ”

“I mentioned that when he called to confirm the story.”

Mrs. Struthers sighed. “Whatever shall I do with you, Rose? ”

The girl became sulky and would not eat breakfast. The situation was not relieved when Nancy appeared and saw the newspaper account. She had recovered from the effects of the poison, but this new development embarrassed and disturbed her.

When Nancy and Hannah reached home, they were besieged with phone calls from interested friends. Ned Nickerson, a special college friend of Nancy’s, suggested they attend a carnival that evening to get Nancy’s mind off the situation.

At seven o’clock handsome, dark-haired Ned arrived. He was working this summer as counselor at a boys’ camp. The couple drove to Claymore and enjoyed the carnival with its gay crowds and many amusements. They stopped first at a shooting gallery, where Ned won a large stuffed animal, which he presented to Nancy.

“What shall we do next? ” he asked. “Want to try the ferris wheel? ”

Nancy shook her head. “Listen! ” she exclaimed.

“To what? That gypsy’s fiddle? ”

“Are there gypsies in this carnival? ”

“Sure, down at the far end. They have several fortunetelling tents. Want to have a reading? ”

“Let’s! ”

“Not me.” Ned laughed. “My future is pretty well set, and I don’t want anyone tampering with it. I’ll go into business, prosper, and marry a certain ambitious young lady named....”

“Come on, Ned, ” Nancy broke in. “I’m not so much interested in fortunes myself, but I do want to hear that violinist play. A case I’m working on has something to do with a gypsy violinist.”

They hastened to the tents, where a cluster of bright-eyed, bronze-skinned children stared at them. A woman in a colorful red and yellow skirt hurriedly took up her post in front of one of the tents. Her flashing eyes studied Nancy.

“Cross my palm with money and I will tell your fortune, pretty miss, ” she said.

Nancy shook her head, for she was listening intently to a violin solo.

“Isn’t that the Hungarian Rhapsody? ” Nancy murmured to Ned. “Maybe the violinist is Romano! ”

“Who’s he? ” Ned asked. “A rival of mine? ”

Nancy did not explain, for she noticed that the woman was listening attentively to every word she and Ned were saying. Her gaze was so penetrating that the girl felt ill at ease.

“May we speak to the violinist? ” Nancy asked her.

“No, it is not allowed, ” the woman replied.

She turned and whispered to a couple of children. One of the youngsters scurried away from the tent, and a moment later the violin playing ended abruptly.

“At least tell us the name of your gifted musician, ” Nancy urged. The woman shrugged her shoulders and went into the tent.

“Nice, sociable people! ” Ned commented.

He and Nancy wandered on and tried to catch a glimpse of the violinist. Evidently the child had warned him and he had fled.

As the couple walked along the row of tents, they were scrutinized by everyone around. No one again offered to tell Nancy’s fortune. When a little boy came to Ned and begged for money, his mother spoke sharply to him. The child scampered off without taking the coin Ned offered him.

“What’s the matter with everybody? ” he asked, puzzled. “It’s as if they’re afraid we’ll find out something they want to keep secret! ”

The longer Nancy and Ned stayed, the more tense the atmosphere became, so finally they left and returned to the main section of the carnival. There they asked one of the concessionaires where the gypsies had come from.

“Spain, I believe, ” the man replied. “Guess they’re fixing to leave the carnival a few days after the wedding.”

“What wedding? ” Nancy inquired.

“Why, the one tonight at ten o’clock. Didn’t you see the sign? They’re marrying off a child bride.”

“No, we didn’t, ” Nancy said. “I’d love to go to the ceremony. But I thought gypsy weddings were for gypsies only.”

“They usually are, ” the man agreed. “This one would have been too, only the carnival manager got their chief, Zorus, to agree to let the public attend.”

“For a fee, no doubt, ” Ned added.

“Oh, sure, a high one at that. But it’s only tonight that outsiders can go. A gypsy wedding sometimes goes on for six or seven days, with dancing and feasting.”

“Where can we get tickets? ” Ned asked.

“At the first tent from here. I’ve been told it won’t be worth the price, though. All that happens is the chief speaks a few words, and they give the child bride a doll. Then the dancing begins. That’s the best part.”

Nancy’s eyes kindled at mention of a ceremony involving a doll. She might pick up a clue. Then her eager expression turned to one of dismay.

“Ned, ” she said, “maybe the gypsies won’t let us in! ”

“We’ll soon find out, ” he replied.

The two purposely stayed away from the gypsy section of the carnival until nearly ten o’clock. Then Nancy said, “If we go in separately, maybe they won’t spot us.”

She was right. Eager last-minute attendants at the performance jostled them and they were not noticed by the ticket seller or any other gypsies.

Music for the wedding was furnished by three handsome young fiddlers. Nancy liked their gay, colorful costumes. Because of the men’s ages she knew none of them could be Rose’s father. After listening to the music, she also concluded that not one of the musicians had the fine touch of the violinist who had played the Hungarian Rhapsody a little while before.

“That other violinist could have been Romano Pepito, ” Nancy thought. “Oh, how I wish I might see him! ”

At this moment the musicians changed to another melody, soft and sweet. From a tent stepped a middle-aged man wearing a red-and-yellow suit and long, round earrings. He was the master of ceremonies and walked to the center of the ring.

“According to gypsy custom, ” he said to the audience, “the price for the bride must be paid before the wedding takes place. In olden days horses were given, but now we prefer money.”

The gaudily attired young bridegroom and the father of the bride came forward. The former took a small pouch of jingling coins from a pocket and handed it to the other, who thanked him. Then the three fiddlers struck up a solemn march.

“Oh, this must be the chief, ” Nancy concluded, as a tall, elderly man in a long, embroidered red robe stalked from another tent. Piercing black eyes looked out above a heavy, iron-gray beard. He spoke to the other men, then the bride’s father went into a tent.

“We are true gypsies, ” the master of ceremonies explained, “and our girls marry very young. But we have complied with all the laws of this state. Our leader, Zorus, will now unite Melchor and Luisa in a Romany wedding ceremony.”

The musicians began to play a livelier air, but this did not help to calm the bride as she stepped nervously from her tent. Nancy’s heart went out to the beautiful young girl, who looked very frightened and could not have been more than fourteen years old. She was dressed in an embroidered white silk gown, which had become yellowed with age.

The ceremony was performed by Zorus in the space of a few minutes. Nancy studied his cruel face. “I wouldn’t trust him, ” she thought.

A loaf of bread, salt, and a bottle of wine were brought out as symbols of plenty. Zorus broke the bread and sprinkled salt on each half. The bride and groom exchanged halves, each taking a bite and a sip of wine.

Zorus now motioned to the announcer, who said, “It has been a custom for hundreds of years, at weddings of our tribe, to present the child bride with a doll. Today our bride is not exactly a child, but we shall follow that custom.”

Nancy watched intently as an elderly gypsy woman walked forward with a basket. Possibly Rose’s father at the time of his marriage had given his bride a gypsy doll. It might have been a duplicate of the one about to be presented!

“If it was and that’s the one I’m to look for, I may be a long way toward solving Mrs. Struthers’ mystery, ” she concluded.

When the gift was held up, Nancy’s hopes fell. It was only an inexpensive factory-made doll, and so new it could have no significance for her.

In a few moments the violinists began to play dance music, and the crowd milled around. Ned found Nancy and asked if she had enjoyed the ceremony.

“Oh, yes, ” she replied. “For just a second I thought I had found a good clue, but nothing came of it. Let’s watch the performance a few minutes longer and then go home.”

Though the tribal dances were interesting to watch, Nancy found her gaze wandering toward a middle-aged gypsy couple who stood off to one side.

“That man and woman look familiar to me, ” the girl thought. “And yet I don’t know any gypsies.”

She noticed that they were staring at her, but when she faced them directly they looked away and edged toward the exit.

“Why did they do that? ” Nancy wondered.

Suddenly she believed she knew who they were. The man had a scar on his forehead. The woman had carrot-red hair. They fitted Rose’s description of the couple who had stolen Mrs. Struthers’ fan doll!