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The Vanishing Vase






 

“WHAT are the missing Engs? ” Nancy inquired when she and her father were seated in his study. “Some valuable jewels? ”

Mr. Drew laughed. “You’re not even warm! The Engs are Chinese friends of Mr. Soong’s; Eng Moy and his daughter Eng Lei. As you know, ” he added, “Chinese last names come first! ”

Carson Drew paused for a moment.

“Go on, Dad, ” Nancy begged impatiently.

“Five years ago Eng Moy wrote to Mr. Soong from China. He said he and his daughter were leaving on a trip to the United States and hoped to visit him. According to Mr. Soong, Eng Moy was a well-known maker of porcelains in China. The purpose of his trip was to study American pottery methods.”

“Did Eng Lei make pottery, too? ” Nancy asked.

Her father shook his head. “Not at the time the Engs left China, at any rate. She was only twelve years old then. That means she’s about seventeen now.”

“When did they disappear? ” Nancy asked, interested at once in hearing about a girl so close to her own age.

“That’s coming. Eng Moy continued to write to Mr. Soong, ” Mr. Drew explained. “Eng described tours they had taken through pottery plants in several cities in the United States. Each succeeding letter was postmarked a little closer to River Heights. Finally Mr. Soong received a letter saying they would visit him the following week.”

The lawyer paused.

“And they didn’t come? ” Nancy asked.

“No. That was four and a half years ago. Mr. Soong hasn’t heard from the Engs since! ”

“Maybe something happened so they couldn’t write.”

“That’s what Mr. Soong would like to find out, ” Mr. Drew replied. “He came to my office today because he had received a letter from a relative in China. Mr. Soong supposed the Engs had returned to the Orient without paying him the promised visit. He had been a bit perplexed when his letters to China were never acknowledged.”

“Sounds very strange, ” said Nancy.

“He learned something from the letter he received today, ” said Mr. Drew. “The relative wrote that the Engs never had returned to China and the United States immigration authorities could not account for it.”

“Then the Engs are probably still in this country, ” Nancy reasoned.

“Seems that way, ” her father agreed. “Mr. Soong fears his friends have met with—well, let’s call it foul play.”

“What do you suspect happened to them? ” Nancy asked.

“I don’t suspect anything yet, ” Mr. Drew replied. “But there are several reasons why some aliens want United States authorities to lose track of them. Espionage is one. Receiving and selling smuggled goods is another.”

“Not a friend of Mr. Soong’s! ” said Nancy, shocked.

Her father smiled dryly, “You’re probably right, but that doesn’t solve the mystery.”

Nancy looked at her father searchingly, then asked how she might help on the case.

Mr. Drew smiled affectionately. “As soon as I get a clue, I’ll put you to work on it.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Nancy looked at her watch and gave a start. “My goodness, I must run or I’ll be late for Helen’s birthday dinner! ”

She dashed upstairs to dress. A few minutes later Nancy hurried down, blew a kiss to her father, and waved good-by to Mrs. Gruen.

“Wait a moment, ” the housekeeper said. “You worry me, Nancy, ” she said. “It will be late when you leave the Townsend house and I don’t like your coming home alone.”

“I’ll soon settle this, ” Mr. Drew declared. “Hannah, I’ll drive my daughter and her friends to Helen’s and go back for them.”

Twenty minutes later he dropped Bess, George, and Nancy across town. Mr. Townsend teased the girls with a “Glad you made it. I’d begun to think I’d have to eat four pieces of birthday cake! ”

Helen smiled and said, “If I know Nancy, she probably was tracking down some villain.”

“That’s right.” Nancy laughed. “A new way to say ‘Happy Birthday.’ ”

Helen took the girls’ coats and handbags upstairs to her room.

In a few minutes Mrs. Townsend called everyone into the dining room. As Nancy was about to follow, she noticed an exquisite vase on the desk near a window. She lifted the vase carefully and examined the porcelain.

It was in a lovely shade of brown, showing a peach tree at the edge of a sparkling blue lake. An ancient Chinese, attired in a richly brocaded robe, sat under the tree beside a deer.

Nancy studied the bottom of the base. Painted with small, black brush strokes were several Chinese symbols. They seemed to be the same as one set of characters she had copied from the sheets in Manning’s room!

Nancy ran upstairs and got her clutch bag. Then, seating herself at the living-room desk, she took a pen from its ornate holder and quickly copied the symbols. She dried the ink on a small blotter which lay on the desk and slipped the paper into her bag.

She was about to go into the dining room when she spotted two strange marks cunningly worked into the leaves of the peach tree. Nancy stared at the small, barely visible markings. The more she looked the more puzzled she became. Before she could copy the little symbols, Mrs. Townsend hurried into the room.

“Nancy, come on! ” she coaxed.

“I’m sorry, ” Nancy apologized. “This vase—”

“Like it? ” Helen’s mother asked.

“Love it! ” Nancy replied. “It’s one of the finest I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a Ming vase. My husband gave it to me for an anniversary present, ” Mrs. Townsend said, leading the way into the dining room.

Nancy followed. As she ate, the young detective kept thinking about what she had just discovered. After the birthday cake had been served, Helen began to unwrap her gifts. “Ohs” and “Ahs” greeted each gaily wrapped package. Besides several pieces of beautiful lingerie, she received an attractive figurine Bess had made in Dick Milton’s pottery class.

“Oh, it’s lovely! ” she exclaimed. “Thanks heaps, Bess.”

There was a roar of laughter as a baseball glove from George was opened. But this was something Helen had said she wanted, months before, and no one would give it to her!

Nancy’s gift was the surprise of the evening. She had prearranged with Mrs. Townsend that it would be brought in last. Cuddled on a cushion in a little pink basket was a fluffy white kitten.

“Nancy, you darling! ” Helen burst out. “You remembered I’ve been meaning to get one.”

The girls gathered around to admire the kitten. Then, as the hands of the clock moved toward ten-thirty, the guests said they must leave.

Nancy, Bess, and George went upstairs for their coats. When Nancy came down carrying her coat, she went to the desk to get her bag. She stopped short in surprise. The bag was gone!

When Mrs. Townsend and the others came downstairs Nancy asked them if they had seen her bag. But none of them knew anything about it.

“What could have become of it? ” Mr. Townsend asked, joining the search.

Nancy noticed that the window near the desk was partly open. Could someone have reached in and taken the bag?

“May I have a flashlight? ” she asked.

Obtaining one from Mr. Townsend, she dashed out the front door and went around to the side of the house, followed by the others. Under the partly opened window was a flower bed. In it were footprints!

At that moment she heard Mrs. Townsend call, “Isn’t this yours, Nancy? ”

Nancy turned. Helen’s mother was holding out the familiar blue bag.

“Yes, that’s mine, ” Nancy said. “Thank you. Where did you find it? ”

“It was lying here in the grass, ” Mrs. Townsend explained.

“Oh, I hope nothing’s gone, ” said Helen.

Nancy opened the bag, feeling sure all the contents would be missing. At first glance it seemed as if only the money in it was gone. Then she realized that the paper on which she had copied the Chinese symbols from the vase was also missing.

Suddenly Nancy was struck by a dismaying thought. Without a word, she darted into the house. Her worst fears were confirmed.

The Townsends’ beautiful, rare vase had vanished!


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