The Hidden Window Mystery by Carolyn Keene

“How horrible!” Bess cried out. “Where is it?”
    She and her cousin hopped out of bed and hurried to Nancy’s side. Still nothing could be seen outside.
    “I’m going down to find out what’s going on!” Nancy said.
    As she pulled on bathrobe and slippers, George said she and Bess would go along. Nancy grabbed her flashlight and hurried to the first floor. She swung open the front door and rushed down the steps, beaming her light ahead of her.
    In its glare stood a magnificent peacock, its fan fully spread!
    “Oh!” Bess exclaimed. “The story’s true!”
    At that moment Sheila and Annette appeared on the porch. When the actress saw the bird, she cried out in terror, then fainted. As Sheila slumped to the floor, Bess and Annette caught her and carried the unconscious woman indoors.
    “Don’t worry, girls,” said Annette. “Mother often does this.” George remained with Nancy.
    The girl detective, meanwhile, had swung her flashlight in a wide arc over the area beyond the peacock. For a fraction of a second Nancy thought she glimpsed the figure of a crouching man, but when she turned the light back, he was gone.
    By this time the peacock had recovered from the hypnotism caused by the light shining directly in his eyes. Folding his tail, he began to run across the lawn.
    “Let’s follow him, George!” Nancy whispered, keeping her flashlight trained on him.
    The bird ran faster than the girls had any idea he could. They had a hard time keeping up with the peacock as they followed him across a field.
    “He’s going into the woods!” George said suddenly. “We may lose track of him!”
    The girls ran even faster, their robes flapping in the slight breeze that had sprung up. The peacock followed a path among the trees, which ended at Eddy Run. Now the bird turned left along the shore. Sloshing through the mud, Nancy and George kept pace with him.
    “I wonder how far he’s going?” George asked. She chuckled and added, “I’ve been on some crazy chases with you, Nancy Drew, but this one’s the prize!”
    Nancy agreed that it did seem absurd to be chasing a peacock at this hour. “If my hunch that he’s going to Cumberland Manor is wrong,” she said, laughing, “I’ll carry you back home. But we’re not far from Mr. Honsho’s estate now and maybe—”
    As she spoke, the peacock disappeared. Apparently he had run behind a high mass of bushes. Nancy started around the corner of the tangled shrubbery, with George close behind. Holding the flashlight directly in front of her, Nancy hoped to catch sight of the big bird again.
    Instead, the light picked up a white-sheeted figure!
    “The ghost!” George exclaimed.
    If the masquerader had hoped to frighten the two girls into fleeing, he failed. Instead, they ran directly toward the figure, which took to its heels around the shrubbery and vanished.
    Nancy and George continued the search, but their advance was suddenly halted a few minutes later. A stream of water hit both girls in the face full force. It knocked them to the ground and Nancy’s flashlight went out!

CHAPTER XV
    A Worrisome Gift
     
     
     
    THE stream of water that had knocked Nancy and George to the ground suddenly stopped. Thoroughly drenched, the two girls got to their feet. Nancy located her flashlight and turned it on. Both the bird and the white-sheeted figure were gone. Nancy shined her light around the area. Suddenly it illuminated a brick wall.
    “Cumberland Manor’s just ahead,” she remarked. “There must be a gate in this side of the wall. By now the ghost and the peacock are inside.”
    “Where did that water come from?” George asked.
    “Since the force was so strong, I imagine someone inside the grounds used a fire hose,” replied Nancy.
    The girls followed the trail of water, which led directly to a gate.
    “I think Luke’s trying to get even with Annette because she won’t date him,” George remarked. “He let the peacock loose in Ivy Hall to scare her