The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene

to hunt for the hidden treasures?”
    “Of course not, Carol. I think you’ll be happier at my house with Mrs. Gruen. Just take it easy, and don’t worry.”
    Mr. Drew reached home at six o’clock and soon everyone sat down to dinner. Conversation was general, but as soon as the meal was over, he asked his daughter to follow him into his study. He closed the door and they sat down.
    “Nancy,” he said, “I have a lot to tell you. There’s no use upsetting Carol. That’s why I wanted to talk to you alone. A theory has been forming in my mind.”
    “About Carol’s background?”
    “Yes.”
    “You suspect Asa Sidney knew who she was?”
    The lawyer nodded. “I made a trip to the Fernwood Orphanage and looked at all the old records. There was not a clue as to who Carol’s parents might have been. But I did pick up some other interesting facts.”
    Mr. Drew said that Asa Sidney had been a trustee of the orphanage for many years. He had taken a great fancy to a certain little girl who had been given the name Sadie Wipple and he insisted it be changed to Carol. The name of the child he had lost was Carol.
    “Then when the Jemitts, who owned a small restaurant, offered to become foster parents, Mr. Sidney would not give his consent unless the Jemitts agreed to come to his home and work. Frank and Emma did not want to be servants, so the arrangement about the tearoom and the promise of a share in Asa’s will was worked out.”
    Nancy was intrigued by this information. “Dad, do you think that if Mr. Sidney had lived he would have told you everything?”
    “I believe so. Now, unfortunately, we’ll have to unearth the secret ourselves. And if we don’t, I’m afraid those grasping relatives will take the case to court.”
    “Two of the heirs aren’t going to join in,” Nancy said with a chuckle, and told about being on friendly terms again with Bess and George.
    “Well, my congratulations,” her father said. “I wish your influence could extend to their parents and great-uncles. By the way, my main reason for going to the Fernwood Orphanage was to tell the directors of the request in Asa Sidney’s will that the Jemitts be investigated and probably new foster parents be obtained for Carol.”
    “But now the Jemitts have run away,” Nancy reminded her father.
    “That in itself will be enough to take Carol away from them,” the lawyer said. “I’ll phone the orphanage and ask permission to keep her here until they decide about new foster parents.”
    “I’m sure the Jemitts will be back,” Nancy remarked. “Either to get things they’ve cached away, or to hunt for others.”
    “By the way,” Mr. Drew said, “I was able to get a court order freezing the contents of those cartons Jemitt stored in the warehouse.”
    As he finished speaking, Nancy stiffened in her chair. She had just seen a menacing face at the partially opened window.

CHAPTER XV
    Candles’ Secrets
    “WHAT’S the matter?” Mr. Drew asked, turning so he too could look out the window.
    “I saw Frank Jemitt looking in!” Nancy exclaimed.
    She and her father rushed outdoors to accost the man, but could not find him. Mr. Drew was worried that Jemitt had overheard the conversation between Nancy and himself and might use it to his own advantage.
    “How?” Nancy asked.
    “By conniving with the relatives and threatening Carol.”
    To avoid similar incidents in the future, Mr. Drew requested that all the windows in the house be closed and locked, and the air-conditioning system turned on.
    “I don’t think,” said Nancy, “we should worry Carol with all this.” Her father agreed.
    Their guest slept well. As soon as she came downstairs, Carol insisted upon being given some household chores. “I’m so used to work I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”
    Mr. Drew smiled at her. “I suggest that you help Mrs. Gruen and in between jobs do a lot of reading. By the way, Carol, you want to go back to school, don’t you?”
    “Oh