“Well!” he exclaimed. “So it is a shop. Thought it might be a Sunday School fair and I’d get roped in,” he chuckled, stepping inside cautiously. “Sorry, but I didn’t come to buy. Can you direct me to Professor Sanders’ office?” he asked, while politely removing his hat.
“His office? Why, he hasn’t any office that I know of,” faltered Nancy, surprised at the question.
“He has messages sent to the ticket office at the station,” volunteered Ruth.
“Oh, I see,” replied the man, seeming to “see” more than the girls did. “Then, we’ll go over to the station—”
So saying the man backed out of the door smiling pleasantly as he departed.
“Well, I declare!” exclaimed Nancy. “Our Disappearing Dick is going to have callers. I wonder if he’ll perform for them?”
“Those are important looking men,” Isabel commented. “Did you see their car?”
“Wasn’t it fancy?” agreed Ruth. “Perhaps Sibyl will get a ride home.”
“I don’t think you folks can be very good detectives around here,” Nancy criticized, “or you would have found out what so many people mean by saying that Mr. Sanders disappears.”
“Now, listen,” quoth Ruth, in a most confidential tone, “I don’t call myself sensational, and in fact, people at Long Leigh generally have the name of minding their own business; but there is something mighty queer about Mr. Sanders.” She paused while Nancy waited for further explanation. “He does not live in the old gray house, for father’s men went through the entire place the other day, he’s in real-estate you know,” she explained, “and there wasn’t a thing to show that the old house had been opened since they inspected it last.”