The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [29]
“I want to visit that stationery store again,” Nancy said. “I know it’s open in the evening. While we’re waiting for dinner to be cooked, I can go there and talk to the proprietor. Maybe some of the gang have been in his shop again.”
At exactly six o’clock Nancy and her friends entered the attractive restaurant. All the Chinese and American diners were eating their food with chopsticks.
“I’ll never be able to manage that and get enough to eat!” Bess said. Her companions laughed.
Aunt Eloise and the girls ordered Peking duck and bean sprouts which were to follow birds’-nest soup.
“And now if you’ll excuse me a few minutes,” said Nancy, “I’ll just walk over to the stationery store.”
Nancy went out to the narrow sidewalk and turned toward the shop. As she passed the next store, with apartments above it, an object came hurtling down toward her.
The next second it hit Nancy squarely on the back of the head. She fell to the pavement, unconscious!
CHAPTER XIII
An Ominous Dream
AS NANCY lay unconscious on the sidewalk, people began to run from all directions to assist her. The excitement was heard in the restaurant. Aunt Eloise, Bess, and George dashed outside.
“Oh, Nancy!” her aunt cried, hurrying to her side. “What happened?” she asked the bystanders.
A Chinese man pointed to a large, broken flowerpot on the pavement. “This apparently fell on the young lady. Can I be of help to you?”
“It is pretty chilly out here,” Aunt Eloise said. “I think we should carry my niece into the restaurant.”
By this time Nancy’s eyelids were fluttering. Bess and George sighed in relief, sure she would be all right. George decided to stay outside as strong arms carried Nancy to the restaurant.
“Bess, I’m going to find out how this flowerpot happened to fall,” George declared, holding her cousin back. “Maybe it toppled off a window sill accidentally, but on the other hand it might have been thrown deliberately.”
Bess nodded grimly. She looked upward above the store front and said, “There’s a light in the second-floor apartment, but not in the third.”
“I think we should investigate both places.” George spoke with determination.
She picked up a piece of newspaper which had been dropped on the sidewalk and scooped up the plant and the earth. The two girls opened a door to the apartment stairway and ascended. They rang the bell to the second-floor flat. It was opened by a Chinese woman who looked at Bess and George curiously.
“Yes, please?” she asked.
“Does this plant belong to you?” George asked. “It fell from up here, somewhere.”
“No, it is not mine,” the woman answered. “Do you know where it came from?” Bess queried.
“I cannot say,” the Chinese answered. “But my neighbor upstairs has one like it.”
“Then perhaps it fell from her window,” George suggested.
“No, oh no,” the woman said. “Mrs. Lin Tang is not at home. She has gone away to visit relatives.”
George asked if anyone else lived in the apartment upstairs who might be at home. The woman shook her head. Then, looking intently at the girls, she said, “I did hear someone coming down the stairs. But when I heard the excitement on the street, I ran to look out and forgot about the foot-steps until now.”
“Did you see anyone leave this building?” George queried.
“No, I am sorry. I did not.”
“Let’s go upstairs and see if one of your neighbor’s plants is missing,” Bess proposed to the woman.
The three hurried up the stairway to the third floor, but the door to the apartment there was closed and locked.
“The intruder must have had a skeleton key and let himself in,” George remarked. “Let’s go back to the street and find out if anyone saw a person coming from the front entrance.”
The Chinese woman said she would take the plant and repot it. The two girls thanked her and hurried down to the sidewalk. They began asking the people still standing around if they had noticed anyone leaving the apartment, but all