Roosevelt High School - Round Up Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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replied that he did not wish to prosecute the boy, since the case had been recovered, and the policeman withdrew. It was now after one o'cl0ck, and Mrs. Lawrence insisted that everyone go to bed and try to get a little rest. The next morning, breakfast was scarcely over before the Lawrence family again stood before the locked room. Betty Lou was excited, too, because all the others were, and was hopping from one foot to another. Stan again slipped the key into the lock. 'tTurn it! 'I cried Nancy. CHAPTER IX He turned it, and the lock clicked. Stan slowly and cautiously pushed open the door, as if he were afraid something was going to jump out at him. Oh! Nancy let out a startled cry. 'KTherels nothing here but one table and a chair, both covered with dust. I'm so mad I could scream. The idea of Uncle getting us all excited over nothing. The whole thing is a joke, I bet. Now, Nancy,,' said her father, let's leave everything alone for a while, at least. I admit the puzzle is certainly hard to understand. Oh, dadf' broke in Stan, could there be secret panels or anything like that in this room? 'tThere must be somethingj remarked Mrs. Lawrence. 'fUncle was a queer man, but he was a kind one, and I don't think he would be so mean as to play a trick like that. Nancy, Stan, and Mr. Lawrence fell to work looking at and feeling every crack in the walls. Do you know what's missing? suddenly burst out Nancy. 'tIt's the golden key we saw on the table. Where is it? As she spoke, she swung suddenly on her heel to face her family, and as she did so, her knee hit a. little button on the table leg. Before the astonished group, there shot open a little drawer. There in the drawer lay a piece of paper. Stan opened it and read: Dear Children: By this time you must have decoded the message in the doll, and discov- ered that the key to this room was in the fuse box. This is only one of the secrets this small room contains. Remember, if you fail once, try again and again. You'll not be sorry. Love, UNCLE BEN. HI knew it, cried Mrs. Lawrence. 'tl knew he wouldn't fool us.'l CHAPTER X It was an excited family that sat down to dinner that night. Everyone was noisy except Mrs. Lawrence. She was busy thinking. Suddenly she said, Please be quiet a minute. I have something important to ask you. The family quieted down, for they knew their mother had something important to ask them. What I want to ask you, continued Mrs. Lawrence, is where is the golden key we saw when we looked through the pane of glass in the door? She had no sooner gotten these words out of her mouth than Nancy sprang to her feet with, Come on, everybody,'l and away they went up the stairs, Mrs. Law- rence and Betty Lou bringing up at the rear. Everybody got down on their knees and searched the floor for the lost key. 'Finally Stan spied it in a crack by the table. I suppose one of us knocked it off, remarked Nancy, but where is the lock to fit it? Well, we're here now, why don't we look for it?', asked Mr. Lawrence. I'm sure it must be in this room, he continued. You look for it while I put Betty Lou to bedf' answered Mrs. Lawrence. Please, mama, let me stay with daddy, begged Betty Lou. l27l

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to be prepared for any emergency, but tonight I guess the penny will have to do the job. Five minutes later the house was flooded with light, and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence and Nancy gathered in the living room to talk over the events of the evening. There was no doubt of it - the cigarette case, and with it the secret code, had disappeared. Do you know, mused Mr. Lawrence, 'CI think that telephone message about somebody intending to kill us was all a fake? It was a trick to frighten us so that we would confine ourselves in our bedrooms and leave the downstairs portion of the house open to invasion. Probably Von Burgen, or somebody working for him, saw that cigarette case on the table through the window, and determined to get it. He has possession of that code now, but he's not much better off than we are, unless he can decipher it. I have a feeling that the code tells where the key to the secret room is. Perhaps if we hunt in every nook and corner of the house we can locate the key without the code, and beat him at his own game. HOh, daddy! l' burst out Nancy, 'twhy canlt we have him arrested? HOTI what grounds?'! asked her father. t'You canlt arrest a man just because you suspect him. What could we prove? Nothing! Ulf we only had some idea what he's hunting for, murmured Mrs. Lawrence. f'Whatever it is must be pretty valuable, remarked Nancy, 'tor he wouldn't be taking so many chances of being caughtf' f'Dad! Dad! Oh, dad! came a shout from the hall in a boyish voice, and Stan came racing breathlessly up the stairs. 'fWhat's the matter?'! called Mr. Lawrence. f'Look! Look! cried Stan, I found this in the fuse box. And he held up a silver key. CHAPTER VII 'fWell, I declare, said Mr. Lawrence in a gasp. The others were so surprised they could not speak. Nancy finally stammered, 'tQuick! tLLet's try -,H but before she could finish, Stan, who was still holding the key, pushed her aside and darted through the house to the locked room. Nancy was a close second, with Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence bringing up at the rear. Stan reached the door out of breath, and sank, gasping, on his knees before it. Please, please hurry, begged Nancy, t'I'm so excited I just can't wait. Well, give me time to get my breath. I'm as excited as you are, retorted Stan. He slipped the key into the lock, and while the rest of the family waited motionless, the sound of the doorbell broke the spell. Startled, they listened while a second summons pealed through the house. 'LNow, who can it be at this hour?'l asked Mr. Lawrence. The family went downstairs together, Stan still gripping the precious key which he had removed from the lock. Mr. Lawrence opened the door-and there stood a policeman! CHAPTER VIII MWell, began the policeman, 'Las I was walking past on my beat, I saw a young boy dart out of your bushes and across the street. When I caught him, I frightened him into confessing what had happened. He said that he was passing your house a while ago when a well-dressed man stopped him and told him that he had just been paying a call at your house, and he had gone off without his cigarette case and did not want to disturb you, so he offered to give the boy a dollar if he would slip through the French windows and secure the case, which was lying on the table. The boy wanted the money and did as he was asked. I thought maybe something was wrong, so I came up here to see you about it. Mr. Lawrence, who didn't want the police to know the story of the secret room, l26l

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ffYes, mother, do let her, chimed in Nancy. So it was settled, and soon everyone except Betty Lou was searching for secrets. Suddenly Betty Lou piped up, 'fLet me look, too. Are you hunting for kitty, 'cause sheis downstairs by the stove. I saw her. UNO, darling, answered Nancy, we're not hunting for kitty, but you can crawl around on the floor with us if you wish. Five minutes later Betty Lou let out a little scream and cried, 'fOh, look, daddy, what I found. And she pushed her little hand right through a hinged panel in the wall. CHAPTER XI 'fWhy, look,', exclaimed Stan, f'there's an opening in the wall, and sure enough there was, though it wasn't very large. f'Oh, gasped Nancy, there's something in there! l' Stan thrust his hand into the opening, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. It read: Dear Children: If you like surprises, examine the under side of the old table in this room. Uncle Ben. Before anyone could turn around, Stan was under the table. UOh boyll' he cried, f'There's a lock here-the table must be hollow. The lock without a key, mur- mured Nancy. Well, it's a lock with a key now, answered Mr. Lawrence, passing the golden key under the table to Stan. f'Lookll' cried Stan, and he held up a hand- ful of greenbacks. 'fjust feast your eyes on thisf' When every bill had been taken from the hollow table, and had been counted again and again by the excited family, it was found that there was 35,000 in the secret horde. 'fAnd to think, said Nancy, ffwemight have thrown this ugly old table away. Soon the whole town knew of the Lawrences' wonderful discovery. There was enough to send Stan and Nancy to college when the time came, to buy a car, and oh, lots of other things. The following morning a detective called on the Lawrences and told them that Von Burgen had been working for an unscrupulous real estate company, which in some way had received a tip that Uncle Ben had a lot of money concealed in the hoiise when he died, so they were trying to frighten the Lawrence family into leaving the house, so they could buy it cheap, and secure the money. Von Burgen had an added interest in getting possession of the house, as the attic was full of very valuable antiques. The Lawrence family later sold these for a very substantial sum. So all was well that ended well, and the Lawrences are never tired of telling the story of The Key Without a Lock to their friends. And Betty Lou always says, f'It was my rag doll that was the cause of it allf' l28l