Inside illustration.
Text Differences
1.
Synopsis: SPOILERS!
The two versions are actually quite different in what the stories focus on. The characters are the same, with some names changes, of course, but Bunce plays a far larger role in the original story which is really more a legalistic type of story compared to the revised text which is more of an actual mystery story with strange things happening.
1. In the original text, Nancy nearly runs the kitten over and later takes it home, then answers an ad in the paper to return the kitten. The revised text already has established the Carter character as having cats. The kitten is drugged in the revised text, and Nancy doesn't take it home. The guy that complains about the cat is Silbert. Bunce comes into the story in the second chapter.
2. There's no mention of Nancy's mother dying when Nancy was three in the original text.
3. Charges are made that Carter had Gus put into an institution and paid for his care in the original text.
4. Hannah's friend Ms. Bealing looks after Carter's house and not Hannah.
5. In the original text, Carter has 25 cats. In the revised text, there's no set number.
6. In the original text, early on five cats are poisoned and not stolen.
7. In the revised text, the guy who was Carter's partner was Toby Simpson. In the original text, his name is the cumbersome Horace St. Will.
8. Bunce plays a much larger role in the original text.
9. There is much less emphasis on the Persian cats in the original text.
10. The whole thing about Nancy being in a play and going to rehearsals is left out of the original text.
These are just some of the differences. In my opinion the two texts are so different that I am going to do the books separately.
Original Text
Chapter 1
Nancy is practicing tap dancing in code. She nearly runs a kitten over with her car. they take the kitten home. A newspaper ad is offering a reward for the return of the cat. The cats at the woman's house are obviously underfed. The man that complains about the cats is named Jed Silbert.
Chapter 2
Silbert continues being nasty. Gus Woonton is mentioned. Bunce is introduced. Carter gets a telegram saying Gus Woonton died. The men claim Carter had Gus put away. Carter paid for Gus' care at the institution. Bunce backs down on being nasty to Carter when Nancy says who her father is.
Chapter 3
Bealing is a friend of Hannah's. She will be the one to look after Carter's house. (Carter had fallen and hurt herself.) Carter has 25 cats. Nancy goes home, and then returns with her father and Ms. Bealing to Carter's house. Nancy hears tapping. Bunce was supposed to be Gus' guardian. Carter suspects Bunce of holding money he shouldn't have. Nancy and her father go to talk to Bunce.
Chapter 4
They talk to Mrs. Bunce. Mr. Bunce claims Gus didn't have much money in his estate. Bealing says she's heard tapping noises. Someone has poisoned five of Carter's cats. A guy arrives in a fancy car, and says his name is Horace St. Will. Nancy sends him away, as in the revised text, and Carter says he was her partner.
Chapter 5
Carter talks about Horace. Bunce runs into Nancy's car. Nancy catches up to Horace and then return to Carter's. They talk about old times. Bunce knocks at the door and forces his way in.
Chapter 6
Bunce is angry about Mr. Drew questioning him about Gus' estate. Ralph Woonton is related to Horace. Horace calls and says he's looked at some letters he had and needs to talk to Nancy's father. The Woonton's never had a child at all. Bunce told authorities that they did. By claiming Gus was their son, he got the estate to go to Gus and he was in charge of Gus who, remember, wasn't really the Woonton's son, so Bunch is perpetuating a rather large fraud. Later Nancy sees Bunce in town and follows him.
Chapter 7
Bunce goes to a stock exchange place. He's lost a lot of money playing the stock market. Nancy tells her father what she found out. Nancy hears tapping, goes outside, and finds a ladder leading to her father's study. Mr. Drew arrives and finds the papers from Horace are missing. Ned has also arrived. They all go to Carter's the next day and then go to talk to Bunce, but a young kid tells them he saw Bunce and his wife leave with suitcases and say they were never returning.
Chapter 8
Mr. Drew arranges for a detective to trace down Bunce. Nancy and the girls investigate Bunce's house and hear some kind of cry inside.
Chapter 9
The girls run into the detective. They find a couple of Persian cats. Bunce took them. The cats are not in good physical condition, having been nearly starved. Nancy finds a piece of paper which indicates Bunce stole the legal papers from their home and hide them. Odd sounds have been heard in Carter's house.
Chapter 10
Nancy gets home and finds the tools from the tool box have been stolen. Ned appears and says 'Why, I met a darky on the street yesterday!' (It was Bunce in disguise). The next day they go on a boat ride. They run into a guy who knew the Woontons and he says they never had a son. The boat hits something and starts to capsize.
Chapter 11
Most everyone ends up in the water. The boat doesn't capsize, but it has a major tilt. The re's an explosion on the boat and the captain is thrown overboard. The steamer they hit is in better condition. The guy piloting the boat says the steering wheel had been tampered with. A guy named Panello is trying to start trouble for the captain. Nancy and George follow Panello in town and see him meet with a dark freckle-faced man.
Chapter 12
The men enter a place called the Egyptian Temple of the Stars. Nancy and George also go in. The restaurant part serves terrible food. (Where is Gordon Ramsey when you need him?) There is some kind of drugged incense that puts George and Nancy to sleep. A fake astrologer named Omar later discovers the sleeping girls.
Chapter 13
He opens the windows and the fresh air revives the girls. He offers to take them home. George finds the wires have been cut. Omar plans to kidnap the girls and hold them for ransom. He locks them into a room and lights the incense. Police arrive to check out a possible burglar and then they leave.
Chapter 14
Omar sends a ransom note to Mr. Drew. The girls are unconscious in the room they were locked in. The girls wake up and hear a tapping noise. The police have returned and find the girls. Nancy had tried to tap a message in code. He puts the girls into a police paddy wagon and they go to sleep again. Mr. Drew gets the ransom note.
Chapter 15
Meanwhile, the girls have been sleeping at the police headquarters. The police take the girls home. Mr. Drew works with a detective to set a trap for Omar. He goes home and finds Nancy is there.
Chapter 16
No one showed up for the money and the trap. The detective thinks Omar might be a black man. They go to the temple and talk to the landlord who says Omar has skipped out and owes him and others money. Nancy visits the boat captain. Ned shows up with a friend named Harlain. They go to the insurance company to tell them they suspect Penello. Nancy gets a call from Penello threatening her.
Chapter 17
Nancy visits Bealing at Carter's and finds out Carter has been sending money to a girl named Beverly Barrett. Bealing also mentions the tapping sound. Carter gives Nancy a Persian kitten. Mr. Drew wants Nancy to go to New York, and she wants to check on the girl that Carter had been sending money to. They get on a train and meet Horace who is pushing to get a play accepted. He wants the leading role to go to the girl Nancy is checking up on.
Chapter 18
The girls meet Bess' aunt in New York. Later the girls go to see where Miss Barrett, the girl Carter is sending money to, lives, and it's in a ritzy section of town. They talk to the woman and try to tell her Carter is not rich, but Barrett won't believe them. Horace shows up.
Chapter 19
Nancy tells Horace and Barrett about Carter's bad financial position and Barrett slowly starts to get a clue. While out eating Nancy spots Bunce and his wife. They follow him to a steamship company where he's buying tickets for South America. They even find out what hotel the couple is staying in and their room number.
Chapter 20
The telegram saying Gus Woonton had died was a complete fake. The girls meet with the detective and fill him in on what they have found out. He tells them that Bunce is in legal trouble for smuggling in aliens and doing other things. He has an arrest warrant for Bunce.
Chapter 21
The girls talk to Horace. He's working on a way to get Carter money and give the girl in New York a part in a play. The detective calls and says the Bunces have scarpered. Later the girls spot Bunce talking to two black men.
Chapter 22
Omar is one of the men Bunce is talking to. Nancy and Horace follow the criminals. She overhears them plotting about the captain of the boat and Penello. Penello claims to know where Gus is. The thugs capture Nancy. They take her on board a boat.
Chapter 23
Bess and George go to talk to the captain of the boat Nancy has been hidden on. Police come on board but fail to find Nancy, but Bess and George find her. The chief officer of the boat is part of the criminal gang.
Chapter 24
Police come on board and take the chief officer, then soon catch Bunce and his wife in disguise. Omar and the other crook are soon captured. The Bunces are put on trial and Fred is given a long prison term. Mrs. Bunce is he mother of Gus but does not know where he is. Most of the inheritance money still exists and Mr. Drew finds it. Carter says there are still tapping sounds in her house.
Chapter 25
Nancy catches a boy in the basement of Carter's house. It's Gus. Later Gus is given an operation that restores his mental stability. He will stay with Carter. The play is later performed and is a big success.
Revised Text
Chapter 1
Nancy's mother died when Nancy was three. Hannah's friend is named Bealing, and she is a nurse. She is helping a woman named Miss Carter who has lots of Persian cats. Nancy is going to be in a Rivers Club play (as she will be an actress in The Clue of the Dancing Puppet). Five of the cats the woman has have been stolen, and a kitten is found that has been drugged. Nancy calls the police. George and Bess sleep in the garage with the cats. Nancy is in the house and hears tapping sounds.
Chapter 2
Sounds seem to be coming from the basement. Nancy taps using Morse code and there is no reply. Nancy sees a man in the back yard running. Someone had tried to get into the garage. Two dogs bark at the cats. The next door neighbor (Bunce) seems to hat the cats and threatens to have them all removed.
Chapter 3
Nancy has to practice for the play. Mrs. Carter herself was an actress. Bess and George remain with the cats. The kitten definitely had been drugged. A former partner of Mrs. Carter shows up. The girls check the attic. Nancy's car is followed.
Chapter 4
Nancy goes to consult with her father. Mt. Drew finds out who the follower was supposed to be. The car was stolen, and Nancy talks to the police. Nancy gets a sort of threatening phone call. Someone comes to the house but the door is not answered. Ned calls. Ned and Nancy go to the rehearsal and some thug attacks Ned.
Chapter 5
The thug flees. Nancy finds a key on the floor. Ned calls the cops and stays overnight at Nancy's.
Chapter 6
Someone has been in Mrs. Carter's house. Nancy finds a secret bedroom in the basement, along with its own bathroom. She finds letters and a diary from Gus Woonton, who is the son of the former owners of the house.
Chapter 7
Bess and George go to their homes and Hannah stays with the woman. Nancy takes the diary and then goes home. Gus Woonton had been treated for mental problems. He ran away from the place. Mr. Drew fills Nancy in on some details. Ned arrives and Nancy goes to her rehearsal. Someone has set the prop room on fire and locked the door, trying to trap Nancy and Ned inside.
Chapter 8
Ned and Nancy put out the fire. The door has somehow been unlocked. Nancy reads Gus' diary, and then the diary goes missing.
Chapter 9
Five more cats have been stolen. Bess and George return to Mrs. Carter's house. They are going to a cat show to sell cats. A couple cats win awards. Someone else is selling Persian cats, and they are the ones stolen from Mrs. Carter.
Chapter 10
Nancy goes to his booth. He has, of course, no pedigree papers for the cats he is selling. The police arrive but the thief has gone. One of the cats they brought runs away to a high place and Nancy climbs up to get it.
Chapter 11
Nancy almost falls. She rescues the cat. They sell the cat for a very high price. Toby Simpson, Mrs. Carter's former partner, comes for dinner.
Chapter 12
He knows Gus and that Gus' parents are dead. Nancy calls Mr. Drew and he'll do some more checking. Nancy hears tapping sounds at night, and an unconscious man is found outside.
Chapter 13
They know the guy-it's the next door neighbor. He was hit on the head. Nancy talks to a guy at the place where Gus was treated for his mental problems. She checks the secret room and George is hurt.
Chapter 14
George was hurt by a mousetrap that had been placed there deliberately to hurt someone. Nancy is told that Gus knows Morse code. Nancy goes to another rehearsal and almost gets hit by falling scenery. Gus was responsible. Nancy and Hannah have sundaes.
Chapter 15
Nancy goes to check with the police. They have a perp, but Nancy doesn't recognize him. Bunce, the neighbor, is legally in charge of looking after Gus. Nancy goes back to Mrs. Carter's house. Bunce moves away. They hear a strange sound from the attic.
Chapter 16
A cat is in a mummy case, but there's no real mystery about it. Mr. Drew has more information for Nancy. Nancy hooks up an alarm by a window the tapper may be coming in through.
Chapter 17
They spot the creep. He gets away and they call the police. Mr. Drew finds more information out. Tommy (the young kid from down the street) warns Nancy about a guy.
Chapter 18
There's a bomb that has been placed under Nancy's car. Ned arrives. They go to Mrs. Carter's. Bess, George, Ned, Dave and Burt are all there. Toby arrives. He looks at the attic for stuff that the theater might be able to use. They find a plate with the name Woonten on it. They also fine a chest with jewelry and figurines in it.
Chapter 19
They spread out throughout the house to catch the thief. Ned and Nancy go to the attic. Ned catches Gus. Gus claims not to have bothered the cats. He confesses to some of the things that have happened. He says the next-door guy had been in Carter's house. Ned calls the police. Nancy stays, the others leave. Nancy is caught.
Chapter 20
Bess, George and the boys rescue Nancy. Ned calls the cops and they find Bunce and another thug who stole the cats. Nancy performs well in the play.
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