Inside illustration.
Text Differences
1. In the 1932 text, Nancy's car stops due to something wrong in the engine. In the revised text, Nancy stops the car.
2. The name of the girl in the inn is Sadie Whipple in the original text, and is changed to Carol in the revised text.
3. The last name of the bad man and woman is Semitt in the 1932 text, Jemitt in the revised text.
4. There's a difference due to technology. In the 1932 text, phone calls still involved an operator, so when Nancy's call is first cut off she talks to the operator to restore the line. The phone call fails a second time in the original text, but in the revised text there is no phone operator and the line fails only once.
5. There's an actual problem with the car that caused it to stop and Nancy is able to fix what is wrong with it.
6. In the original text, the will is due to be read in three days. In the revised text, it will be read in two days time.
7. Nancy finds gold pieces in the tower room in the 1932 text. In the revised ones, she finds old coins. She also finds three thousand dollars in the old text, jewelry in the revised text.
8. There's almost an entire chapter in the old text that is not in the revised one. The attorney representing the other relatives shows up to talk to Mr. Drew. The two lawyers talk about the case and then Jacob and Peter show up and start getting nasty and basically accuse Sadie of killing Asa. The lawyer that was representing them then quits the case. Both attorneys are now furious with the two guys.
9. Both girls are chloroformed instead of just Nancy.
10. In the original text it's Frank that chlorforms Nancy (and Sadie). In the revised text, it's a different crook.
11. There's no bit with the crook being followed to a house in the original text. The place Nancy and her father go to is another inn that supposedly hired the Semitts but then dismissed them just as quickly.
12. In the original text. Frank steals Nancy's car.
13. In the original text. Frank and his wife have apparently already used the whip on Sadie. In the revised text, they threaten her with the whip.
14. In the original text. Mr. Drew and the banker meet and talk to Jacob and Peter in the closing chapters. In the revised text, this doesn't happen.
15. In the original text it's the banker who keeps Nancy from falling. In the revised text, it's her father.
16. In the original text Nancy gets all the relatives together before she reads the letter she found hidden in the tower room (explaining Sadie's origins). In the revised text, the relatives are not gathered, except for Peter and Jacob who just happen to also be there.. The papers are blank, but it turns out they were written in invisible ink and Nancy is able to make the writing become visible.
17. In the original text Sadie says she plans to buy the property and reunite the relatives. In the revised text, Sadie's going to be sent to a school and the two families are discussing which she will stay with.
Synopsis. SPOILERS!
Chapter 1
1932: Nancy's car stops in the storm due to something wrong in the engine. They hear Frank berating Carol, but at the time don't know the name of either one.
1968: Nancy and the girls are driving in a storm. They see an inn and take refuge there. There's a very old man who is a relative of George's and Bess that lives there. Nancy's car is almost hit by a tree and they have to walk the rest of the way to the inn. Mr. Jemitt is a nasty guy they meet there. A girl comes in whose name is Carol. Nancy gets to see the old man, Asa, and he at first mistakes her for his deceased wife.
Chapter 2
1932: The young girls name is Sadie Whipple. Her foster parents run the tea room. Sadie refers to the old man upstairs as Mr. Sydney. The name of the nasty man is Semitt. Nancy goes to the tower room when the guy refers to Nancy as Jenny (his deceased wife.)
1968: There's a painting of his former wife in the room. No one ever comes to visit the guy, but it's because the Jemitts, the nasty guy and his equally nasty wife, stop them. The girls and Carol have dinner with Asa. Nancy calls Hannah and tells her about Asa. The phone goes dead.
Chapter 3
1932: Nancy talks to Asa who says he hasn't had a caller for ten years. Nancy calls home to talk to Hannah and the connection is dropped. Nancy talks to the operator and she connects Nancy again, and Nancy resumes talking to Hannah when the connection is broken again, but only after Hannah warns Nancy about being in trouble.
1968: Asa made candles. He invented the twisted candle. His wife, children and brother are all dead. He talks about a family feud. There's a scram from outside. George's great Uncle Peter drives up and he's just as nasty as the Jemitts. Another nasty guy named Jacob arrives and he talks about the feud.
Chapter 4
1932: Nancy, George, Bess and Sadie have dinner with Asa. Asa says he was born in England but has been in the U.S. for 84 years. He then talks about how he made candles.He invented the twisted candle. They finish dinner and the girls leave the room and plan to leave the inn.
1968: Nancy, Mr. Drew and Hannah talk. Hannah explains the Boonton-Sidneys feuding. Carol calls Nancy. She needs Mr. Drew to come and talk to Asa. Nancy and her father go to the inn. Mrs. Jemitt tries to stop them from seeing Asa.
Chapter 5
1932: Nancy fixes the problem with the car. Peter arrives. Jacob then arrives.
1968: Asa wants to make a new will. Natch watches Frank Jemitt bury something. It's something that belongs to Asa. Carol tells her two guys had seen Asa and had argued with each other. The Jemitt's are Carol's foster-parents. Mrs. Jemitt hits Carol with a hairbrush and then hits Nancy. Carol says she's suspicious of the Jemitts.
Chapter 6
1932: Nancy returns home. Hannah explains her warning to Nancy. She also explains the source of the family feud. Sadie calls and says Asa needs a lawyer.
1968: Carol was abandoned when she was two. The Jemitts have been cruel to her. She thinks they have been stealing from Asa. Mr. Drew needs to pick up a bank guy in order to witness a document. Nancy digs up the stolen chest and drives away, with Frank driving angrily right after here.
Chapter 7
1932: Nancy and Mr. Drew go to see Asa. Asa wants to make a new will. Nancy later spots Frank burying something. Sadie tells Nancy about Peter and Jacob visiting Asa and getting into a major argument. Mrs. Semitt appears and is nasty to both Nancy and Sadie.
1968: She manages to throw Frank off her trail. Nancy meets the banker and he will keep the chest she dug up. Frank tries to stop Nancy and the banker from going back to the inn. Jacob Sidney and Peter Boonton arrive at the inn. Carol helps block them from getting to Asa until Mr. Drew is ready.
Chapter 8
1932: She hits Sadie with a hairbrush. She hits Nancy, and Nancy takes the hairbrush away from her. Sadie says she suspects the Semitts of being dishonest.
1968: Asa has made a new will and it's signed properly. He tells both Jacob and Peter to leave (the two guys are arguing with each other all the time). Frank eavesdrops on what is said. He admits to taking the chest. Asa wants Nancy to search the place for places where he stored things but forgot where they are.
Chapter 9
1932: Nancy and Frank talk and he's really upset when she reveals her father, the attorney, is upstairs talking to Asa. Her father wants Nancy to go get a particular banker. Nancy takes the time to dig up the box Frank hid and finds out it says it's property of Asa Sidney.
1968: Nancy talks to Asa. Mr. Drew talks to Frank. Mrs. Jemitt tries to interfere with Asa getting his mail. Mr. Drew thinks the Jemitts have been taking Asa's mining dividend checks. Bess and George have been turned against Nancy by the family feuding. Carol and Nancy end up finding a diamond bracelet.
Chapter 10
1932: Nancy drives to get the banker and is followed by Frank. She manages to throw him off the scent. She talks to the banker and leaves the box with the bank. They have another encounter with Frank.
1968: They both search the inn. Nancy finds an old music box. Mr. Drew thinks that Asa has been systematically robbed. Nancy returns home; Carol calls and something has happened. Mr. Drew and Nancy return to the inn. Asa has died. Frank is nasty to Mr. Drew. (So far, the legal charges against the Jemitts would include tampering with the U.S. mail, theft, and probably child abuse.)
Chapter 11
1932: Jacob and Peter arrive. The two guys argue about going up to see Asa and who goes first. Sadie helps slow them down. They get into the tower but not until after the new will has been signed. Asa then tells the two guys to get out. Frank has been eavesdropping.
1968: Mr. Drew tells Jemitt that he is to do what Mr. Drew says as he's the executor of Asa's estate. The Jemitts snoop, and a deputy sheriff arrives and puts a seal on the tower room. He tells Jemitt that he will be arrested if the seal is tampered with. The will is to be ready in two days. Hannah arrives to stay with them. Nancy follows a truck taking t hings from the inn and tells her father. The funeral is held and the will is read. Anna Boonton Marvin is Bess' motehr. Louise Boonton Fayne is George's mother. A small amount of money goes to the Jemitts, but the vast majority of the money goes to Carol, who promptly faints.
Chapter 12
1932: The banker leaves. People eat some sandwiches. Mr. Drew eats five sandwiches. Sadie talks about the technological changes Asa has seen in his lifetime.
1968: Sidney and Bronton threaten to go to court. Asa wants the Jemitts removed as Carol's foster parents. Frank takes stuff from the barn, stuff he had previously taken from the house. He goes to a small house. Nancy and Carol enter when he leaves and finds boxes of stuff there. The banker enters and takes stuff from a box. Frank returns and attacks the banker, Hill.
Chapter 13
1932: Mr. Drew questions Frank. Nancy catches the Semitts trying to block Asa's mail. Nancy and her father talk about the Semitts taking Asa's dividend money. Nancy goes to Bess's and sees Peter's car parked there. This is when George and Bess turn cold to Nancy.
1968: Nancy attacks Frank. Hill says Mr. Drew sent him. Frank leaves. The girls and the banker take the four boxes from where they were hidden. The Jemitts have run away and slashed the tires on Nancy's car. Nancy calls the police. Ned calls. Bess is nasty to Ned. Nancy checks a chimney for hidden loot but finds only live bats.
Chapter 14
1932: Nancy tells her father about Bess and George's attitude towards her. Mr. Drew is sure the Semitts have been systematically stealing things that belong to Asa. Nancy gets a call from Sadie, but the call is cut short. Nancy and her father return to the inn and find out Asa has died. (The one thing I wonder about, in both versions of the text, is why no one seemed to expect foul play in Asa's death. Granted, he was a hundred years old, but there are angry relatives and the creepy thieving Semitts/Jemitts, all of whom would have a desire for Asa to be dead. )
1968: The next day the banker leaves. Nancy's tires have been replaced. Two private detectives and Mr. Drew arrive. Nancy takes Carol shopping and Bess and George are there. The girls talk and the bad feelings are cleared up and they all end up going shopping. Mr. Drew has a private talk with Nancy. Nancy sees Frank looking in the window of their home while she and her father are talking. (Add trespassing to Frank's rap sheet.)
Chapter 15
1932: The seal is put on the door and the warning is given to Frank about not letting the seal be broken. The will is to be read in three days. Nancy talks to her father about how their greed has changed some people. The time arrives for the reading of the will and everyone is present. He reads the details of the will and that Sadie will receive the major portion. Sadie faints.
1968: Ned calls and they go out to eat and swim. Frank had cut the phone cord at the mansion. Nancy leaves to make a call. She finds Jacob Sidney bound and gagged in a room. he leaves. Ned finds a hidden safe. In it they find jeweled swords. They hear a crash.
Chapter 16
1932: Peter and Jacob threaten to fight the will in court. The Semitts are trying to get Sadie to agree to give them certain items of furniture (which probably actually have money and other things hidden in them.) Nancy says she'll stay the night with Sadie. She later notices some candlesticks are missing. She sees Semitt carrying some boxes to a buildingin the woods that Semitt. Nancy finds four boxes in the building.
1968: They find a guy on the ground by a ladder. The guy is not out, though, and he gets Nancy alone and chloroforms her. The guard had been knocked out. (This never would have happened to the Shadow's agents. These guards are guards in name only). Nancy recovers and heads home, stopping to get gas. She spots the guy who drugged her. She and Ned follow the guy into a house. Two detec tives show up and they all enter the place.
Chapter 17
1932: Sadie and Nancy watch the banker arrive, open a box and take some papers form it. Frank shows up and attacks Hill. Nancy then goes after Frank. Frank accuses the banker of being a thief, but Nancy handles him quite well.
1968: They go to police HQ and Nancy prefers charges against the guy. They get home and eat, and Ned leaves. the next day the three girls return to the mansion. The orphanage will find new foster parents for Carol. The girls are allowed to enter the tower room and search it. Nancy finds a bunch of old coins and some jewelry that had been hidden. She also finds something marked specifically for Carol. Later Nancy finds out Carol has been kidnapped. (Add kidnapping to Frank's rap sheet. Man, you're going down! I really don't like Frank.)
Chapter 18
1932: They follow Frank back to the inn. Nancy calls home. Nancy, Sadie and the banker will all remain for the night. The Semitts take off and slash Nancy's car tires. They catch the Semitts trying to get to the cottage where they had stashed some stuff. Mr. Drew arrives with some private detectives. Her father tells her of the legal effort to break the will. Nancy and Sadie go downtown to do some shopping.
1968: The girls go to Nancy's house. Someone saw Jemitt take Carol in his car. Nancy calls the police. Mr. Drew gets home and Nancy gets a threatening call. Nancy and Mr. Drew go to talk to Nancy's chloroformer in jail and he spills a lot of info about the Jemitts. Mr. Drew and Nancy go to a cottage and find property stolen from A policeman arrives and they break into the place. Nancy looks into one of the boxes and screams.
Chapter 19
1932: They run into Bess and George and all have a talk that clears up the misunderstandings. Then all four girls go shopping. Nancy tries to find out about the orphanage that Sadie came from.
1968: It's a live snake inside the box. The box also has some of Asa's fine silverware in it. Nancy thinks Carol is being held at the inn. She sees Frank in the tower room. Carol is there and so is his wife.
Chapter 20
1932: Nancy goes home and Ned arrives. Ned knows about the Semitts. They have supposedly moved away. Mr. Drew replaced the sea on the tower room with a padlock. Nancy gets to go into the tower room to check it out. She finds gold pieces and money in two hidden places. She finds another hidden place and a letter. Sadie comes into the room. They hear 'a frightful howl.'
1968: Frank tries to push Nancy off her ladder. Carol is trying to stop him. The ladder falls, but Mr. Drew arrives in time to save Nancy. Mr. Drew has the police sent for. Nancy calls Peter, Jacob, Bess and George for them all to come there and she reads a letter to Carol that Asa had written. It explains how Carol is related to people on both sides of the family feud. The family members make up, although they do argue a bit about which group will get to adopt Carol. (It's not for greed that they're arguing, fortunately.)
Chapter 21
Mr. Drew talks to the attorney representing the other relatives. He wants to settle the matter out of court. The lawyer admits he doesn't really like the clients. Jacob and Peter arrive. The two start arguing and the lawyer gets so mad he quits the case. The two also basically accuse Sadie of killing Asa. Both lawyers are now furious at the two guys. Hannah calls and tells Mr. Drew that both Nancy and Carol are missing.
Chapter 22
The two girls catch Frank again trying to get into the house. He chloroforms both girls.
Chapter 23
Nancy finds the tied-up detective. She calls her father and tells him what happened. The banker, Nancy and her father all head to a place where the Semitts have supposedly found jobs. They are already gone. Nancy and the others go to a boarding house where they find the Semitts have left already. They go back home to get something to eat and then Nancy says she wants to go back to the inn.
Chapter 24
Nancy, Mr. Drew and the banker all go to the inn. They run into Peter and Jacob. Frank had stolen Nancy's car and has it in a shed. She climbs up a ladder to the tower. Frank and his wife are in the room and threatening Sadie with the whip. Apparently they have already hit her with it. Frank sees Nancy and moves to topple her off the ladder.
Chapter 25
Mr. Drew and the others are talking when they hear a scram from Nancy. Mr. Drew enters the tower room and grabs Frank's throat while Hill stops Nancy from falling. Nancy gets the hidden letter and reads it aloud. The pages are blank are first, but Nancy finds they are written in invisible ink and she's able to make the writing become visible. The letter explains Sadie's origin. A few days later Sadie, Nancy, Bess and George are again at the inn and search for and find a bunch of hidden things. Sadie says she plans to buy the property and all the relatives can be reunited.
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