“I’m pretty sure it fell from his wallet,” Nancy replied.

“Please describe him,” the shop owner pleaded. “Did Francis Baum bear any resemblance to this boy in the photograph?”

“Why, no. Mr. Baum is tall and has a dark complexion. The boy is very fair.”

“The age of Francis Baum?” he asked quickly.

“Well, it’s difficult to say. He might be in his late twenties-or possibly a little younger,” Nancy replied.

Nancy’s curiosity had grown steadily as Mr. Faber queried her. She longed to ask a few questions of her own, but wisely waited.

“You wonder perhaps why I ask you so much,” he said. “The answers concern the happiness of Madame Alexandra, a royal lady indeed. You see, the boy in this photograph is her long-lost grandson!”

“Please tell me more,” Nancy urged.

“Years ago, when revolution came to their country, the little boy was taken away secretly by his nurse. His mother, father, sisters, the entire family-except the grandmother-perished at the hands of the enemy.”

“How dreadful!” Nancy murmured.

“Those were terrifying years,” the antique dealer went on sadly. “Madame Alexandra, through the aid of loyal friends, escaped. Since then she has devoted herself to a search for her grandson.”

“The nurse has never been traced?”

“It is believed that she came to America, but here the trail ends. If the grandson still lives, he must be thirty years old. You understand now how important it is that we find Francis Baum?”

“Indeed I do,” Nancy replied. “I’ll gladly help you trace him.”

Nancy had inherited her love of mystery. She was the daughter of Carson Drew, a well-known lawyer, who often handled criminal cases. Her mother had died when she was three, and since then the Drews’ home in River Heights had been managed for her and her father by capable Hannah Gruen.

Nancy’s first case was The Secret of the Old Clock, and her recent one, The Quest of the Missing Map.