"Lead on, Detective Drew!" Ned urged. "What shall we tear down first?"

Nancy smiled and turned to Susan. "Would you mind if we take out the paneling below the shelf?"

"Go ahead!" Susan replied. "I can't wait to see if the treasure is there!"

The boys got tools from the cellar and carefully removed the wood panels from the wall beneath the niche. Rough plaster was revealed.

Nancy knelt and examined it. "I'm sure there's more wood under this plaster!" she said. "Let's take it off."

Under her direction, Ned and Niko chipped off the plaster. "There's a door here!" Niko called excitedly.

The young people gathered around breathlessly while Niko pried open the door. The space beyond was filled with packages.

"There's your family treasure, Cecily!" Niko said, straightening up and putting an arm around his fiancee.

"Oh, I can't believe it!" she exclaimed.

Ned and Burt dragged the bundles out and helped Cecily open them. There was one box filled with gold coins, a package of old securities, and piece after piece of beautiful silver.

"I wonder if the securities are worth anything now," Cecily remarked when she had spread everything out on the dining table.

Ned whistled. "Even if they're not, you have a fortune there in gold!"

Susan threw her arms around Cecily and said, "Oh, I'm so glad you have your part of the family treasure!"

"Now Niko and I can get married!" Cecily beamed. "And it's all due to you, Nancy! You trapped the record pirates and found the fortune!"

"And helped me get back Kathy and Kevin," Susan said.

"I had a lot of assistance from Bess and George and the boys," Nancy said modestly.

"I have an idea," Niko spoke up. '"Cecily, why don't you and Susan combine your family resources? You can use some of your money to develop your property as a summer resort. You can build a dance pavilion out on the old picnic grounds and the Flying Dutchmen will provide the music!"

"That's wonderful, Niko!" Susan agreed. "And we'll restore the garden and install the iron flamingo in its old location!"

While the others were planning excitedly, Nancy was wondering wistfully when another mystery would come her way. She was to find out soon, upon discovering The Message in the Hollow Oak.

Cecily, meanwhile, had slipped from the room. She returned with the locket and whispered to Susan. When the girl smiled and nodded, Cecily raised her hand for silence.

"Listen, everybody," she said. "Susan and I want Nancy to have a memento of this adventure. We're going to have the locket repaired and hope she will wear it and think of the cousins she has united through her detective work!"

"Hear! Hear!" Bess, George, and the boys cheered and applauded.

Nancy smiled, though her eyes were filled with happy tears. "Thank you both. I'll never, never forget you or the clue of the broken locket!"

end.