{"product_id":"2940014235259","title":"Camp Fire Girls Solve A Mystery","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e                            THE EMPTY HOUSE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatherine Adams stepped from the train at Oakwood, glanced expectantly up\u003cbr\u003eand down the station platform, hesitated a moment, and then, picking out\u003cbr\u003ea conspicuous spot under a glaring arc light, deposited her suitcase on\u003cbr\u003ethe ground with a thump, mounted guard beside it and patiently waited for\u003cbr\u003eNyoda to find her in the surging crowd.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was two days before Christmas, and travel was heavy. It seemed as\u003cbr\u003ethough the entire population of Oakland was either coming home,\u003cbr\u003edeparting, or rushing madly up and down before the panting train in\u003cbr\u003esearch of friends and relatives. Katherine was engulfed in a tidal wave\u003cbr\u003eof rapturous greetings that rolled over her from every side, as a\u003cbr\u003ecoachful of soldiers, home for Christmas, were met and surrounded by the\u003cbr\u003ewaiting lines of townspeople.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatherine stood still, absorbed in watching the various reunions taking\u003cbr\u003eplace around her, while the tidal wave gradually subsided, receding in\u003cbr\u003ethe direction of Main Street. The principal stream had already flowed\u003cbr\u003epast her and the crowd was rapidly thinning out when Katherine woke to\u003cbr\u003ethe realization that she was still unclaimed. There was no sign of Nyoda.\u003cbr\u003eThe expectant smile faded from Katherine’s face and in its place there\u003cbr\u003ecame a look of puzzled wonder. What had happened? Why wasn’t Nyoda there\u003cbr\u003eto meet her? Was there some mistake? Wasn’t this Oakwood? Had she gotten\u003cbr\u003eoff at the wrong station, she thought in sudden panic. No, there was the\u003cbr\u003esign beside the door of the green boarded station; its gilded letters\u003cbr\u003egleamed down reassuringly at her. Katherine stood on one foot and\u003cbr\u003epondered. Was this the day she was supposed to come? What day was it,\u003cbr\u003eanyway? The thick pad calendar beside the ticket seller’s window inside\u003cbr\u003ethe station proclaimed it to be the twenty-third. All right so far; she\u003cbr\u003ehadn’t mixed up the date, then. She had written Nyoda that she would come\u003cbr\u003eon the twenty-third, on the five-forty-five train. The train had been on\u003cbr\u003etime. Where was Nyoda?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatherine was assailed by a sudden doubt. Had she mailed that letter?\u003cbr\u003eYes, she was certain of that. She had run out to the mail box at ten\u003cbr\u003eo’clock at night especially to mail it. What had gone wrong? Why wasn’t\u003cbr\u003ethere someone to meet her?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe looked around at the walls as if expecting them to answer, and her\u003cbr\u003eroving eye caught sight of the lettering on a glass door opposite. The\u003cbr\u003etelephone! Goose! Why hadn’t she thought of that before? Of course there\u003cbr\u003ewas some mistake responsible for Nyoda’s not meeting her, but in a moment\u003cbr\u003ethat would be all straightened out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe sprang across to the booth and picked up the directory hanging beside\u003cbr\u003ethe telephone. Then a queer, bewildered look came into her eyes and she\u003cbr\u003estood still with the book hanging uncertainly from her fingers. She had\u003cbr\u003eforgotten Nyoda’s name! She twisted her brows into a pucker and made a\u003cbr\u003efrantic effort to recall it. No use; it was a fruitless endeavor. Where\u003cbr\u003ethat name used to be in her mind there was now a blank space, empty and\u003cbr\u003eecholess as the original void. It was _too_ ridiculous! Katherine gave a\u003cbr\u003elittle stamp of vexation. It was not the first time a name had popped out\u003cbr\u003eof her mind at a critical moment. And sometimes—O horror! it didn’t come\u003cbr\u003eback again for days. Was there ever anything so utterly absurd as the\u003cbr\u003eplight in which she now found herself? She knew Nyoda’s name as well as\u003cbr\u003eher own. M. M. It certainly began with an M.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter nearly an hour’s exasperated wracking of her brains she gave it up\u003cbr\u003ein disgust and stalked out of the station. Not for worlds would she have\u003cbr\u003econfided to anyone her plight.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070481547504,"sku":"2940014235259","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014235259_p0.jpg?v=1763603732","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014235259","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}