Felipe along, is it?”

“Yes, he gets on my nerves. All the way here I could feel his eyes boring into my back every time I craned my neck to see something.”

“You’re imagining things, Jo. It’s just your guilty conscience. He’s really the perfect servant—very quiet and accommodating, but not inquisitive.”

“Maybe you’re right—but still I’m glad he’s out of the way. Come on, we’ll have to hurry, or they’ll be back.” She caught hold of Peggy’s arm to keep from getting separated in the crowd, then continued, “You remember how horrified Florence was yesterday when I mentioned my plan to climb that scaffold—well, I don’t want her to find out what I’m doing. It’d only worry her, and I have no intention of giving it up.”

A dubious expression crept into Peggy’s hazel eyes. “I still think you’re foolish to risk breaking your neck for something no more important than a hole in a wall.”

“You never can tell, though, what might be behind the hole,” said Jo Ann with an air of mystery.

“But, Jo, how’re you going to get a rope without Florence’s seeing it? It’ll make a bulky-looking package, won’t it?”

“If it does, I won’t get it now. If we can only find where to buy it, we can slip back later. You’ve got to help me get it without Florence’s and Felipe’s seeing it.”

“Well, all right, I suppose I’ll have to do it if you’re determined to go on with your plans—but really I feel terrible about doing anything Florence doesn’t approve of. She and her father’ve been so lovely to us.”

“But I’m not going to do anything to disgrace them. I wouldn’t do that for anything. I really feel that they won’t object at all after I’ve solved the mystery. Florence is just afraid I might get hurt climbing up on that roof. You know well enough I’ve done lots more dangerous things many a time.”

Suddenly spying an Indian woman with a basket of exquisite roses, Peggy stopped, saying, “Forget about your old rope for a minute, Jo, and help me buy some of these beautiful roses. Aren’t they the most gorgeous things you’ve ever seen? Ask her how much they are.”

Jo Ann quickly raked her memory for the proper Spanish words to use in buying the flowers. “Cuanto rosas?” she asked finally.

While talking rapidly in Spanish, the woman picked up a long-stemmed, beautifully shaped 

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