“I don’t see why not. After all, everyone makes mistakes.”

“Ye-es,” I agreed doubtfully, “I suppose so.” I was thinking of that speculative look in my relative’s sharp eyes and I was quite certain that not even in the most unguarded moment of her life would she have done anything so stupid as to appropriate baggage which did not belong to her.

It was quite dark before we had finished discussing what had happened and were at last ready to settle down for the night. Eve was already in bed when I blew out the light and went to open the window.

I poked my head through the dotted Swiss curtain into the cool sweet night. The only light spot anywhere was the strip of sandy road beyond the fence. “Tomorrow,” I thought, “we’ll explore that road and all the others. We’ll go down to the beach and see how cold the water is and——”

“What are you looking at?” Eve called impatiently.

I turned and came toward the bed. “There’s a man creeping along the grass on the other side of the hedge!” I said.

“Creeping?”

“Creeping is what I said!”

“Oh, dear,” Eve sighed. “I just can’t bother with any more mysteries tonight.” She snuggled deeper into her pillow. “Do come to bed. No doubt he’s—just—catching fireflies—or—or—hunting bird’s nests—or something——”

Her voice trailed off into nothingness. And without another word, I climbed into bed and pulled the covers close about me.

III Craven House

When I opened my eyes to a roomful of sunlight and sea breezes, Eve was gone. My watch had stopped. What with one thing and another, I had forgotten to wind it. But I knew by the look of things that the morning would never see seven o’clock again!

When

Stealing downstairs a quarter of an hour later, I beheld Eve seated at the kitchen table consuming food. No one else was in sight except a large gray cat folded up comfortably by the stove.

“Where is she?” I whispered, poking my head cautiously through the doorway.

“Gone to market,” Eve said, resugaring her oatmeal. “I told her you had a basketball wrist and the doctor said you needed lots of sleep.”

 Prev. P 10/126 next