"You'll stick to that--being friends, I mean, no matter what happens,
won't you, Penny?" Dundee said in a low voice, setting the fragile
crystal dishes he carried upon the porcelain drainboard of the sink.
"I knew you had something bad to tell me.... It's about--Ralph, I
suppose?" Her husky voice was scarcely audible above the rush of hot
water into the dishpan. "You'd better tell me straight off, Bonnie. I'm
not a very patient person.... Are they going to arrest Ralph when they
find him? There wasn't a word in the paper about him this morning--"
"I'm afraid they are, Penny," Dundee told her miserably. "Captain Strawn
has a warrant ready, but of course--"
"Oh, you don't have to tell me you hope Ralph isn't guilty!" she cut in
with sudden passionate vehemence. "Don't _I_ know he couldn't have done
it? They always arrest the wrong person first, the blundering idiots--"
It was the thorny Penny again, the Penny with glittering eyes which
matched her nickname. But Dundee felt better able to cope with this
Penny....
"I'm afraid I'm the chief idiot, but you must believe that I'm sorry it
should be a friend of yours," he told her, and reached for the plate she
had rinsed of its suds under the hot water tap.
"Shoot the works!" she commanded, with hard flippancy.
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