Miles away from the porch?" Dundee asked quickly.
"Oh, I don't know--ten minutes, maybe. She came back alone, saying she
had found Karen in her bedroom--Flora's room, of course--crying
inconsolably. Flora told Hugo he'd better go up to her himself, since
she evidently had her feelings hurt because he hadn't followed her in
the first place. Tracey, who wasn't playing bridge, you remember,
because he had given up his place to Sprague, asked Flora if she'd seen
Sprague, and Flora said, in a surprised voice, 'No! I wonder where he is
all this time,' and Polly said that probably he'd gone to the lavatory,
which opens into the main hall and is next to the library.... Well,
pretty soon Judge Marshall and Karen came back--"
"Pretty soon?--Just how long was Judge Marshall gone?" Dundee pressed
her, his pencil, which had been flying to take down her every word,
poised over the notebook he had snatched from her desk.
"I can't say exactly!" Penny protested thornily. "I was playing again at
the other table. I suppose it was about ten minutes, for Ralph and I had
made another rubber, I remember.... Anyway, Karen was smiling like a
baby that has had a lot of petting, but she said Hugo had promised her
she wouldn't have to play bridge any more that evening, so Flora
remained at that table, playing opposite Hugo, while Tracey played with
Polly.
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