.. If the truth were only
known about some of _them_----"
Dundee could almost have embraced the homely, life-soured spinster--she
was making his task so easy for him.
"I've met them all, of course, since Mrs. Selim was murdered," he said
deprecatingly, "and I must say they seem to be remarkably fine women and
girls----"
"Oh _are_ they?" Miss Earle snorted. "Flora Hackett--Mrs. Tracey Miles
she is now--didn't happen to tell you the nice little fuss _she_ kicked
up when she was here, did she? Oh, no! I guess not!"
"She looks," Dundee agreed, "like a girl who would have made things
lively."
"I'll say so! Miss Pendleton nearly had nervous prostration!" Miss Earle
plunged on, then fear blanched her face for a moment. "You know you've
promised you'll never tell Miss Pendleton or Miss Macon that you talked
to me!"
"You can depend on it that I will protect you," Dundee assured her.
"When did Flora Hackett kick up her little fuss?"
"Let's see.... Flora graduated in June, 1920," Miss Earle obliged
willingly. "So it must have been in 1919--yes, because she had one more
year here. Of course they let her come back!... _Money!_... She took the
lead in our annual Easter play in 1919, and just because Serena Hart
complimented her and told her she was almost as good as a
professional--"
"_Serena Hart!_" Dundee wonderingly repeated the name of one of
America's most popular and beloved stage stars.
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