tip of her pert little hat to the toes
of her ultra-fashionable shoes she was expressive of the independent
rising generation--a generation wiser in the ways of the world than that
from which it was sprung--a generation strangely bereft of genuine youth,
yet charming in an entirely modern and unique manner.

She was obviously a young person of italics, a human exclamation-point,
enthusiastic, irrepressible. She sat fidgeting in her chair, trying her
best to convince the detective that she was a woman grown.

"I'm Evelyn Rogers," she gushed. "I'm the sister of Naomi Lawrence--you
know her, of _course_. She's one of the city's social leaders. Of course,
she's kind of frumpy and _terribly_ old. She must be--why, I suppose
she's every bit of thirty! And that's simply _awful!"_

"I'm thirty-eight," smiled Carroll.

"No?"

"Yes, indeed."

"Well, you don't look it. You don't look a day over twenty-two, and I
think men who are really grown up and yet look like boys are simply
_adorable!_ I do, really. And I simply _despise_ boys of twenty-two who
try to look like thirty-eight. Don't you?"

"M-m! Not always."

"Well, _I_ do! They're always putting on airs and trying to make us girls
think they're full-grown. I just simply haven't time to waste with them.
I feel so _old!"_

"I haven't a doubt of it, Miss Rogers. And now--I believe you came to
tell me something about the Warren case?"

"Oh, yes, indeed--just _lots!_ But do you know"--she stared at him with
frank approval--"I'm terribly tickled with the way you look. You may not
believe it, but I've always been _atrociously_ in love with you."

"No?"

"Yes, indeed! You're such a _wonderful_ man--having your name in the
papers all the time. Oh, I've read about everything you've done!
That's how I learned so much about detectiving--or isn't that what you
call it?"

"Detecting?"

"That's it. You know I always was simply _incorrigible_ in making up
words when I couldn't think of the right one. Don't you think it's a
lot of trouble sometimes--thinking of just the right word in the
right place?"

"Sometimes. But about the Warren case?"

"Oh, yes, certainly! I'm always getting off my subject, ain't I? I
mean--am I not? Bother grammar, anyway. It's a terrible bore, don't
you think?"

"Yes, Miss Rogers. And now--"

"Back to that awful crime again, aren't you? It's simply sugary the way
you great detectives stick to one subject. I can do it, too, when I have
to. I