, and that it was all right
with him, whatever you decided. So as soon as I had finished eating, I
drove over--"

"Is Mrs. Miles with you?" Dundee interrupted again.

"Well, no," Miles admitted uncomfortably. "You see, the girls felt a
little squeamish about coming back, even on an errand of mercy--"

Dundee grinned. He had no doubt that Flora Miles had emphatically
refused the possibility of another gruelling interview.

"Why do you and Mrs. Miles want to take Lydia home with you?" he asked.

"To give her a home and a job," Miles answered promptly. "She knows us,
we're used to her poor old scarred face, and the youngsters, Tam and
Betty, are not a bit afraid of her. In fact, Betty pats that scarred
cheek and says, over and over, 'Poo Lyddy! Poo Lyddy! Betty 'oves
Lyddy!' and Tam--he's T. A. Miles, junior, you know, and we call him
Tam, from the initials, because he hates being called Junior and two
Tracey's are a nuisance--"

"I gather that you want to hire Lydia as a nurse for the children,"
Dundee interrupted the fond father's verbose explanations.

"Right, old man! You see, our nurse left us yesterday--"

"Wait here, Miles. I'll speak to Lydia. She's in Mrs. Selim's
bedroom.... By the way, Miles, since you and your wife are kind enough
to want to take Lydia in and give her a home and a job, I think it only
fair to tell you that it is highly improbable that Lydia Carr will take
any job at all."

"You mean--?" Miles gasped, his ruddy face turning pale. "I say, Dundee,
it's absurd to think for a minute that good old faithful Lydia had a
thing to do with Nita's murder--"

"I rather think you're right about that, Miles," Dundee interrupted.
"Now will you excuse me?"

He found Lydia where he had left her--in her dead mistress' bedroom. The
tall, gaunt woman was crouching beside the chaise longue, her arms
outstretched to encircle a little pile of the gifts she claimed to have
given Nita Selim to prove that she bore no grudge for the terrible
injury her mistress had done her. At Dundee's entrance she flung up her
head, and the detective saw that tears were streaming from both the
sightless eye and the unharmed one.

Taking his seat on the chaise longue, Dundee explained gently but
briefly the offer which Tracey Miles had just made.

"They want--_me_?" she gasped brokenly, incredulously, and her fingers
faltered to her horrible cheek. "I didn't think anybody but my poor girl
would have me around--"

"It is