nd I, and I might not have heard--But
no!" she denied vehemently. "There wasn't any scandal on a Hamilton girl
ever! I'm sure of it!"

But her very vehemence convinced Bonnie Dundee that she was not at all
sure....

He looked at his watch. Four o'clock.... By this time Nita Selim--tiny
cold body, royal blue velvet dress, black curls piled high in an
old-fashioned "French roll," bullet-torn heart--were nothing more than a
little heap of grey ashes.... Would Lydia Carr have them put in a sealed
urn and carry them about with her always?

"I'm going out now, Penny, and I shan't be back today," he told the girl
who had returned to her furious typing. "I'll telephone in about an hour
to see if anything has come up.... By the way, how do I get to the
Dunlap house?"

"It's in the Brentwood section. You know--that cluster of hills around
Mirror Lake. Most of the crowd live out there--the Drakes, the Mileses,
the Beales, the Marshalls. The Dunlap house stands on the highest hill
of all. It's grey stone, a little like a French chateau. We used to live
out there, too, in a Colonial house my mother's father built, but Dad
persuaded Mother to sell, when he went into that Primrose Meadows
venture. The Raymonds bought it.... But why do you want to see Lois?"

"Thanks much, Penny. I don't know what I should do without you," Dundee
said, without answering her question, and reached for his hat.

After ten minutes of driving, the last mile of which had circled a
smooth silver coin of a lake, Dundee stopped his car and let his eyes
rove appreciatively. He had made this trip the day before to question
Lydia, already installed as nurse for the Miles children, but he had
been in too great a hurry then to see much of this section consecrated
to Hamilton's socially elect....

Georgian "cottage," Spanish hacienda, Italian villa, Tudor mansion--that
was the Miles home; Colonial mansion where Penny had once lived; grey
stone chateau.... Not one of them blatantly new or marked with the
dollar sign. Dundee sighed a little enviously as he turned his car into
the winding driveway that led up the highest hill to the Dunlap home.

Lois Dunlap betrayed no surprise when the butler led Dundee to the
flag-stoned upper terrace overlooking Mirror Lake, where she was having
tea with her three children and their governess. For a moment the
detective had the illusion that he was in England again....

"How do you do, Mr. Dundee?... This is Miss Burden...