to set you with....' Of course he
could not have said anything better calculated to hold Hugo, who, as I
said, is a regular fiend when it comes to bridge.... Well, Hugo played
the hand and made his little slam, and then he again started to go look
for Karen, but Polly, who was Sprague's partner, you know, told him in
that brusque way of hers to go on with the game and give Karen a chance
to have her little weep in peace. Probably Hugo would have gone to look
for her anyway, but just then Flora came back. She said Betty was asleep
at last and that her temperature was normal, and when she heard about
Karen, she offered to take her hand until Karen felt like coming back."

"What did Drake do then? He'd been playing anagrams with Mrs. Miles, you
said," Dundee interrupted.

"Don't you remember?--I told you Johnny had taken Peter's place at our
table after Peter refused to breathe the same air as Dexter Sprague,"
Penny reminded him. "Ralph and I, Lois and Johnny were playing together,
and just at the time I became dummy, Sprague became dummy at the other
table. He rose, saying he had to go telephone for a taxi, and passed
from the porch into the living room--"

"Where is the telephone?"

"The one the guests use is on a table in the hall closet, where we put
our things," Penny explained. "You can shut the door and hold a
perfectly private conversation.... Well, _we never saw Dexter Sprague
again_!"

"Good Lord! Another bridge dummy murdered!" Dundee groaned. "At least
the newspapers will be happy!... Didn't anyone go to look for him after
the hand was played?"

"Not straight off," Penny answered, with an obvious effort to remember
clearly every detail. "Let's see--Oh, yes! That hand was played out
before Ralph had finished playing his, at our table, so I was free to
pay attention to the other table. Flora said that since they couldn't
play another hand until Dexter came back, she thought she'd better hunt
up Karen, who hadn't come back yet."

"How long was Mrs. 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