Part 9 (1/2)

”Shortly after one o'clock. He was stopped at the front door by a servant who handed him a note. Mr. Atherwald read it and walked down toward the garden.”

”I wonder which one of the servants spoke to him? It was at the front door, you say?”

”Yes.”

”Then it must have been Gregg. I'll talk with him.”

Forgetting Penny, Mrs. Kippenberg hastened down the stairway. She jangled a bell and asked that the manservant be sent to her. Unnoticed, Penny lingered to hear the interview.

The man came into the room. ”You sent for me, Mrs. Kippenberg?” he inquired.

”Yes, Gregg. You were at the door when Mr. Atherwald arrived?”

”I was, Madam.”

”I understand you handed him a note which he read.”

”Yes, Madam.”

”Who gave you the note?”

”Mrs. Latch, the cook. She told me it was brought to the kitchen door early this morning by a most disreputable looking boy.”

”He had been hired to deliver it for another person, I suppose?”

”Yes, Madam. The boy told Mrs. Latch that the message came from a friend of Mr. Atherwald's and should be given to him as soon as he arrived.”

”You have no idea what the note contained?”

”No, Mrs. Kippenberg, the envelope was sealed.”

Sensing that when the interview ended Mrs. Kippenberg's wrath might again descend upon her, Penny decided not to tempt fate. While the woman was still talking with the servant, she slipped out of the house.

”Atherwald might have had that note sent to himself, but I doubt it,” she told herself. ”Either he is still on the estate, or the boatman would have had to take him back across the river.”

She walked quickly down to the dock and was elated to find the guest launch tied up there. The boatman answered her questions readily. He had not seen Grant Atherwald since early in the afternoon. Salt was the only person he had taken back across the river.

”Have you noticed any other boat leaving the estate?” inquired Penny.

”Boats have been going up and down the river all day,” the man answered with a shrug. ”I didn't notice any particular one.”

Penny glanced across the water. She could see Salt perched on the drawbridge waiting for her. But she was not yet ready to leave the estate.

Ignoring his shout to ”come on,” she turned and walked back toward the house. Deliberately, she chose the same path which she and Salt had followed earlier in the afternoon.

A swift walk brought her to the forbidden trail with the barrier sign.

Penny glanced around to be certain she was not under observation. Then she stepped boldly over the wire.