Part 34 (1/2)

”You can print nothing which will humiliate us further.”

”No? You might like to have me mention the alligator in your lily pool.

And the reason why you and your daughter are so anxious to be rid of it before the police ask questions.”

Mrs. Kippenberg's plump face flushed a deep red. But for once she managed to keep her temper.

”What do you wish of me?” she asked frigidly.

”First, tell me about that painting, 'The Drawbridge' which was presented to your daughter as a wedding gift. Was it not given to her by your husband?”

”I shall not answer your question.”

”Then you prefer that I print my own conclusions?”

”You are an impudent, prying young woman!” Mrs. Kippenberg stormed. ”What if the picture was given to Sylvia by her father! Is that any crime?”

”Certainly not,” said Penny soothingly. ”It merely proves that you both know the whereabouts of Mr. Kippenberg.”

”Perhaps I do. But I'll tell you nothing, absolutely nothing!”

”I have a few questions to ask about your new gardener,” Penny went on, unmoved. ”For instance, why does he wear a wig?”

The door slammed in her face.

”That certainly was a very cold reception,” remarked Louise as the girls walked away, the sound of the slamming door still ringing in their ears.

Penny shrugged her shoulders and smiled. ”That's nothing. When you're a reporter you have to expect those things.” She looked about the deserted estate. ”Well, I think I'll do some more sleuthing in the vicinity of the pool.”

Louise looked at her wrist.w.a.tch. ”Goodness, it's getting late,” she stated. ”I'd like to stay, Penny, but I think I'd better be getting home to meet Mother.”

”Go ahead,” said Penny. ”You take Leaping Lena. The boy in the boat will row you across.”

”But how will you get home, then?”

”Don't worry about me. I'll find a way. You just go on. I only hope the old bus holds up all the way home.”

Louise laughed and then the two girls walked to the boat dock. In a few moments the boy in the rowboat appeared and took Louise across.

Afterward, Penny turned back through the trees and went on to the forbidden part of the estate.

She spent a long time about the pool, examining the earth all about it, but she failed to learn anything new. Finally, she retraced her steps to the river. She expected to find the boy waiting for her, but he had disappeared. She walked through the trees to the boat dock and stood there until the old watchman on the other side observed her predicament.

He obligingly lowered the drawbridge and she crossed the river, pausing at the gear house to chat with him.

Penny listened without comment to his story of the automobile accident.

Th.o.r.n.y had his own version of how it had occurred and she did not correct any of the details.

”I wish I had a way to get into Corbin,” she remarked when he had finished his lengthy account.

”If you walk down to the main road you kin catch the county bus,” he told her. ”It runs every hour.”