Miss Alice shrugged her pretty shoulders scornfully, but ignored her mother's implication.
“You were particularly warned against going into the valley at this season,” she only replied grimly.
Mrs. Rightbody raised her eyes impatiently.
“You know how anxious I was to discover your poor father's strange correspondent, Alice. You have no consideration.”
“But when YOU HAVE discovered him—what then?” queried Miss Alice.
“What then?”
“Yes. My belief is, that you will find the telegram only a mere business cipher, and all this quest mere nonsense.”
“Alice! Why, YOU yourself thought your father's conduct that night very strange. Have you forgotten?”
The young lady had NOT, but, for some far-reaching feminine reason, chose to ignore it at that moment, when her late tumble in the snow was still fresh in her mind.
“And this woman, whoever she may be—” continued Mrs. Rightbody.