From a handbag she had brought with her and had laid on the settee she drew a small book, a worn, paper-covered volume, which she hurriedly thrust into my hand, her eyes turned to the house, where we could now hear the nurse and Keeley coming downstairs.
I stuffed the book into my overcoat, glad that I had with me the light topcoat I usually carried against the chill winds of Deep Lake.
Then, quickly folding the coat inside out, I threw it over a chair back just as Keeley reappeared.
“Thank you very much, Miss Remsen,” he said, cheerily. “Your willingness to put the whole house at my disposal makes me more sure you have nothing to conceal than any words you could say.”
“But I didn’t put the whole house at your disposal!” she exclaimed with mock dismay.
“But your good nurse did. She took me on a whirlwind voyage of discovery, and I discovered absolutely nothing——”
“Not even the shoes?” Alma looked positively roguish now, and very alluring.
“Not even the shoes,” Kee repeated. “Nor the Totem Pole. What became of that?”
All Alma’s gayety fell away from her. She showed again that fear that so often darkened her eyes and clouded her brow.
But she shrugged her shoulders lightly, and said, “Oh, it’s around somewhere—it must be.”