CHAPTER XIX. “UNKNOWN”
“So sweet of you to see me, Miss Carwell, in all your grief, and I must apologize for troubling you.”
Miss Tighe, alias Morocco Kate, fairly gushed out the words as she extended a hand to Viola in the library. The first glance at the “large blonde,” as the maid had described her, shocked the girl. She could hardly repress a shudder of disgust as she looked at the bleached hair. But, nerving herself for the effort, Viola let her hand rest limply for a moment in the warm moist grip of Miss Tighe.
“Won't you sit down?” asked Viola.
“Thank you. I won't detain you long. I called merely on business, though I suppose you think I'm not a very business-like looking person. But I am strictly business, all the way through,” and she tittered. “I find it pays better to really dress the part,” she added.
“I was so sorry to hear about your dear father's death. I knew him—quite well I may say—he was very good to me.”
“Yes,” murmured Viola, and somehow her heart was beating strangely. What did it all mean? Who was this—this impossible person who claimed business relations, yes, even friendliness, with the late Mr. Carwell?
“And now to tell you what I came for,” went on Miss Tighe. “Your dear father—and in his death I feel that I have lost a very dear friend and adviser—your dear father purchased many valuable books of me. I sell only the rarest and most expensive bindings, chiefly full morocco. Your father was very fond of books, wasn't he?”
Viola could not help admitting it, as far as purchasing expensive, if unread, editions was concerned. The library shelves testified to this.
“Yes, indeed, he just loved them, and he was always glad when I brought his attention to a new set, my dear Miss Carwell. Well, that is what I came about now. Just before his terrible death—it was terrible, wasn't it? Oh, I feel so sorry for you,” and she dabbed a much-perfumed handkerchief to her eyes. “Just before his lamented death he bought a lovely white morocco set of the Arabian Nights from me. Forty volumes, unexpurgated, my dear. Mind you that—unexpurgated!” and Morocco Kate seemed to dwell on this with relish. “As I say, he bought a lovely set from me. It was the most expensive set I ever sold—forty-five hundred dollars.”