“Dimitri doesn’t keep anything in it. He loves it because it’s so beautiful,” Arden announced. “There’s a true artist for you.” She was very much in earnest.
“You like him a little, don’t you, Arden?” Terry asked whimsically.
“Don’t be silly, Terry! You like him, too,” Arden snapped back.
“We all do, even Mrs. Landry, don’t you?” Sim wanted to know, joining in the complimentary chorus.
Terry’s mother smiled and nodded.
“Well, I think it’s strange, just the same,” Arden said almost to herself, “very strange.”
“What, the box?” Sim inquired.
“No; but I mean the way he spoke about Olga, and the way he keeps that picture covered,” Arden answered. “And a lot of things not really—well, not exactly wordy things but queer things,” she wound up vaguely.
“Melissa is odd too. Why do you suppose Olga took her riding and gave her money?” Terry asked, adding more interest to the mystifying questions.
“I can’t imagine. It’s strange the way she always pops up,” Arden added. “I mean Melissa, not Olga.”