“I’ll wager Ethel has guessed,” said Alice, enjoying their curiosity. “She has such a good detective mind.”
“But Marj has too, and she doesn’t know what you’re talking about,” said Florence. “So you might as well take us out of our agony!”
Alice made her statement slowly: “I think those two young men are my cousins, sent by my Aunt Emeline to spy on us, and see whether we fulfill all our conditions!”
The girls simply gasped at the novelty of the idea; involuntarily Marjorie slowed the car so that they could talk more easily.
“But why would they make themselves so obvious?” she asked. “Spies usually work in secret—”
“No, Aunt Emeline wouldn’t stoop to that sort of thing,” replied Alice.
“Do you know your cousins’ names, Alice?” asked Daisy.
“Yes: Milton and Vaughn Crowell.”
“Not the same last name as your aunt?”
“No, Aunt Emeline is a Miss Vaughn. The younger nephew took his mother’s maiden name for a first name.”