“A nice day for preliminary spring cleaning,” ventured Mrs. Leslie.
“Ver-r-ry nice,” said the neighbor, placing a silver fox scarf and a sealskin jacket on the window sill where the sun could shine upon them.
“You are not expecting moths this soon are you?” queried Mrs. Leslie.
“Moths? You mean the cr-r-eatures that feed upon the fur-r and wool? Ah, Heaven forbid! I merely sun my things because I love the sun and then it is war-r-m and I may not need them now for many months. I pack them up per-r-haps.”
Through the open window Mrs. Leslie could see a large packing box and a wardrobe trunk.
“Getting ready to leave! It looks to me as though Josie should know this,” she said to herself. Preston 11 was immediately called for by the eager amateur detective and Mr. Theodore Burnett put on the line.
“This is Mrs. Leslie, Mr. Burnett, Josie O’Gorman’s friend. Please tell her the foreigners next door to us are getting ready to move and the woman is sunning a silver fox scarf and a sealskin jacket, both of them too good for anybody living in this house to use. I haven’t any good furs of my own but I can tell them a mile off.”
Mr. Theodore Burnett smiled and made a note of the fact that the amateur lady detective had no furs but knew good ones a mile off. This was the same lady of whose judgment in the matter of dry goods Major Simpson had spoken so highly, knowing from the first that Josie O’Gorman’s clothes were of material too good to have been bought from the salary of a novice at the notion counter.
“Clever lady!” he muttered in an aside, “Must keep her in mind.” He thanked her profusely for the information and begged her to keep a sharp lookout through the day. “The evidence you have gathered is invaluable, my dear lady,” he assured her.
“The window is open and I can see a large packing box and a wardrobe trunk and this Kambourian woman is folding and packing as fast as she can. I gossiped with her a moment, quite casually, and she told me herself she was thinking of moving. You’d best tell Josie right off.”