"It is too sad a story to tell."
"Of course."
"And I am morbidly sensitive about suicide."
"These Morgans then were relatives of the Mrs. Morgan I met last night?"
"Relatives, yes. But in this instance, that signifies nothing. These, as I told you, were Fritzie's people and are very different."
They reëntered the car and drove rapidly down the ridge. In the distance, to the south and east, the red gables of a cluster of buildings showed far away among green, wooded hills.
"That is a school, is it?" asked Alice.
"No, it is a Catholic institution. It is a school, in a way, too, but not of the kind you mean--something of a charitable and training school. The Catholic church of the village stands just beyond there. There are a number of Catholics over toward the seashore--delightful people. We have none in our set."
The ridge road led them far into the country and they drove rapidly along ribboned highways until a great hill confronted them and they began to wind around its base toward the lake and home. Half-way up they left the main road, turned into an open gateway, and passing a lodge entered the heavy woods of The Towers villa.
"The Towers is really our only show-place," explained Dolly, "though Robert, I think, neglects it. Of course, it is a place that stands hard treatment. But think of the opportunities on these beautiful slopes for landscape gardening."