I said, “They’re going to have a sweet time doing it. She really was my aunt.”
Bertha Cool looked at me in surprise.
“You don’t know anything about my family or antecedents,” I said.
“And what’s more, I don’t want to,” Bertha hastily told me. “This time you’re on your own.”
“That’s swell. Just remember that.”
We waited in the cab for about ten minutes, then Marian came down looking rather flushed and elated. She flung her arms around me and said, “Donald, it’s so good to see you. Gosh, I was afraid you were going to make the wrong play with Mr. Ellis. I’d already squared things for you. I told him we’d formed a very close friendship, and that you were really concerned about me.”
“How did they locate you?” I asked.
“I think it’s that landlady of yours,” she said. “She read the morning papers with a description of the missing witness. I don t think she trusts you entirely, Donald.”
Bertha Cool said, “I think it’ll be a good idea for you to get another rooming-house, lover.”
“Mrs. Eldridge will have already arranged that,” I said. And then to Marian: “Did you have any trouble with Mr. Ellis?”