CHAPTER V
A Night Visitor
"How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Masterbrook angrily. "I merely came into this bedroom to do the work for which I was hired."
"Did my father employ you to read his private letters?" asked Penny coldly.
"I was cleaning the room and I thought I would unpack the suitcase. I had just come upon these letters when you walked in."
"I'll relieve you of them now," said Penny. "Hereafter, please don't touch anything either in father's suitcase or my own."
Mrs. Masterbrook did not trust herself to reply. With an angry toss of her head she marched back to the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.
"I don't care if she is out of sorts!" Penny thought. "Dad ought to discharge her for a trick like this."
She returned the letters to the suitcase and after locking the bag took the key with her. Later in the afternoon when Mr. Nichols came back to the cottage in company with one of the telephone men, she drew him aside to reveal what the housekeeper had done.