“He may be the son of Alec Carden. I mean the son who inherited Carden Hedge,” she continued musingly. “This man in the racer wasn’t young. I caught a fair view of his face in spite of the way he had his cap pulled down. Still he may be younger than I thought him at a glance, and the grandson of old Alec Carden.”
“Why worry about it?” teased Jerry. She had caught the note of puzzled interest in Marjorie’s voice.
“I’m not worrying. I’m wondering why that man’s face looked so familiar. I’m sure I never saw him before.”
“How can he look familiar to you if you’ve never before seen him?” inquired Jerry, with a chuckle.
“That’s precisely what I’m wondering. Perhaps he resembles some one I know or have seen. I must ask Miss Susanna to describe John Carden, the son who lives at the Hedge. Here we are at our own castle. Next time we mustn’t stay out so late, Jeremiah. I hope Miss Susanna hasn’t stayed up to wait for us. She likes her early bedtime, you know.”
Miss Susanna had elected to “stay up” to hear about Leila’s “great” idea. They found her waiting for them in the library, wrapped in a trailing blue velvet dressing gown. She hustled them upstairs to don negligees and ordered them down to the library when they should have changed costume. There she brought them two little Chinese bowls of chicken consommé and a plate of salty crackers.
Both girls had eaten sparingly of the spread. After their moonlight walk they were really hungry, and the consommé was delicious. As they ate it and nibbled the crisp crackers they regaled Miss Susanna with a lively account of the evening’s happenings. Interest in the Travelers’ new plans for entertainments drove the incident of the unknown motorist completely from Marjorie’s mind. Nor did she think of him again for some time afterward.
CHAPTER VIII.
A RETURN TO A FORBIDDEN LAND
“Leslie, is it really you? I’d been wondering why you hadn’t answered my letter. I wrote you soon after I received your note.” Doris Monroe’s indifferent drawl was not in evidence as she answered the telephone. She was surprised and more pleased than she had thought she could possibly be to hear Leslie Cairns’ voice on the wire. Leslie’s arrival in Hamilton meant an immediate brightening of the bored existence Doris had been leading since her return from New York.