“We’ll be back if they are. ‘Bye, all!” Honey said as she followed him out into the snow.
The ground was covered now. What a day it had been! First the dry weather with forest fires raging, then rain, and now snow!
“It’s just too much for me,” sighed Judy.
Peter had had a word privately with Horace before he left. Afterwards Judy brought out what she called Exhibit B—the empty pocketbook. Peter whistled in surprise when he saw it. But Mrs. Riker seemed unwilling to talk about it. She soon pleaded a headache and asked that she and the children be shown to their rooms.
Judy made them as comfortable as she could in the two spare bedrooms and then returned to the kitchen to prepare a little more supper for Peter. She gave him the kiss she had been saving for him and said, “I thought you might like to follow the soup course with another one of meat and potatoes. I’ll have them on your plate in a jiffy.”
“What about your own plate?” he asked.
“I’m not hungry,” she admitted. “I had enough to eat with Mrs. Riker and the children. For once we have a mystery with too many clues and I’d rather sort them out in my mind and talk. Peter,” she asked abruptly, “did you ever hear of a green dolly?”
He looked puzzled. “A green dollar? Who hasn’t? They’re all green except the silver and gold ones.”
“I didn’t say dollar. I said dolly. You know, one of those things that children play with.” She spelled it, “D-o-l-l,” and Peter laughed.
“Turn off the advertising, Angel. I get it. Are you speaking of a talking doll?”