They were still wondering about the strange telegram as they made their way through the crowd on Thirty-fourth Street.
CHAPTER II
IRENE’S DISCOVERY
A taxi soon brought the girls to the door of Dr. Faulkner’s nineteenth century stone house. The stoop had been torn down and replaced by a modern entrance hall, but the high ceilings and winding stairways were as impressive as ever.
Drinking in the fascination of it, Judy and Irene followed the man, Oliver, who carried their bags right up to the third floor where Pauline had a sitting room and a smaller bedroom all to herself. The former was furnished with a desk, sofa, easy chairs, numerous shaded lamps, a piano and a radio.
Here the man left them with a curt, “’Ere you are.”
“And it’s good to have you, my dears,” the more sociable housekeeper welcomed them. Soon she was bustling around the room setting their bags in order. She offered to help unpack.
“Never mind that now, Mary,” Pauline told her. “We’re dead tired and I can lend them some of my things for tonight.”
“Then I’ll fix up the double bed in the next room for your guests and leave you to yourselves,” the kind old lady said.