“I have some of the typewritten copies. I’ll hunt through them for clues,” Judy promised.
CHAPTER XII
IRENE’S BIRTHDAY
Unexpectedly, the next day Jasper Crosby came into the office with another lot of his sister’s poems. This time they were in a tin box with padlock attached.
Judy listened in silence as the earlier manuscripts were discussed, wondering how Emily Grimshaw would break the news of their disappearance. Presently she realized that the poet’s brother was being kept in ignorance of the whole affair. Worse than that, he was being deceived. What did the agent mean by saying the publishers were considering Sarah Glenn’s work?
Thinking there might be some mistake, Judy refrained from asking questions until she and her employer were alone again. Then she expressed herself frankly.
“It isn’t right,” she declared, “not to tell him the truth about those poems. We can’t publish them when they’re lost.”
“Tut, tut, child,” Miss Grimshaw reproved in a patronizing tone that always annoyed Judy. “You must never correct your elders. Haven’t you heard that there are tricks to all trades?”
“Not dishonest tricks.” Judy’s scruples about deceit and treachery had made her over-bold.