"Yes," said Alicia. Then she added in a low tone:
"The driver was Simpson."
"Simpson!" Aunt Mary echoed. "That's dangerous. Why didn't you tell me that before?"
The reader will have guessed the explanation of Aunt Mary's presence, and Alicia's and Father Murray's, and I insert it here only to gratify his sense of acumen: that Alicia and Murray, "keeping an eye on" Mollie June and Aunt Mary in accordance with Rockwell's plan, in the hotel lobby, had witnessed the former's unexpected departure in response to Merriam's summons, and had joined Miss Norman to find out what had happened; and that Aunt Mary, who was more than a match for both of them, especially in their alarm over Mollie June's being dragged into the affair, had obtained first an inkling and presently the whole story of the plot, and had insisted on coming upstairs, and had entered through the bedroom.
Alicia did not reply to Aunt Mary's question. Indeed she hardly had time to do so, for Aunt Mary followed it quickly with another of a more practical character:
"What time is it?"
Merriam was the most prompt in producing his watch. "Ten o'clock," he said.
"And it was barely eight when George left the hotel. How long should it have taken to get there?"
"Less than half an hour," said Rockwell.
"Are you sure he's not there? They might have lied to you."