“I understand, madam. How long have these strange visits been going on?”
“How long have you been aware of them?”
“For two weeks. By accident I discovered that Joe was in the habit of leaving his office at half-past four, and he never reaches home until an hour and a half later.
“Even this did not do more than pique me a little to think he dallied so long, when he should have hurried home to me—but three days later, again by accident, I saw him enter a house on Twenty-seventh Street.
“At first I could not believe my eyes and I felt as though I would swoon. It was just five o’clock, and he seemed in a dreadful hurry.
“What impressed me as being the strangest part of the business, was the fact that he did not ring or even knock on the door, but with a key let himself in as though he belonged there!”
Of course—Darrell’s eyebrows went up, but he made no remark—he could see through a millstone with a hole in it.
“I don’t know why I hurried home but I did so with a trembling heart. Joe came in at his usual time, and I endeavored to be myself so that he might suspect nothing.
“On the next day, however, something impelled me to go to Twenty-seventh Street again.