Mandilip hag. Yeah, that's all. Does it mean anything? Yeah? All right then."
He was silent for a moment or two, but I had not heard the click of the receiver. I asked:
"Are you there, McCann?"
"Yeah. I was just thinking." His voice held a wistful note. "I'd sure like to be with you when the boss
comes to. But I'd best go down an' see how the hands are getting along with them two Mandilip cows.
Maybe I'll call you up if it ain't too late. G'by."
I walked slowly back to Braile, trying to marshal my disjointed thoughts. I repeated McCann's end of the
conversation to him exactly. He did not interrupt me. When I had finished he said quietly:
"Hortense Darnley goes to the Mandilip woman, is given a doll, is asked to pose, is wounded there, is
treated there. And dies. Peters goes to the Mandilip woman, gets a doll, is wounded there, is presumably