Mrs. Downey smiled tolerantly. While she always listened attentively to Penny’s theories and observations, she had not been greatly excited by her tale of the mysterious Green Room. She knew the two men were unscrupulous in a business way and that they were making every effort to force her to give up the lodge, but she could not bring herself to believe they were involved in more serious affairs. She thought that Penny’s great eagerness to prove Harvey Maxwell’s dishonesty had caused her imagination to run riot.
“Francine Sellberg wouldn’t be at Pine Top if something weren’t in the wind,” Penny went on reflectively. “She followed Ralph Fergus and Maxwell here. And that in itself was rather strange.”
“How do you mean, Penny?”
“Fergus must have been having trouble in managing the hotel or he wouldn’t have gone to Riverview to see Maxwell. What he had to say evidently couldn’t be trusted to a letter or a telegram.”
“Mr. Fergus often absents himself on trips. Now and then he goes to Canada.”
“I wonder why?” asked Penny alertly.
“He and Mr. Maxwell have a hotel there, I’ve heard. I doubt if his trips have any particular significance.”
“Well, at any rate, Fergus brought Maxwell back from Riverview to help him solve some weighty problem. From their talk on the plane, I gathered they were plotting to put you out of business, Mrs. Downey.”
“I think you are right there, Penny.”
“But why should your lodge annoy them? You could never take a large number of guests away from their hotel.”