“Well, I can’t say I blame you,” Penny said, leading the woman on. “I suppose Miss Sylvia is as overbearing as her mother?”
“Oh, Miss Sylvia is all right, as sweet a girl as you’ll find anywhere. I felt mighty sorry for her when that no-account man threw her over.”
Penny knew by this time that she must be talking with Mrs. Latch, for the footman had mentioned the cook’s name. As the woman walked on with her bundles of garbage she fell into step with her.
“It was strange about Mr. Atherwald’s disappearance,” she remarked. “I hear he came to the house and then went away just before the wedding.”
“I can tell you about that,” replied Mrs. Latch with an important air. “Yesterday morning a boy came to the back door with a letter for Mr. Atherwald. It’s my opinion he sent it to himself.”
“Didn’t the boy tell you where he had obtained the letter?”
“He said it was given to him by one of Mr. Atherwald’s friends. A man in a boat.”
“Oh, I see,” said Penny, making a mental note of the information. Realizing that the cook had told everything she knew about the matter, she quickly switched the subject. “By the way, who is the head gardener here?”
“Do you mean Peter Henderson?”
“A fairly old man,” described Penny. “Gray hair, stooped shoulders, and I might add, an unpleasant manner.”