“Do you know what happened to Mrs. Lear?” Penny asked anxiously. “Have you heard?”
Even then Mrs. Burmaster did not speak. But a strange light came into her eyes.
“Tell me,” Penny urged. “Please.”
Her words seemed to penetrate the befogged mind of the dazed woman. Mrs. Burmaster’s lips moved slightly. Penny bent closer to hear.
“Mrs. Lear is dead,” the woman whispered. “She was drowned when she saved me.”
CHAPTER
25
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
The information shocked Penny.
“Mrs. Lear—dead,” she repeated. “Oh, I was hoping that somehow she escaped.”
“She would have if it hadn’t been for me,” Mrs. Burmaster said dully. “Ten minutes before the dam gave way, a telephone warning was sent out. Mrs. Lear thought my husband and I might not have heard it. She rode her horse to Sleepy Hollow, intending to warn us.”
“And then what happened?”