CHAPTER
20
NYMPHS OF THE SEA
“How you expect to get Mrs. Deline to go swimming with us is beyond me!” Louise opined as she and Penny left the hotel, their bathing suits swinging over their arms. “It’s none too warm today. She dislikes us both intensely. Furthermore, she never swims.”
“Any other reasons?” Penny asked cheerfully.
“That should be enough.”
“Just wait and watch,” Penny chuckled. “I just hope she doesn’t suspect we’ve been prowling in her room. If she got wise to that she’d report us to the hotel management.”
Before leaving the hotel the girls had taken care to drop the room key in the chair where Mrs. Deline had left it. They were confident that no one had seen them take the key or enter the room.
The widow remained as the girls last had seen her. She was sitting on a bench facing the sea, her gaze fixed on the deep blue line of the horizon. As the girls passed beside her, she looked up, frowning slightly.
“We’re on our way to the bath house,” said Penny, her tone implying that the matter was one of great importance.
“Really?” Mrs. Deline’s voice barely was polite.
“Wouldn’t you like to come with us?” Louise invited cordially.