“You’re here only to get a story for your paper?”
“That was why I came, but since meeting you I truthfully can say I also am very much interested in helping you if possible.”
“I like you,” Lorinda declared with a quick smile. “I’m sorry about the arrow. And I was very rude.”
“Not at all. I deliberately egged you on, hoping you would tell me about your stepfather. I was sent here to get a picture of him, and I hate to fail.”
“A picture? Mother has one, but I doubt that she would permit you to use it.” Lorinda considered a moment, then added: “Tell you what! I’ll take you to her, and perhaps, if you’re a convincing talker, she’ll agree to your request.”
“Oh, Lorinda, that’s fine!”
The Rhett girl linked arms with Penny as they trudged up the path to the house.
“Don’t count your chickens just yet,” she warned. “Mother doesn’t like reporters. It will be sheer luck if she gives you the picture or any information you can use in the paper.”
CHAPTER
5
AN EVIL CHARM
“Mother has disliked reporters ever since she married my stepfather, two years ago,” Lorinda confided as the girls approached the house. “We were in the Eastern part of the country at the time, and papers played up the story, suggesting that Mr. Rhett was a fortune hunter.”