“Ahem!” Ben Potter cleared his throat, and faced the others.
“Did you get your letters, Nina?” he asked, turning to his wife.
“Not then, only this afternoon,” she explained. “I found them in a box under the mattress of Miss Susan’s bed. Mrs. Parsons suspected that I was searching for something, for yesterday she told me that for a considerable sum of money she would aid me.”
“That woman was a fiend incarnate!” ejaculated Rodgers.
“She sho’ly was, Sah,” agreed Oscar. “She done her bes’ to make me tell de police that ole Miss let people have money. Yo’ see, Miss Kitty, ole Miss had me to help her, an’ I promised never to tell, an’ I never broke my promise, never.”
“Oscar!” Kitty’s eyes were dim with tears as she laid her hand on the faithful servant’s shoulder. “Where did you disappear yesterday?”
“Jes’ went down to my rooms an’ laid low,” promptly. “Mandy an’ me thought things were gettin’ kinda critical ’round hyar. Las’ night I heered yo’ an’ Mister Rodgers a-plannin’ to see Mister Craige, an’ then I went home again, scared stiff.”
“Wait, Oscar—” Rodgers interrupted him quickly. “Why did you ask me to find Miss Kitty’s red coat?”
“I seen some one a-wearin’ dat coat enter dis house as I was passin’ along de street late Sunday night,” the negro explained. “I couldn’t swear it warn’t yo’, Miss Kitty, an’ I couldn’t swear it were; but I calculated dat whoever ’twas might a lef’ somethin’ in de coat pockets to tell on them.”