CHAPTER XXI
Before she was fully awake next morning Pat had come to a daring resolution. To prepare her way she got up, went to the loggia, and looked in the wood-box. No newspaper was there. The maids had not yet made their rounds; therefore Dee must have taken it up with her. Dee did not appear at breakfast, but at ten o'clock she came down. Her face was weary and apathetic; her lithe body seemed to have lost something of its poise. Sorely compassionate and thrilling to the sense of secret and adventurous matters Pat seized upon the first chance of speaking to her alone.
"Dee, did you take a newspaper from the wood-box?"
Dee's expression was inscrutable. "Yes."
"The one Bobs was grouching about? I wanted to see it."
"You!" The exclamation was pregnant with astonishment and dismay. It crystallised Pat's suspicion as to Dee's motive in taking the paper. The older woman rose slowly, walked across the room and stared down into the thoughtful face of the younger. "What do you want that for?"
"Just cussed curiosity."
"Bobs is a nut," said Dee listlessly. "There's nothing in that paper. I tore it up."