“Why—yes. You wanted me?”

“Yes. It's about Sue Wilde.”

She hesitated; then led him into the half-furnished living-room.

“Where is Sue, anyway?”

“When I left her she wras trying to make a fire in a kitchen range. Out in Jersey.”

“But what on earth—”

“Trouble was she didn't understand about the damper in the pipe. I fixed that.”

Betty glanced covertly at her wrist watch. “I don't want to appear unsympathetic,” she said, “but I don't see why she undertakes to shoulder that family. It's—it's quixotic. It's not her sort of thing. She's got her own life to live.”

The Worm, very calm but a little white about the mouth, confronted her. Betty moved restlessly.

“She wants you to pack up her things,” he said. “Sent me to ask.”