“You see,” she explained diffidently, “I ran away from home! That was three years ago and I haven’t heard from either of my parents since.”

Bernard frowned.

“Why not?” he demanded. “Didn’t you write or go to see them?”

She shook her head.

“It sounds awful, I know. But I wasn’t a bit happy at home!”

“They were old-fashioned and you wanted gayety?”

“It wasn’t that! Home was sordid and terribly depressing. No matter what I did I couldn’t seem to make them really like me! That’s why I ran away at last!”

Ethel Graham’s eyes clouded and saddened with unhappy memories, a most convincing endorsement of her words.

“So your maiden name was Cuddy?” asked Landis.