“My Lord,” she exclaimed, “that’s exactly what I wanted to do! Who got ahead of me?”
“That’s a swell attitude,” I said bitterly. “It hurts.”
“Certainly it does, that’s why we do it.” She had advanced and was inspecting my cheek at close range. “It was a darned good job. You look simply awful. Hadn’t you better go and come back in a week or two?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Who did it?”
“You’d be surprised.” I tilted my head to whisper in her ear. “Your mother.”
She laughed a nice little laugh. “She might do the other side, at that, if you get near her. You should have seen her face when I told her you were coming. How about a drink? Some coffee?”
“No, thanks. I’ve got work to do.”
“So you said. What’s this about a wallet?”
“It’s not really a wallet, it’s a card case. In summer clothes, without enough pockets, it’s a problem. You told me it hadn’t been found in the house, so it must be outdoors somewhere. When we were out looking for your sister Monday night it was in my hip pocket, or it was when we started, and in all the excitement I didn’t miss it until yesterday. I’ve got to have it because my license is in it.”