Mr. ”Smith” grinned and held his peace.
“All right, so I’m jealous,” muttered Cart. ”But you don’t have to be a sneak, Pat! If you don’t want me, say so.”
“This has nothing to do with my wanting you or not wanting you,” said Pat in a timid-turtle voice.
“Well, do you or don’t you?”
Pat’s eyes fell. ”You’ve no right to ask me that¯here¯now.” Her eyes flashed up. ”You wouldn’t want a sneak, anyway, would you?”
“All right! Have it your way!”
“Cart . . . !”
His voice came back in a bellow of defiance. ”I’m through!”
Pat ran off toward the big white house.
Thought Mr. Queen as he watched her slim figure race across the lawn: In a way it’s better . . . much better. You don’t know what you’re in for. And Mr. Carter Bradford, when you meet him next, may very well be an enemy.
* * *
When Ellery returned from his pre-breakfast walk the next morning, he found Nora and her mother whispering on the Wright porch.
“Good morning!” he said cheerfully. ”Enjoy the lecture last night?”
“It was very interesting.” Nora looked distressed, and Hermione preoccupied, so Ellery began to go into the house.
“Mr. Smith,” said Hermy. ”Oh, dear, I don’t know how to say it! Nora dear¯”
“Ellery, what happened here last night?” asked Nora.
“Happened?” Ellery looked blank.
“I mean with Pat and Carter. You were home¯”
“Is anything wrong with Pat?” asked Ellery quickly.
“Of course there is. She won’t come down to breakfast. She won’t answer any questions. And when Pat sulks¯”
“It’s Carter’s fault,” Hermy burst out. ”I thought there was something queer about her ‘headache’ last night! Please, Mr. Smith, if you know anything about it¯if something happened after we went to Town Hall last night which her mother ought to know¯”
“Has Pat broken off with Cart?” asked Nora anxiously. ”No, you don’t have to answer, Ellery. I can see it in your face. Mother, you’ll simply have to give Patty a talking-to. She can’t keep doing this sort of thing to Cart.”
Ellery walked Nora back to the little house. As soon as they were out of earshot of Mrs. Wright, Nora said: “Of course you had something to do with it.”
“I?” asked Mr. Queen.
“Well . . . don’t you agree Pat’s in love with Carter? I’m sure you could help by not making Carter jealous¯”
“Mr. Bradford,” said Mr. Queen, “would be jealous of a postage stamp Patty licked.”
“I know. He’s so hotheaded, too! Oh, dear.” Nora sighed. ”I’m making a mess of it. Will you forgive me? And come in to breakfast?”
“Yes to both questions.” And as he helped Nora up the porch steps, he wondered just how guilty he really was.
* * *
Jim was full of political talk, and Nora . . . Nora was wonderful. No other word for it, thought Ellery. Watching and listening, he could detect no least tinkle of falsity. They seemed so much like two young people luxuriating in the blessedness of early marriage that it was a temptation to dismiss the incidents of the previous evening as fantasy.
Pat arrived, with Alberta and eggs, in a rush.
“Nora! How nice,” she said, as if nothing at all had happened. ”Can you spare a starving gal an egg or two? Morning, Jim! Ellery! Not that Ludie didn’t have breakfast for me. She did. But I just felt that nosy impulse to look in on the lovebirds . . . ”
“Alberta, another setting,” said Nora, and she smiled at Pat. ”You do talk in the morning! Ellery, sit down. The honeymoon being over, my husband doesn’t rise for my family anymore.”
Jim stared. ”Who¯Patso?” He grinned. ”Say, you are grown-up! Let me look. Yep. A real glamour girl. Smith, I envy you. If I were a bachelor¯”
Ellery saw the swift cloud darken Nora’s face. She pressed more coffee on her husband.
Pat kept chattering. She wasn’t a very good actress¯couldn’t look Jim in the eye. Heroic, though. Remembering instructions in the midst of her own troubles . . .
But Nora was superb. Yes, Pat had been right. Nora had decided not to think about the letters or their horrible implication. And she was using the minor crisis of Pat and Cart to help her not to think.
“I’ll fix your eggs myself, darling,” said Nora to Pat. ”Alberta’s a jewel, but how could she know you like four-minute coddling, to the second? Excuse me.” Nora left the dining room to join Alberta in the kitchen.
“That Nora,” chuckled Jim. ”She’s a real hen. Say! What time is it?
I’ll be late at the bank. Patty, you been crying? You’re talking sort of funny, too. Nora!” he shouted. ”Didn’t the mail come yet?”
“Not yet!” Nora called from the kitchen.
“Who, me?” said Pat feebly. ”Don’t¯don’t be a goop, Jim.”
“All right, all right,” said Jim, laughing. ”So it’s none of my damn business. Ah! There’s Bailey now. ‘Scuse!”
Jim hurried out to the foyer to answer the postman’s ring. They heard him open the front door; they heard old Mr. Bailey’s cracked “Mornin’, Mr. Haight,” Jim’s joshing response, the little slam of the door, and Jim’s slow returning footsteps, as if he were shuffling through the mail as he came back.
Then he walked into the field of their vision and stopped, and they saw him staring at one of the several envelopes the postman had just delivered. His face was liverish.
And then he vaulted upstairs. They heard his feet pound on the carpeting and a moment later a door bang.
Pat was gaping at the spot Jim had just vacated.
“Eat your cereal,” said Ellery.
Pat flushed and bent quickly over her plate.
Ellery got up and walked without noise to the foot of the staircase. After a moment he returned to the breakfast table.
“He’s in his study, I think. Heard him lock the door . . . No! Not now. Here’s Nora.”
Pat choked over her Crackle-Crunch.
“Where’s Jim?” asked Nora as she set the eggs before her sister.
“Upstairs,” said Ellery, reaching for the toast.
“Jim?”
“Yes, Nora.” Jim reappeared on the stairs; he was still pale, but rigidly controlled. He had his coat on and carried several unopened letters of assorted sizes.
“Jim! Is anything wrong?”
“Wrong?” Jim laughed. ”I never saw such a suspicious woman! What the devil should be wrong?”
“I don’t know. But you look so pale¯”
Jim kissed her. ”You ought to’ve been a nurse! Well, got to be going. Oh, by the way. Here’s the mail. The usual junk. Bye, Patty! Smith! See you soon.” Jim raced out.
After breakfast Ellery said something about “strolling in the woods” behind the house and excused himself.
A half hour later Pat joined him. She came hurrying through the underbrush with a Javanese scarf tied around her head, looking back over her shoulder as if someone were chasing her.
“I thought I’d never get away from Nora,” Pat panted. She dropped to a stump. ”Whoo!”
Ellery blew smoke thoughtfully. ”Pat, we’ve got to read that letter Jim just received.”
“Ellery . . . where’s this all going to end?”
“It stirred Jim up tremendously. Can’t be coincidence. Somehow this morning’s letter ties in with the rest of this puzzle. Can you lure Nora out of the house?”
“She’s going to High Village this morning with Alberta to do some shopping. There’s the station wagon! I’d recognize that putt-putt in Detroit.”
Mr. Queen ground out his cigarette carefully. ”All right, then,” he said.