"O.K. Go ahead."
"Attempt number two, the sign moved. The car cracked up. Not Gertrude but—see, children—not Maud either. Because Maud didn't do number one, and therefore would have had to imitate Isabel. And she couldn't Therefore, attempt number two was made by Isabel."
"Just what I said," said Alice.
"Go on," said Fred.
"Attempt number X. The poisoned pill. Same as number two."
"Is it?"
"Exactly."
"But Gertrude could have felt those ridges on the blue bottle," said Alice.
"How could she teU which smooth bottle held the phenobarbital? It has no odor."
"Oh."
"Not Gertrude. Not Maud, because she stiU can't imitate."
"Yes, I see. Go on."
"Attempt number three. The coal gas and the dampers. Now if one and two were done by Isabel, number three can't be Maud either. She still can't imitate that sound."
"Gertrude could."
"Yes, Gertrude could. Gertrude had a flexible voice. She had keen ears. She might have done so. The only trouble is," said Duff, "why would Gertrude, who sleeps on the first floor, come upstairs outside of Alice's door in the middle of the night, having done a crinunal deed, having completed it, having nothing further to do up here that would lead to its success—why, I say, would she come up here and laugh? Just to laugh? Just to make the little sound? The imitated soimd? Why? To incriminate Isabel? Did she know Alice was awake to hear it? If so, how? Did she know it had been heard before? If so, how? People don't often do things for no reason at all. There wasn't even a wrong reason.
"So I was convinced that it must have been Isabel, herself, going by your door soon after twelve. So, you see, I had to figure out why Maud gave her an alibi.
''It became plain that Maud could have done so, honestly, only if she could hear. If she heard our mistake. Her clock was accurate. Would Maud alibi her sister just for loyalty's sake?"
"No," said Fred.
"I thought not, myself. So I couldn't disregard Isabel's alibi as a plain lie by Maud. A good chance she was honest How, then, could she have been mistaken? If she gave the time by hearsay. She did give us the time by hearsay. Must have. You see now?" He crumpled up the paper.
"Yeah," said Fred slowly.
"You always thought it was Isabel by intuition. ... I mean, by the other way?"
"Isabel scarcely let her right eye know what her left eye was doing," said Duff.
"Well, Gertrude survives. What's the moral?"
"The moral is," said Fred, "you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your relatives."
"The moral is . . . Never mind," said Alice. "It's all over."
Duff said with a light in his eyes, "So it is. I am going down and talk to Mr. Johnson."
"Good morning, Alice." Innes smiled at her with sheepish cheer from his pillows in Papa's bed. He reached for her hand, and she let him have it. After all, he was still alive and deserved congratulations.
"My dear," he said, "you look lovely. You're such a lovely person, Alice. You never meant to break our engagement, did you? I thought over what you said. I think you were simply being terribly honest." His eyes appealed to her. "But now, when we've been through so much together, I feel I know you better than ever and need you more. And you wouldn't leave me. Alice . . ."
"No," said Alice kindly. "No, please. I'm sorry. You'd better change that awful will. Innes, I was going to marry
you for your money, but now I don't want the money. Please change it, Innes. Because I'm not going to marry you. Really I'm not. I just don't want to."
Innes closed his eyes in pain. "I thought, when we'd been through so much . . . Alice, how can you leave me now?"
Because you're a whining, weak, silly man, thought Alice. "Oh," she said aloud, ''you'U get over it, Innes. And I'd like to resign as your secretary, too."
He looked at her, incredulously, she thought. Or was it timidly? Or was it suspiciously? Was there a sly fear?
She marched to the door and flung it open. Somebody must hear this. There was only Fred, coming out of the bathroom with his hair wet and slicked down.
"Come in here, Fred."
Fred came in.
"I want you to be a witness," said Alice loudly. "I have just told Mr. Whitlock that I won't marry him. I am breaking the engagement. If I ever been a suit for breach of promise, you can teU about this. Also, I quit my job. There."
"Alice," said Innes pitifully.
But she left the room.
"Anything you want, Mr. Whitlock?" said Fred, respectfully.
"Nothing," said Innes. "Nothing . . . nothing . . ." He blew a little breath through pursed lips, and it puffed his cheeks out. They collapsed with a sigh.
Alice heard Fred coming after her as she ran downstairs. He caught her at the bottom.
"What do you mean, you quit your job?" he said fiercely. "Are you nuts?"
"I guess so," she said.
He was very angry. "Are you going to get married? Is that it?"
"I hadn't thought of it," said Alice, "but I'd like to."
Fred shook her. "To that Killeen? That's it, isn't it?"
"Uh uh," she said, shaking her head as if her tongue was tied.
"Then what's this about getting married?"
"You started it."
"Look," said Fred, "if they won't take me in the Army,
I'm still a darned good mechanic. I can get a job . .." "You're wonderful," said Alice and closed her eyes. "We're crazy," said Fred. Then furiously, "You don't want to marry me!" "I do, too," said Alice.
Diiff looked dreamily over the sunken pit. "Your grandfather," he said, "was he a chief?" Mr. Johnson spat. "Or a medicine man?" "Naw."
"What did he do?"
"Lived aroimd here," said Mr. Johnson. "Then he died."
"Sums up most of us," Duff said provocatively.
"Sure," said Mr. Johnson.
Duff sighed. The mystery was as thick as ever.