"I want to tell her about
Jean."
After Derry had gone, Miss Emily stood looking at the cyclamen on the
shelf. It was a lovely thing, with a dozen blooms. She wished that
her benefactor had stayed to let her thank him. She was not sure that
she even knew where to send a note.
She hunted him up in the telephone book, and found him--Ulrich Stoelle.
His hot-houses were on the old Military Road. She remembered now to
have seen them, and to have remarked the house, which was peaked up in
several gables, and had quaint brightly-colored iron figures set about
the garden--with pointed caps like the graybeards in Rip van Winkle, or
the dwarf in Rumpelstiltzkin.
When Derry's car slid up to Margaret's door, he saw the two children at
an upper window. They waved to him as he rang the bell. He waited
several moments and no one came to open the door. He turned the knob
and, finding it unlatched, let himself in.
As he went through the hall he was aware of a strange stillness. Not a
maid was in sight. Passing Margaret's room on the second floor he
heard voices.
The children were alone in the nursery.
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