CHAPTER XII

_The Silver Rings_

“I can’t meet my grandparents for the first time looking like this,”

Lucy said. “I know it’s important for us to get to them before Mr. Dorn

does, but it’s important for me to look nice, too.”

“Don’t worry,” Vicki said, “I’ll lend you some clothes. You go shower

and change now. I will, too, but first I must make some telephone

calls.”

She telephoned La Guardia Airport and asked for the “Lost and Found”

Desk.

“Hello, this is the Federal Airlines stewardess,” Vicki said into the

telephone, “who turned in a gold charm, inscribed Dorothy. One of my

passengers lost it. Can you tell me whether anyone has ever claimed it?”

“It’s still here,” the clerk told her. “No one has even inquired about

it, so far as I know.”

That confirmed her suspicion--the owner was _afraid_ to come for it.

The reason why might prove interesting.

Next, she telephoned the Bryants’ house. Mrs. Bryant was surprised

and pleased to hear from her. Vicki asked whether she could come over

to see them, and added that she’d like to bring a friend to meet them.

“Soon, please? It’s important.”

“We’d be delighted to see you and your friend,” said Mrs. Bryant, “but

it can’t be this morning. We’re expecting guests for lunch at twelve

thirty. Why don’t you and your friend come at two?”

“At two,” Vicki repeated. She longed to ask whether the luncheon guests

would include Mr. Dorn, or whether the Bryants had heard from Dorn

yesterday or today. But she couldn’t very well ask. “We’ll be there at

two. Thank you very much, Mrs. Bryant.”

Lucy had come in, wearing a bathrobe, and heard Vicki make the

appointment. She looked woebegone, still lost. Vicki had to encourage

her.

“Yes, I know my grandparents want me,” Lucy said excitedly, “but the

other ‘Lucy’--Is she more attractive than I am?”

“Not nearly as likable,” Vicki said to soothe her.

“I can’t help feeling nervous, though, especially since you’ve told me

what Mr. Dorn’s been up to,” Lucy said.

“Come on. Let’s find you some clothes that will fit you and be

becoming.”

Vicki borrowed from her own and Jean’s wardrobes. She made herself

presentable, then Mrs. Duff gave them a quick lunch. As they ate, the

girls debated whether Lucy still had, in certain ways, the hardest part

of her ordeal to struggle through.

On the way over to the Bryants’, Lucy was silent and preoccupied. She

wore the silver ring, and had the family documents in her purse. When

she saw the mansion her grandparents lived in, she hesitated. Vicki

took her hand and escorted her up the marble steps.

“I’ll never fit in here,” Lucy whispered, as they followed the butler

toward the room with the parakeets.

“Yes, you will,” Vicki whispered back. “Wait and see.”

Mr. and Mrs. Bryant were waiting for them. Vicki’s heart sank when she

saw that ‘Lucy’--the false Lucy--was with them. She had wanted so much

to talk to them alone! Mrs. Bryant rose and came forward to greet the

two girls.

“How nice to see you, Vicki. And I’m so glad you’ve brought your

friend. I asked our Lucy to stay and meet her.”

The true Lucy stared at the impostor. There was no real resemblance

between them, except that both were brown-haired, around the same age,

and either Lucy might have once been the little girl in the snapshot.

The true Lucy must have seen the silver ring on the other Lucy’s hand,

for she thrust her hand in her pocket to hide her own silver ring.

Vicki took her friend’s arm, to give her courage.

As Mr. Bryant and the sophisticated-looking girl rose from the sofa,

Vicki said, “This is my friend from San Francisco, Lucy Rowe.” It took

all her courage to come right out and say that. She watched the false

Lucy closely.

“Lucy Rowe!” Mrs. Bryant exclaimed, and a look of wonder crossed her

face.

“What a coincidence,” the other girl said, after a pause. “How do you

do, Miss Rowe?”

Lucy was unable to speak. She looked into Mrs. Bryant’s face with her

feelings naked in her eyes. Marshall Bryant said:

“Quite a coincidence, eh, Miss Vicki? Two girls with the same name.

Well, well. Let’s all sit down, anyway.” He sat down heavily. “I ate

too much lunch.”

Lucy stared at her grandfather. She stayed as close as she could to

Vicki, her hand still in her pocket.

“How odd that we’ve never met,” the false Lucy said smoothly to the

true Lucy. “I’m from San Francisco, too, you know.”

“It--it _is_ quite a coincidence, isn’t it?” Mrs. Bryant said shakily.

Vicki drew a deep breath and said what sooner or later had to be said.

“It’s more than a coincidence, Mrs. Bryant. This young woman is--is

your granddaughter, and I can--”

“That’s preposterous!” the false Lucy exclaimed. She was furious. “_I_

am the Bryants’ granddaughter, and I resent--”

“--and I can prove it,” Vicki went on evenly. “There has been a

terrible mistake here. If one can call it a mistake.”

Marshall Bryant snorted. “Young lady, you’re having a pipe dream.

Thurman Dorn is a good man, a good lawyer. He doesn’t make mistakes. Do

you think I’d hire an incompetent man?”

Vicki was shaking all over. “It isn’t simply a mistake, Mr. Bryant.

Forgive me for contradicting you, but Mr. Dorn has deliberately brought

you the wrong girl.”

“Rot!” the big man said, and the false Lucy drew herself up in scorn.

Only Mrs. Bryant, her hands trembling so badly that she had to clasp

them, said to the newcomer:

“Tell me, my dear. Do you believe yourself to be our granddaughter?”

Slowly Lucy drew her hand out of her pocket and extended it. “Here is

the ring you gave my mother. And here are photographs of us all--and a

letter you wrote my mother--”

The false Lucy laughed. No one took the things Lucy offered. She

stood there abashed. The false Lucy cried, “Why, Grandpa, they’re

fakes--forgeries, that’s all.” Mrs. Bryant glanced back and forth

between the two Lucys, bewildered and hurt. Finally she reached out and

took the photographs and letters, and examined them.

“Marshall,” she said, “I did write this letter to Eleanor.” He made a

gesture of disbelief. Mrs. Bryant turned to the newcomer. “Where did

you get this letter?”

“Mother gave it to me. Just as she gave me this ring.”

“I also have my mother’s ring.” The false Lucy indignantly held up her

hand with the silver ring. She was still assured, but her face had

turned a sickly white.

Marshall Bryant exploded. “Someone here is lying! If you think I’ll set

aside the detailed proof of my lawyer, and reject this lovely young

woman we’re so fond of--if you expect me to take the word of a girl

I’ve never seen or heard of before--Why, it _is_ preposterous! Vicki,

where in the world did you find this girl, and what in the world are

you thinking of?”

Vicki said as bravely as she could, “Mr. Bryant, I have _proof_ that

she is your granddaughter, if you’ll only listen to me.”

“I think we’d better listen, Marshall,” said Mrs. Bryant.

“I--er--before Mr. Dorn had found Lucy, I requested our young

friend--since she sometimes flies in and out of San Francisco--to see

whether she could learn anything about our granddaughter.”

“You did!” Marshall Bryant turned to Vicki. “And you actually

investigated? But you’re not a trained investigator.”

“Just the same, please listen to what I found out,” Vicki pleaded.

The butler came in to say that Mr. Thurman Dorn was at the door, and

asked whether the Bryants would see him.

“We certainly will see him!” Mr. Bryant said. “Right away! Lucky for us

he’s here.”

Mrs. Bryant murmured that this seemed to be their day for coincidences.

Vicki said, “This is no coincidence, either, Mrs. Bryant. Mr. Dorn has

just flown in from San Francisco where he was yesterday--intending to

stop me from bringing Lucy to you.”

Marshall Bryant stared at her as if she were out of her mind, and the

false Lucy smiled pityingly.

They waited for Dorn. Lucy said to Vicki, very low, “This is scarcely

the reception I’d dreamed of.”

Dorn came in. His suit was rumpled, as if he had slept in it all night.

However, he was as self-possessed as ever, and gave Vicki and her Lucy

a look of utter contempt.

“I see these two fakers beat me here,” he said. “Good afternoon, Mrs.

Bryant, Lucy. How are you, sir? May I impose on your hospitality and

ask for some hot coffee? I’ve just flown to San Francisco and back on

your behalf. I flew all last night on a wretchedly slow coach plane, a

long, roundabout Dallas-Memphis local,” he said disgustedly. “The only

plane I could get on last night without a reservation--”

He sank into a chair. Vicki and Lucy exchanged glances. Getting here

before Dorn hadn’t done them much good. Marshall Bryant spoke to him

sympathetically while Mrs. Bryant ordered the coffee.

Vicki decided to attack Dorn before he could attack her.

“Mr. Dorn, I’ve found out how your mother, Mrs. Heath, lured Lucy out

of San Francisco--”

“Your mother?” said Mr. Bryant in surprise.

“--and kept Lucy virtually a prisoner in--”

“Stop lying!” Dorn ordered. “You’re a ridiculous little amateur

detective who’s been meddling--”

“--prisoner in a lonely house near the Sierra Nevadas, until I got

her out of there yesterday! And that’s where you were yesterday, Mr.

Dorn--in Pine Top!”

Dorn’s eyes narrowed. The false Lucy kept perfectly still. The lawyer

retorted:

“Miss Barr, you evidently are stupid and irresponsible. Perhaps this

girl with you is, too. Dreaming up some fantastic tale! Prisoner!” He

turned to Mr. Bryant. “What has she told you?”

Mrs. Bryant answered. “They showed us another silver ring, and these

photographs and letters.”

Dorn smiled dryly. “Documents can be forged, or stolen. A silver ring

can be copied, too, by a clever jeweler.” He turned to the true Lucy

and thundered at her, “How did you manage to steal and forge these

things?”

As Lucy drew back in fright, Vicki said:

“Any stealing and forging that was done, _you_ did. From the Bryants’

safe here in their house. You borrowed their family documents and the

ring--to ‘study.’ You said--”

Both Bryants were listening to her now. Vicki turned to them.

“There’s a minister in San Francisco, a Mr. Hall, who’s known Jack and

Eleanor Rowe, and Lucy, ever since Lucy was born. Would you take _his_

word?”

Mrs. Bryant gasped. “What else did you find out? Mr. Dorn, why did you

never mention the minister to us?”

“Because there is no such person in their family history,” he said

boldly. “Lucy”--he turned toward the false Lucy--“did you ever know a

minister named Hall?”

“No, our minister’s name was Dr. John Sands.”

“Ah, you see!” Marshall Bryant said with satisfaction. “I shall get in

touch with Dr. Sands.”

“I wish, Grandpa,” said the false Lucy, “that Dr. Sands was still

alive. He’d tell you the truth.”

The true Lucy said suddenly, “Ask Mr. Hall. I’ll give you his address

and telephone number.”

Marshall Bryant eyed her distrustfully, but his wife said, “You haven’t

answered my question, Vicki. What else did you find out?”

Dorn tried to prevent Vicki from speaking. He heaped her with scorn and

flatly denied all allegations--but Mrs. Bryant insisted.

Vicki started to enumerate her points: the so-called Lucy had not

worked for Whitney Decorators because no such firm had ever existed.

Her alleged doctor, Dr. Alice James, did not exist. The addresses where

she’d said she lived did not exist.

“Lies, lies!” Dorn said to Mr. Bryant. “I visited every one of those

persons and places myself. You have my word for it.”

Marshall Bryant nodded. Vicki said to him:

“Mr. Dorn is the one who’s lying. You have _only_ his word for these

things, and he and his mother and this girl he misrepresents to be your

granddaughter--they’re all in collusion together.”

“I’ll take you to court for libel, Vicki Barr!” Dorn fairly shouted.

She ignored that, and appealed to the Bryants. “Send an impartial

investigator to San Francisco, or go yourselves. You’ll find out from

the Interstate Insurance Company that _that’s_ where Lucy worked, ever

since she got out of school. Talk to Mr. Hall. Talk to Jill Joseph who

lives in Lucy’s old house in Sutro Heights--she and her parents, the

Rossiters, knew Lucy’s parents--”

“Ridiculous,” said Dorn, with a little laugh. “Perhaps this other

girl’s name actually is Lucy Rowe--though I doubt it--but even if it

is, that does not make her your granddaughter and your heir. Can’t you

see how easy it is for an unscrupulous girl to claim to be your kin

whom you’ve never seen? A crude attempt, I must say.”

Vicki saw that she was getting nowhere. The more points she raised, the

more Dorn, with a lawyer’s great verbal skill, twisted and bypassed

them. He managed to make Vicki’s statements appear implausible. He

enumerated proofs of his own correctness. Lucy, sitting beside her, was

numb with misery.

Vicki looked at the false Lucy and had an inspiration. She addressed

her directly, sharply:

“See here, Dorothy, I know a good deal about you--”

The false Lucy started.

“Yes, I know it was you who lost the gold charm inscribed Dorothy on my

plane that day. I know you came here from Chicago, not San Francisco--”

“I didn’t--”

“Her name isn’t Dorothy,” Dorn broke in.

“--and I know,” Vicki kept on, “that you arrived _two days earlier_

than you pretended to the Bryants. Where were you those two days?”

“Lies,” Dorn said. “She--”

Mrs. Bryant turned to the agitated girl. “Two days earlier? Is this

true?”

“Don’t you know,” Vicki kept at the girl, “that impersonating another

person is a crime and you can go to jail for it?”

“I’m not--I didn’t--” the fake Lucy stammered.

“You’d better tell the truth,” Marshall Bryant warned her.

The false Lucy burst into tears. “He talked me into doing it,” she

cried. “Thurman said as soon as we were married, my name would be Dorn

and no one would ever know of this impersonation. Calling myself Lucy

Rowe was just for a little while--”

Marshall Bryant in his anger was having difficulty in breathing. Vicki

feared he might suffer another heart attack. “Just for a little while,”

he repeated heavily. “While you tricked us into believing that you were

our granddaughter, eh? I suppose you planned to keep up the pretense

and call yourself Lucy indefinitely. Only now you’ve lost your nerve!”

“Thurman never told me that there was a real Lucy Rowe; he never told

me I’d be cheating someone,” the other girl asserted, weeping. “Don’t

blame me! He and his mother told me that Lucy was dead, only you didn’t

know it, and that we might as well have the inheritance for ourselves

instead of letting some stupid charities have it. Thurman and Mrs.

Heath are to blame, not me.” Dorn tried to break in, but the girl went

on half hysterically. “They said that with my dramatic school training

and being a quick study, I could easily play Lucy’s part--”

“You’re telling half-truths,” Dorn said. “You never objected to

becoming rich, did you?”

“Keep quiet, both of you,” Marshall Bryant ordered. The old man turned

toward Vicki. “What’s this about Dorn’s mother?”

“Yes, didn’t you once tell us,” Mrs. Bryant asked the young lawyer,

“that your mother in Chicago was widowed and had remarried? What is

your mother’s name?” Dorn tugged hard at his mustache and refused to

answer. “Mr. Dorn,” Mrs. Bryant reminded him, “we can find out from

your law firm.”

Dorn muttered, “Her name is Heath. Elizabeth Heath. She’s a widow for

the second time; she’s alone except for me.”

“So you thought you’d provide for your mother, yourself, and your

fiancée at my expense,” Marshall Bryant said bitterly. “No wonder you

were in such a hurry to have me sign over a parcel of stocks and bonds

to Lucy--Dorothy--whatever her name is.” The girl gave her name, very

low: Dorothy Clinton. “Well, I’ll rescind that immediately!”

“About Mrs. Heath,” Mrs. Bryant said. “She actually kept this

girl, our--our granddaughter”--it was hard for her to reverse her

thinking--“out of sight?”

“Yes, on a pretense of a job,” Vicki answered. “Not only that! They

also planned to get her to go abroad and maybe never return.”

The Bryants both caught their breaths. Mr. Bryant got up and pulled at

the wall cord to summon the butler. “I’m going to call the police,” he

said.

“Wait just a minute, sir,” Dorn said. “You still have no final proof of

who this girl is.”

“I have proof!” the true Lucy spoke up. “I have some proof with me and

much more if I can get my things back from Mrs. Heath. Besides, I’m

sure Mr. Hall and some of my San Francisco friends and old teachers

will come East to vouch for me. They’ve known me all my life, and known

my mother and father, too.”

“All right, all right,” the elderly man said, and passed his hand over

his eyes. No one except Vicki noticed the butler waiting at the door.

Mrs. Bryant stared dazedly at Dorn.

“Maybe you’d better start your explanations with the very beginning of

this rotten scheme,” Marshall Bryant said. “You’re going to have to

explain to us--and the police--sooner or later.”

Dorn put his head in his hands. “Very well, I will.” Then he said, “I

have some papers in my brief case in the hall, sir”--Dorn stood up--“if

you’ll permit me to get them.”

Suddenly he seized the false Lucy by the hand, and they ran out of the

room. The butler was so stunned by surprise that he was motionless. So

was everyone for a few seconds--until Vicki sprang to her feet. “Don’t

let them get away!” She and the butler ran after them. She saw Dorn and

the girl racing down the marble steps and along the street.

Vicki and the Bryants’ man tore after them. They were heading toward a

taxicab waiting at the curb a few houses up. Vicki saw a gray-haired

woman in the taxi who looked familiar. Mrs. Heath!

“Driver!” Vicki called out. “Don’t take those people! They’re

criminals!”

“Catch that man!” the butler shouted.

The taxi driver jumped out and caught Dorn. He struggled to tear free,

while Dorothy screamed at the butler to let her go. Vicki reached Mrs.

Heath just as the woman tried to slip away. Out of nowhere a policeman

appeared on the run.

“What’s all the shouting about?” he demanded. “What’s the matter here?”

From the top of his house steps Marshall Bryant told them all to come

into the house. “Pay the driver his fare,” he directed the butler, “so

he can go.” The policeman herded the rest of them into the house, with

Dorothy screaming now at Dorn. Vicki walked in beside Mrs. Heath who

looked as if she, too, had slept in her clothes last night. Mrs. Heath

scornfully would not even glance in Vicki’s direction.

They all sat down in the room with the parakeets, where Mrs. Bryant and

Lucy waited together. Marshall Bryant explained the situation briefly

to the policeman, who said:

“You’d better phone the precinct for a couple of detectives, Mr.

Bryant. This is out of my jurisdiction. I’ll stay until they get here,

though.”

Mr. Bryant instructed the butler to telephone. Then he said to Dorn:

“Talk!”

[Illustration]

Thurman Dorn sat crumpled in a chair, head bent. He plucked at his

fingers as he almost inaudibly told the whole story.

[Illustration]

He had always had to struggle along and economize, he said, and he felt

that as an educated man he was entitled to more than a small-salaried

job. His mother and his fiancée, too, were ambitious and resentful of

“scrimping along.” They felt they were entitled to wealth just as much

as people like the Bryants. Thurman Dorn was determined to get rich as

quickly as possible. His attitude was “Once you have a great deal of

money, people won’t care or dare ask how you acquired it.”

When the Bryants engaged him to search for their granddaughter and

heir whom they had never seen, Dorn calculated this was his main

chance. The Bryant fortune was so big that he was willing to risk

committing a crime. He believed that his cleverness and knowledge of

the law would protect him. And he believed he had evolved a foolproof

scheme: to present his fiancée to the Bryants as their unknown

granddaughter, then marry her and through her gain the Bryant fortune.

He flew to Chicago and talked his mother and Dorothy into the scheme.

First, though, Dorn had to learn whether Lucy Rowe could be gotten out

of the way. He and Mrs. Heath went on to San Francisco in mid-January

and learned--something the Bryants did not then know--that Jack Rowe

had died two years earlier. This left Lucy alone in the world, and

suited Dora’s scheme perfectly. Dorn also learned that Lucy was working

as a secretary at Interstate, had moved several times in the past few

years, and had just moved into the women’s hotel.

The next step was for Mrs. Heath to move to the Hotel Alcott, strike

up an acquaintance with Lucy, and offer her a job out of town or

“traveling.” At the same time, Mrs. Heath learned a great deal more

about Lucy and passed the information along to Dorn. Meanwhile, Dorn

located a well-hidden house in the back country and rented it and a car

for Mrs. Heath.

Then Dorn flew alone to Chicago, where for two days he coached Dorothy

in the role of Lucy. To do this, he used the information gained

by Mrs. Heath, and by himself in talking with the Bryants. Dorothy

memorized certain facts of Lucy’s life and acted out a personality

designed to please the Bryants. Dorn carefully supplied her with a

story about Lucy’s recent past. He promised Dorothy further advice on

the role of Lucy.

Dorn then flew on to New York, and reported to the Bryants that he

could not yet find their granddaughter who was away on a month’s trip.

He was allowing his mother time to get Lucy out of San Francisco and

into hiding. He also borrowed from the Bryants, from the safe in their

house, family letters and photographs and Mrs. Bryant’s silver ring,

ostensibly to “study” them.

Actually Dorn in the next hour had the photographs and letters

photostated, and he mailed them to Dorothy in Chicago to study for

developing her role. The same day he took the silver ring to a jeweler

and had it sketched to be copied. Within a few days the third silver

ring was ready and he mailed it to Dorothy. Meantime, Dorn had promptly

returned all the originals to the Bryants.

The rest of their scheme was to persuade Lucy to leave the United

States and stay abroad.

Unfortunately for them, Vicki had observed the false Miss L. Rowe

on her Chicago-New York flight. By that time Dorothy had devised a

make-up and hair style which helped her to resemble, superficially,

the faces in the Bryant family photographs. Dorn, who had never taken

Vicki seriously and did not bother to remember with what airline she

was a stewardess, never told Dorothy to stay off Federal Airlines. On

Dorothy’s part, it was a piece of carelessness that on that flight

she had worn, and lost, the gold charm inscribed with her own name.

Arriving in New York on a Tuesday, Dorothy went to a hotel, and on that

day and Wednesday, she and Dorn held a final, thorough rehearsal of her

role. On Thursday, Dorn brought her to the Bryants, saying, “Here is

your granddaughter who has just flown in from San Francisco.” Dorothy

had acted her role so convincingly that the Bryants did not doubt this

charming girl was truly their granddaughter.

“That’s all,” Dorn finished. His voice sounded hollow. “My second trip

to San Francisco was just for show, so that I could come back and say

‘I’ve found your granddaughter.’”

“Lies from start to finish,” Marshall Bryant said angrily. “I’ll see

that the three of you pay for this! What a fool you’ve been, Dorn! You

threw aside a promising career with Steele and Wilbur--one of the most

reputable law firms in the country. When your employers hear about the

vicious scheme--”

Two men quietly came into the room.

“We’re precinct detectives,” one of them said, and they showed their

identification. “We’ve been standing in the hall and heard the whole

thing.”

“Can you arrest these three swindlers at once?” Marshall Bryant

demanded. “For what they’ve done to my wife and me and to an innocent

girl?”

“Yes, sir,” said the detective. “You are under arrest, Dorn, and so are

you two women, on a conspiracy charge.”

“I know my rights,” Dorn asserted. “I’m a lawyer, and you can’t--”

“I can,” said the detective. “Let me quote the law to you, Mr. Dorn.

The unlawful acts you three persons planned to commit, and in part did

commit, are fraud, misrepresentation, and obtaining money or property

under false pretenses.”

“I object, I vehemently object!” Dorn said. “We may have planned it,

but we haven’t actually obtained the inheritance.”

“That’s beside the point,” the detective said. “Quote: ‘Persons

agreeing together to commit a crime can be prosecuted for _conspiracy_.

In a conspiracy it does not matter whether the unlawful act agreed upon

is carried out or not.’ You’re under arrest for conspiracy. Get up. All

three of you.”

Dorn shrugged and said no more. He, Mrs. Heath, and Dorothy stood up.

The false Lucy pulled the silver ring off her finger and bitterly threw

it at Dorn.

Marshall Bryant said, “You’re being arrested for conspiracy, but I’m

going to bring action against you in the courts for a whole lot more.

For fraud and misrepresentation, and for detention of Lucy.”

“They’ll draw heavy sentences,” the detective said. “All right, get

going.”

When they were gone, the Bryants and Lucy and Vicki were unable to

speak for a few minutes. They looked at one another.

“Miserable business,” Marshall Bryant growled.

Mrs. Bryant went to sit next to Lucy, and put her arm around her. “My

child, you don’t have to be afraid any more.”

“Nor alone any more?” Lucy asked timidly.

“Nor alone any more,” the grandmother answered. “Will she, Marshall? We

shall make up to you for all the hard things you’ve been through. Tell

me, my dear, did your mother have a pet name for you?”

“Yes, it was Lucinda,” Lucy said. “Sometimes Lucinda Belle, just for

fun.”

“That used to be your grandfather’s special name for _me_” Mrs. Bryant

said, and both the old people smiled at Lucy.

Mrs. Bryant leaned forward to touch Vicki’s hand. “Vicki, how can we

ever thank you?” she said. “You and Lucy and all of us must always be

friends.”

Vicki smiled as she looked at Lucy’s happy face. “I think we will be,”

she said.

Transcriber’s Note:

The 1960 copyright date on this book was not renewed so is now in the

public domain in the United States of America.

The Silver Ring Mystery · 第 12 / 12 章