tly.

Penny and her father went back to the car to wait while the woman
collected a few things to take with her.

"I think we've found a jewel, Penny," the detective declared
enthusiastically. "If I'm any judge of character, she's a good
housekeeper."

"And if I'm a judge of it, she's a chronic grumbler and a gossip,"
replied Penny. "But we're only paying five dollars, so we can't be too
particular."

Mrs. Masterbrook soon came down the walk with a small handbag. She
crowded into the front seat of the car and even before they were well
on their way to Kendon, began to question her new employer. She asked
his name, his business, where he was from, why he had come to Kendon
and how long he meant to stay.

Penny glanced impishly at her father, who was growing slightly annoyed.
She had warned him that Mrs. Masterbrook would prove to be a gossip.

"I met Mr. Crocker's grandson this morning," she remarked, hoping to
switch the conversation to a less personal topic. "He seems like a
fine lad."

"Yes, but it's a shame the way Herman brings him up," replied Mrs.
Masterbrook, shaking her head sadly. "Perry has never had much
schooling and he's kept at home all the time."

"I should think the school authorities would see that the boy attended
classes," remarked Mr. Nichols.

"They don't like to cross Herman," Mrs. Masterbrook explained. "At
least that's how I figure it."

"Mr. Crocker doesn't actually mistreat the boy?" Penny questioned.

"Herman couldn't be very good to anyone even if he tried. Perry was
his daughter Ella's son, and I guess old Herman thought more of Ella
than he did of any other member of his family. When she died he took
the boy to raise."

"I judge his own wife isn't living," remarked Mr. Nichols.

"No, poor Ida went to her rest come twelve years ago this fall. Folks
said she wouldn't have taken down with pneumonia if Herman had given
her enough to eat."

Neither Penny nor her father encouraged Mrs. Masterbrook to talk, but
all the way to the cottage she chattered about first one person and
then another. With no effort on her part, Penny gathered many items of
interesting information concerning Herman Crocker.

"Folks around here call him a miser," the woman revealed. "When his
sister Jenny died, she left quite a tidy little fortune. Some people
don't think Herman ever inherited very much of it, but I could tell 'em
a few things about that matter if I were minded to do it."