is head. "Let her amuse herself for a bit," he said. "With
Martha occupied, you can give your attention to a more delicate matter."

Mrs. Bagley forgot that she was addressing an eight-year-old boy. His
manner and his speech bemused her. "Yes," she said. "I do want to get
this settled with your mysterious Charles Maxwell. Do you expect him
down, or shall I go upstairs--?"

"This may come as a shock, Mrs. Bagley, but Charles Maxwell isn't here."

"Isn't here?" she echoed, in a tone of voice that clearly indicated that
she had heard the words but hadn't really grasped their full meaning. "He
won't be gone long, will he?"

James watched her covertly, then said in a matter-of-fact voice, "He left
you a letter."

"Letter?"

"He was called away on some urgent business."

"But--"

"Please read the letter. It explains everything."

He handed her an envelope addressed to "Mrs. Janet Bagley." She looked
at it from both sides, in the womanlike process of trying to divine its
contents instead of opening it. She looked at James, but James sat
stolidly waiting. Mrs. Bagley was going to get no more information from
him until she read that letter, and James was prepared to sit it out
until she did. It placed Mrs. Bagley in the awkward position of having
to decide what to do next. Then the muffled sound of little-girl crooning
came from the distant room. That brought the realization that as odd as
this household was, it was a _home_. Mrs. Bagley delayed no further. She
opened the letter and read:

My Dear Mrs. Bagley:

I deeply regret that I am not there to greet you, but it was not
possible. However, please understand that insofar as I am concerned,
you were hired and have been drawing your salary from the date that I
forwarded railroad fare and traveling expenses. Any face-to-face
meeting is no more than a pleasantry, a formal introduction. It must
not be considered in any way connected with the thought of a "Final
Interview" or the process of "Closing the Deal."

Please carry on as if you had been in charge long before I departed,
or--considering my hermitlike habits--the way you would have carried
on if I had not departed, but instead was still upstairs and hard at
work with most definite orders that I was not to be disturbed for
anything less important than total, personal disaster.

I can offer you a word of explanation about young James. You will find
him extraordinarily competent for