lging brief-cases had apparently contained the
dearest of his roving brother's possessions, judging from the way Rupert
had fussed if they were a second out of his sight.

"This morning when I came downstairs," Ricky continued, "he was sneaking
them into that little side room off the dining-room corridor, the one
which used to be the old plantation office. And when he came out and saw
me standing there, he deliberately turned around and locked the door!"

"Whew!" Val commented.

"Yes, I felt that way too. So I simply asked him what he was doing and
he made some silly remark about Bluebeard's chamber. He means to keep
his old secret, too, 'cause he put the key on his key-ring when he
didn't know I was watching him."

"This is not the place for a rest cure," her brother observed as he
started to scrape and stack the dishes. "First someone unknown leaves
his handkerchief for a calling card and then Rupert goes Fu Manchu on
us. To say nothing of the rugged and unfriendly son of the soil whom I
found bumping around the garden where he had no business to be."

"What was he like anyway?" asked his sister as she dipped soap flakes
into the dish-water with a liberal hand.

"Oh, thin, and awfully brown. But not bad looking if it weren't for his
mouth and that scowl of his. And he very distinctly doesn't like us.
About my build, but quicker on his feet, tough looking. I wouldn't care
to try to stop him doing anything he wanted to do."

"My dear, are you describing Clark Gable or someone you met in our
garden this morning?" she demanded sweetly.

"Very well," Val retorted huffily into the depths of the oatmeal pan he
was wiping, "you catch him next time."

"I will," was her serene answer as she wrung out the dish-cloth.

They went on to the upstairs work and Val received his first lesson in
the art of bed-making under his sister's extremely critical tuition. It
seemed that corners must be square and that dreadful things were likely
to happen when wrinkles were not smoothed out. This exercise led them
naturally to unpacking the remainder of the hand baggage and putting
things away. It was after ten before Val came downstairs crab-fashion,
wiping off each step behind him as he came with one of Ricky's three
dust-cloths.

He paused on the landing to pull back the tapestry curtain and open the
windows above the alcove seat, letting in the freshness of the morning
to rout some of the dank chill of the hall. Kneeling there, h