"Do we?" said Duff.
"Of course. If Susan knows what time she called up."
"She says she called about eleven."
"Well, tiien, Isabel came upstairs just after eleven. That would be just before Fred left Innes's room. Or just after.
If she came through this way he wouldn't have seen her. It must have been about then."
"Ask Maud," said Duff.
"She won't know," said Alice. "Why should she care what time it is. Look at her."
Maud lay in her chair as if it were a hammock. Her feet fell sidewise balanced on their heels, the two of them looking like a flipper at the end of her legs. She was frankly appraising Alice's clothes and figure. Or seemed to be.
"But ask her," said Duff. "And ask her which way Isabel went through."
Maud sent them a suspicious glance before she read the newest note. "Say, what is all this? Isabel was coming up. She didn't want to go past the boy in the hall. She had her kimono on."
"What time?" said Duff with his lips. He tapped his wrist watch.
"Eh? What time, you mean? Oh, about eleven," said Maud sullenly.
Duff looked at the clock which stood behind Maud on the dresser. He compared it with his own watch. "Ask her how late she was awake. Did Isabel go through here again?"
"She did not," said Maud crossly. "Say, look, who told you to ask questions?"
Duff seized the pad and wrote himself. "Why were you outdoors about eight o'clock, night before last?"
Maud took the pad and grinned evilly. "Innes's puking all over the place nearly made me throw up myself. What of it? Listen, Innes has got some bee m his bonnet What does he think I was doing outside? What the hell difference does it make what time Isabel went to bed last night or me or Gert, either? What's the matter with Innes? Does he think one of us is trying to murder him?"
Alice gasped.
Duff met Maud's bright eyes. He nodded his head. "Yes, he does," he said with his nps.
"What for?" said Maud. She looked interested. Her fat little body became more alert, less limp.
Duff took the pad. "It seems quite certain that someone did try," he wrote. And added, "Mr. Johnson?" with a big question mark.
Maud read it and began to laugh. "You're crazy," she said with rude conviction. "You go tell Innes he's crazy as a bedbug. Say, why should we kill the goose that lays the golden cggl Hey?"
'To get the golden egg," said Duff clearly.
Maud's eyes narrowed. "Aw, life's too short," she said. "You tell him."
She bit into her toast, and Isabel came in at the door without knocking.
19
"Oh, there you are," said Isabel.
Alice and Mr. Duff rose politely. "Miss Isabel, this is Professor Duff. He's an old friend of mine. He . . ."
"How do you do?" said IsabeL Her lips made a semicircle.
Her sharp chin tilted. The eyes were arch.
Alice opened her mouth to explain further, but Isabel did the brushing-off trick. Her eyes wavered away from Duff as if her mind was too busy to consider him. "Innes wants us all to come to his room." She spoke on the fingers of her small left hand. Maud grunted and began to struggle in her chair.
"I can wait, perhaps," said Duff swiftly.
"Perhaps he means you, too," said Alice. She didn't know what Duff wanted.
"I really don't know," said Isabel, complaining of her own uncertainty. Her hand gathered her dress in folds at her bosom. She held her head sidewise, as if she had been interrupted in the act of tossing it. Her strange eyes watched Duff and yet did not watch him. "He mentioned Alice. But he did not mention you, Mr. Duff." Her manner was a bright rebuff.
"Fella's been asking questions," said Maud. "Say!"
The way Isabel's old-fashioned coiffure tilted as she moved her head, and her smile cut across her face, had a quaUty of Victorian gaiety or coquetry about it
Duff said, "Yes, a question or two. What time did the telephone ring last night. Miss Isabel?"
Isabel said, "Why, really, I don't think I can tell you.
Innes is ill, you know. Poor boy. We humor him,. 11 you will excuse us?"
"I shall be happy to wait downstairs," Duff said. "But perhaps you will be kind enough to tell me where I can wash?"
The meaty color of Isabel's jowls brightened. Perhaps she blushed. She turned, and they all went out into the hall. Alice showed Duff the bathroom door.
Alice said, "If Innes does want you, shall I call?"
"Please," he said. Something in the quality of his tone told her that he would just as soon be left out of this conference. She understood. He woiild be looking at Isabel's sleeves.
The fat was in the fire anyway. Surely it wouldn't take Maud long to broadcast Innes's suspicions. But Maud waddled into Papa's room without any more talk.
Innes was enthroned on pillows. He looked around at his assembled audience. His three sisters in a row. His henchmen, Fred and Killeen, on either hand. Alice, seated docilely at his left.
"Take down what I say, please, Alice. You can type it out for Maud. Use Killeen's portable." Innes had an air of having thought of everything.
"Very well," said Alice.
"Now, Gertrude, Maud, Isabel, I want you to know that I have arranged to send each of you a certain amount of money every month." Innes looked terribly pompous. Someone had combed his hair, and his mustache was smooth again. He was full of confidence.
"What's he say?" said Maud. "Oh, she's writing it down, is she?" Maud picked her front teeth with her fingernail. But she kept her shrewd eyes on Innes's face. Lip reading? Alice wondered.
"I am doing this because I have changed my will, and I think it is therefore only fair to make it up to you while I am still alive." Innes was being wily. Smooth. How much of this was Killeen's touch? To seem, and not to seem . .. "I am leaving my estate to Alice, of course."
"What? All?" said Isabel. The two syllables came out without any inflection, abruptly. Gertrude's Hps jerked, but she said nothing. Maud looked at the tip of her finger and put it back into her mouth.
''It may seem strange," Imies went on, "but it really isn't. She's yooing, you see. And I, myself, am younger than any of you. Therefore, your share in my estate is of pretty doubtful value to you, since it is likely that I shall survive you. But"—Innes waved his pudgy hand—''let's not speak of such unpleasant things." He smiled fatuously. "I do feel I've been selfish. I have complained about straightening out your affairs from time to time. But after all, lying here, I began to say to myself that you are my family, and I do have a responsibility in your support and comfort. You are," said Innes sentimentally, "my sisters."
"Therefore, as I say I have arranged for these allowances. They are generous, I thiok. I am dividing ten thousand a year among you. With your own holdings, you will be well off."
Innes paused for applause. There was none. The sisters sat in stony silence.
"Let me tell you just what I have done in my will." Killeen handed Innes" a docmnent. "This is a copy," said Innes airily, but the warning was clear. "Mr. Killeen has mailed the signed original back to his office in the city. Now, of course, I have a few charities here. Erhem, the entire residue goes to Alice Brennan." He tossed a forgiving smile at Alice, hurried his eyes back to the paper and kept them there. "At my death, the allowances I have fixed on you will naturally stop. But I have stated here in the will that Alice Brennan, designated herein as heiress to the bulk of my estate, is hereby eamestiy requested to use her own judgment as to whether she wishes to continue them in whole, in part, or at all. Do you," said Innes, putting the paper down, "understand?"
"My dear Innes," said Gertrude, "isn't that rather peculiar? After all, while we hope to become better acquainted with your charming Alice . . ."
Isabel said, "I'm afraid I don't understand, either." Her forehead wore a frown, not so much of disapproval as of anxious stupidity.
"Surely you can see why I had to do that!" said Innes, raising his eyebrows. "My dears, who knows what is going to happen to my money? The whole world is aflame." Innes dramatized it. "Why, by the time I die, the estate may have shrunk to almost nothing."