Calamity Town

Despite himself, Mr. Queen experienced a chill of pleasure. But his voice was impersonal. ”At any rate, you’ve got to be my eyes and ears, Pat. Stay with Nora as much as possible without arousing her suspicions. Watch Jim without seeming to. Report everything that happens. And whenever possible, you must work me into your family gatherings. Is all that clear?”

Pat actually smiled up at him. ”I was being silly. Now it doesn’t seem half so bad, with you under this tree, and the moonlight touching that flat plane of your right cheek . . . You’re very handsome, you know, Ellery?”

“Then why in hell,” growled a male voice from the darkness, “don’t you kiss him?”

“Cart!” Pat snuggled against the black chest of the elm.

They could hear Bradford breathing somewhere near?breathing short deep ones.

Too absurd, thought Mr. Queen. A man of logic should evade such encirclements by chance. But at least it cleared up the minor irritation of the sound-that-had-stopped. It had been Carter Bradford’s car.

“Well, he is handsome,” said Pat’s voice from the tree trunk. Ellery grinned to himself.

“You lied to me,” cried Carter. He materialized: no hat and his chestnut hair angry. ”Don’t hide in a bush, Pat!”

“I’m not hiding,” said Pat peevishly, “and it isn’t a bush, it’s a tree.” She came out of the darkness, too; and they faced each other with punctilio.

Mr. Queen watched with silent enjoyment.

“You told me over the phone that you had a headache!”

“Yes.”

“You said you were going to bed!”

“I am.”

“Don’t quibble!”

“Why not? You raise such unimportant points, Mr. Bradford.”

Carter’s arms flapped under the unfriendly stars. ”You lied to get rid of me. You didn’t want me around. You had a date with this scribbler! Don’t deny it!”

“I do deny it.” Pat’s voice softened. ”I did lie to you, Cart, but I didn’t have a date with Ellery.”

“That,” remarked Mr. Queen from his observation post, “happens to be the truth.”

“Stick your two cents out, Smith!” shouted Carter. ”I’m trying to keep my temper, or I’d drape you over the lawn!”

Mr. ”Smith” grinned and held his peace.

“All right, so I’m jealous,” muttered Cart. ”But you don’t have to be a sneak, Pat! If you don’t want me, say so.”

“This has nothing to do with my wanting you or not wanting you,” said Pat in a timid-turtle voice.

“Well, do you or don’t you?”

Pat’s eyes fell. ”You’ve no right to ask me that?here?now.” Her eyes flashed up. ”You wouldn’t want a sneak, anyway, would you?”

“All right! Have it your way!”

“Cart . . . !”

His voice came back in a bellow of defiance. ”I’m through!”

Pat ran off toward the big white house.

Thought Mr. Queen as he watched her slim figure race across the lawn: In a way it’s better . . . much better. You don’t know what you’re in for. And Mr. Carter Bradford, when you meet him next, may very well be an enemy.

* * *

When Ellery returned from his pre-breakfast walk the next morning, he found Nora and her mother whispering on the Wright porch.

“Good morning!” he said cheerfully. ”Enjoy the lecture last night?”

“It was very interesting.” Nora looked distressed, and Hermione preoccupied, so Ellery began to go into the house.

“Mr. Smith,” said Hermy. ”Oh, dear, I don’t know how to say it! Nora dear?”

“Ellery, what happened here last night?” asked Nora.

“Happened?” Ellery looked blank.

“I mean with Pat and Carter. You were home?”

“Is anything wrong with Pat?” asked Ellery quickly.

“Of course there is. She won’t come down to breakfast. She won’t answer any questions. And when Pat sulks?”

“It’s Carter’s fault,” Hermy burst out. ”I thought there was something queer about her ‘headache’ last night! Please, Mr. Smith, if you know anything about it?if something happened after we went to Town Hall last night which her mother ought to know?”

“Has Pat broken off with Cart?” asked Nora anxiously. ”No, you don’t have to answer, Ellery. I can see it in your face. Mother, you’ll simply have to give Patty a talking-to. She can’t keep doing this sort of thing to Cart.”

Ellery walked Nora back to the little house. As soon as they were out of earshot of Mrs. Wright, Nora said: “Of course you had something to do with it.”

“I?” asked Mr. Queen.

“Well . . . don’t you agree Pat’s in love with Carter? I’m sure you could help by not making Carter jealous?”

“Mr. Bradford,” said Mr. Queen, “would be jealous of a postage stamp Patty licked.”

“I know. He’s so hotheaded, too! Oh, dear.” Nora sighed. ”I’m making a mess of it. Will you forgive me? And come in to breakfast?”

“Yes to both questions.” And as he helped Nora up the porch steps, he wondered just how guilty he really was.

* * *

Jim was full of political talk, and Nora . . . Nora was wonderful. No other word for it, thought Ellery. Watching and listening, he could detect no least tinkle of falsity. They seemed so much like two young people luxuriating in the blessedness of early marriage that it was a temptation to dismiss the incidents of the previous evening as fantasy.

Pat arrived, with Alberta and eggs, in a rush.

“Nora! How nice,” she said, as if nothing at all had happened. ”Can you spare a starving gal an egg or two? Morning, Jim! Ellery! Not that Ludie didn’t have breakfast for me. She did. But I just felt that nosy impulse to look in on the lovebirds . . . ”

“Alberta, another setting,” said Nora, and she smiled at Pat. ”You do talk in the morning! Ellery, sit down. The honeymoon being over, my husband doesn’t rise for my family anymore.”

Jim stared. ”Who?Patso?” He grinned. ”Say, you are grown-up! Let me look. Yep. A real glamour girl. Smith, I envy you. If I were a bachelor?”

Ellery saw the swift cloud darken Nora’s face. She pressed more coffee on her husband.

Pat kept chattering. She wasn’t a very good actress?couldn’t look Jim in the eye. Heroic, though. Remembering instructions in the midst of her own troubles . . .

But Nora was superb. Yes, Pat had been right. Nora had decided not to think about the letters or their horrible implication. And she was using the minor crisis of Pat and Cart to help her not to think.

“I’ll fix your eggs myself, darling,” said Nora to Pat. ”Alberta’s a jewel, but how could she know you like four-minute coddling, to the second? Excuse me.” Nora left the dining room to join Alberta in the kitchen.

“That Nora,” chuckled Jim. ”She’s a real hen. Say! What time is it?

I’ll be late at the bank. Patty, you been crying? You’re talking sort of funny, too. Nora!” he shouted. ”Didn’t