His confidential air suddenly infuriated her. She put her hand on Innes's doorknob. 'I've got to say good morning,' she said over her shoulder. 'Somebody will find you a corner if you go downstairs.'
Her coolness didn't dim the radiance of his smile.
'Aw, please, you show me,' he coaxed. 'Whitlock's busy talking to Duff.'
'Duff!'
'Professor MacDougal Duff, none other,' said Art Killeen. 'Oh, yes, he's here. Didn't you know?'
Alice said briskly, 'I'm sorry. Art, but I've got to talk to Mr. Duff.''
'Of course.' He was quick to agree, m that charming way he had of deferring and resigning his claim on one's attention. 'But I'll see you later?'
Alice tapped on the door. 'Oh, yes,' she said, more wistfully than she had intended.
Art Killeen was the kind of man who, when a girl said don't,' didn't. That's why they don't often say don't, thought Alice, with a shock, as if she saw through another of life's veils.
It was MacDougal Duff himself, all right, rising to say good moming, and his lean hand was warm and strong.
'Oh, Mr. Duff, you did come back! I'm so glad. Do vou know Innes?'
'I do now,' said Duff.
Innes, sitting up in bed, his face flushed with a little new color, said, 'How are you, dear? You got some sleep, didn t you?'
'How are you, Innes?'
'Better,' he said, 'better. I've been talking to this friend of yours. As a matter of fact, I've been doing all the talking.'
Duff smiled. 'My method,' he claimed. 'I believe there was something you wanted to say to me. Miss Brennan when we were so rudely separated yesterday by the train's departure.'
'Oh,' said Alice, 'it was all this.' She sat down, looking up. 'I mean all the things that have happened to Lines. We were worried. Even then, we couldn't . . . Have you seen Fred? Has Innes told you about last night? Oh, what do you think?'
'My dear Alice, I've hired the man,' said Innes complacently. 'He's going to find out what to think and tell all the rest of us.'
'I'm so glad,'' said Alice. 'It's just what I wanted.' She wondered how on earth Duff had got around Innes so quickly. But she realized that Duff's perfect and selfless willingness to concern himself with Innes's troubles and devote all his talents to understanding them was Duff's convincing credential. 'But how do you happen to be back here?' she asked.
'I'm studying the American Indian this spring,' said Duff, 'just for fun. Ogaunee is my headquarters at the moment. I'm Mrs. Innes's boarder, you know.'
'Oh, are you?'
'Lucky, isn't it?' said Innes, as if he, himself, had just been very clever.
'Yes, it's lucky,' said Alice. 'Also, it's terribly good of you to drop your own work and help us instead.'
'Two birds with one stone,' said Duff, a trifle grimly. 'Mr. Johnson, the handyman, is a full-blooded Oneida.'
'I don't,' said Alice in another moment, 'understand Mr. Johnson.'
'Of course he's an Indian,' protested Innes. 'Been here ever since I can remember. Tends the furnace, washes the windows, works in the yard. He used to keep the horses when we had them. He's always been Mr. Johnson, I don't know why. Suppose he always will be. He belongs out in the bam. I suppose my sisters pay him wages. He's an Indian, all right.'
Duff said, 'What's the matter, Miss Brennan?'
'I couldn't place him. I thought he was so foreign. He scared me.'
'Mr. Johnson's nothing to scare you,' Innes said with conviction. 'He's not sneaky.'
'You suggest,' said Duff, 'that if he wanted to murder anyone he'd be rather direct about it?'
'He is direct,' said Innes, frowning. 'That's what makes him so reliable. He does exactly what comes into his head. He . . .'
'But he's so mysterious.' insisted Alice,
Imies pouted. 'He doesn't seem mysterious to me. I'm used to him.'
Duffs eyes were dreamy. 'I wonder. Is he mysterious? Or isn't he? The Indian was, they say, fond of fancy speaMng, of indirect, symbolic, image-full language. He was oratorical. Your Mr. Johnson upsets my conception. Perhaps he isn't typical. But if he is . . . How I would like to know the set of ideas he lives by! Or if he has any ideas.' Duff shook his head slightly. He smiled at Alice. 'I don't understand Mr. Johnson either,' he admitted.
Innes stirred a little impatiently. 'However'—Duff roused himself—'that's my hobby, not your trouble. Suppose we get Fred up here and pool what we know? I have been hired to find out what goes on, without unnecessarily offending anybody. A very ticklish job. One that will take some careful doing. Before I meet the Misses Whidock—- who are not yet visible, are they?'
Alice shrugged.
'—let's get the facts. Facts are good enough to start with,' Duff said carelessly.
