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squeezed into a tight little whisper. “Of course I knew it.”
    â€œNaturally.”
    â€œYou’re quite objectionable.”
    â€œI am when people object to me,” Meecham said. “I’ve forgotten your name, by the way, what is it?”
    Instead of answering she picked up two of the suitcases and went ahead into the house.
    Mrs. Hamilton heard her coming and called out, “Alice? I’m here, in the living room. Bring Mr. Meecham in with you. Perhaps he’d like some coffee.”
    Alice looked coldly at Meecham who had followed her in. “Would you like some coffee?”
    â€œNo, thanks, Alice .”
    â€œI don’t permit total strangers to call me Alice.”
    â€œOkay, kid.” He looked as if he was going to laugh, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “We seem to have started off on the wrong foot.”
    â€œSince we’re not going anywhere together, what does it matter?”
    â€œHave it your way.” He put on his hat. “Tell Mrs. Ham­ilton I’ll meet her tomorrow morning at 9:30 at the county jail. She can see Virginia then.”
    â€œCouldn’t she phone her tonight or something?”
    â€œThe girl’s in jail. She’s not staying at the Waldorf.” He said over his shoulder as he went out the door, “Good night, kid.”
    â€œAlice?” Mrs. Hamilton repeated. “Oh, there you are. Where’s Mr. Meecham?”
    â€œHe left.”
    â€œPerhaps I was a little harsh with him, challenging his abilities.” She was standing in front of the fireplace, still in her hat and coat, and rubbing her hands together as if to get warm, though the fire wasn’t lit. “I’m afraid I antago­nized him. I couldn’t help it. I felt he had the wrong atti­tude toward Virginia.”
    The room was very large and colorful, furnished in rat­tan and bamboo and glass like a tropical lanai. There were growing plants everywhere, philodendron and ivy hang­ing from copper planters on the walls, azaleas in tubs, and cyclamen and coleus and saintpaulia in bright coralstone pots on the mantel and on every shelf and table. The air was humid and smelled of moist earth like a field after a spring rain.
    The whole effect of the room was one of impossible beauty and excess, as if the person who lived there lived in a dream.
    â€œShe loves flowers,” Mrs. Hamilton said. “She isn’t like Willett, my son. He’s never cared for anything except money. But Virginia is quite different. Even when she was a child she was always very gentle with flowers as she was with birds and animals. Very gentle and understanding . . .”
    â€œMrs. Hamilton.”
    â€œ. . . as if they were people and could feel.”
    â€œMrs. Hamilton,” Alice repeated, and the woman blinked as if just waking up. “Why is Virginia in jail? What did she do?”
    She was fully awake now, the questions had struck her vulnerable body as hailstones strike a field of sun-warmed wheat. “Virginia didn’t do anything. She was arrested by mistake.”
    â€œBut why?”
    â€œI’ve told you, Paul’s wire to me was very brief. I know none of the details.”
    â€œYou could have asked Mr. Meecham.”
    â€œI prefer to get the details from someone closer to me and to Virginia.”
    She doesn’t want the facts at all, Alice thought. All she wants is to have Virginia back again, the gentle child who loved animals and flowers.
    A middle-aged woman in horn-rimmed glasses and a white uniform came into the room carrying a cup of coffee, half of which had spilled into the saucer. She had a limp but she moved very quickly as if she thought speed would cover it. She had a spot of color on each cheekbone, round as coins.
    â€œHere you are. This’ll warm you up.” She spoke a little too loudly, covering her embarrassment with volume as she covered her limp with speed.
    Mrs. Hamilton