CHAPTER 8

"Do they miss me?" she cried ecstatically.

"The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there's a persistent wail all night along the North Shore."

"How gorgeous! Let's go back, Alex. Tomorrow!" Then she added irrelevantly, "You ought to see the baby."

"I'd like to."

"She's asleep. She's two years old. Haven't you ever seen her?"

"Never."

"Well, you ought to see her. She's——"

Alex Sterling, who had been restlessly hovering about the room, stopped and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"What you doing, Sam?"

"I'm a bond man."

"Who with?" I told him.

"Never heard of them," he remarked decisively. This irritated me.

"You will," I replied curtly. "You will if you stay in the East."

"Oh, I'll stay in the East, don't you worry," he said, glancing at Lily and then back at me, as if he were waiting for something more. "I'd be a damned fool to live anywhere else."