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K Mary Roberts Rinehart 9260K 2023-09-01

The house was set in a valley at the foot of two hills Through the mist

of the December afternoon, it had loomed pleasantly before him The door

was ajar, and he stepped into a little hall covered with ingrain carpet

To the right was the dining-room, the table covered with a white cloth, and

in its exact center an unco bunch of dried flowers To the left,

the typical parlor of such places It s Hotel in duplicate, plush self-rocker and all Over

everything was silence and a pervading sressive with new paint--the sagging old floors shone with it, the

doors gleamed

"Hello!" called K

There were slow footsteps upstairs, the closing of a bureau drawer, the

rustle of a wo uncertainly

on a carpet oasis that was the center of the parlor varnish, stripped off

his sweater

"Not very busy here this afternoon!" he said to the unseen female on the

staircase Then he saw her It was Tillie She put a hand against the

doorframe to steady herself Tillie surely, but a new Tillie! With her

hair loosened around her face, a fresh blue chintz dress open at the

throat, a black velvet bow on her breast, here was a Tillie fuller,