opened and Joanna Farley came in.
"You do not mind, mademoiselle, if I ask you a
few questions?"
She returned his glance coolly. "Please ask
anything you choose."
"Did you know that your father kept a revolver
in his desk?"
"No."
"Where were you and your mother--that is to
say your stepmother--that is right?"
"Yes, Louise is my father's second wife. She is
only eight years older than I am. You were about
to say--?"
"Where were you and she on Thursday of last
week? That is to say, on Thursday night."
She reflected for a minute or two.
"Thursday? Let me see. Oh, yes, we had gone
to the theater. To see Little Dog Laughed."
"Your father did not suggest accompanying
you?"
"He never went out to theaters."
"What did he usually do in the evenings?"
"He sat in here and read."
"He was not a very sociable man?"
THE DREAM
167
The girl looked at him directly. "My father,"
she said, "had a singularly unpleasant personality.
No one who lived in close association with him
could possibly be fond of him."