“Indeed?”

“You bet she did.  It was scandalous!  Of course I told her what a ducky you are—­but she begged me not to go with you any more.  I told her she was crazy—­because I really don’t think there’s anything so very terrible about you—­do you?”

“At least,” smiled Carroll, “I won’t eat you.  But what you tell me about Miss Gresham is interesting.  Why in the world should she be prejudiced against the man who is trying to locate the slayer of her fiance?”

“Ask me something easy.  I reckon it’s just like I said before:  when a woman grows up—­gets to be twenty—­she gets mentally unbalanced—­or something.  Honestly, I haven’t met a woman over nineteen years of age in the longest time who didn’t have a crazy streak in her somewhere.  Have you?”

“I’d hardly say that much—­” They had crossed the hotel lobby, swung through the doors and were standing on the sidewalk unconsciously braced against the biting wind which shrieked around the corner and cut to the bone, giving the lie to the bright sunshine and its promise of warmth.

“Brrrr!” shivered Evelyn—­and Carroll rose eagerly to the hint.

“I’d be delighted to ride you to Miss Gresham’s in my car—­”

“Would you?  That’d be simply splendiferous!  And I’d like Hazel to meet you—­then she’d know that you’re just a regular human being in spite of what everyone says.”

During the drive to the Gresham home, which stood on the side of the mountain at the extreme southern end of the city—­Evelyn did about a hundred and one per cent of the talking.  She blithely discussed everything from the economic effect of the recent election to the campaign against one-piece bathing suits for women:  indicating well-defined, if immature opinions on every subject.  She informed him that she was delighted with suffrage and opposed to prohibition, that the League of Nations would be all right if only it was not so far away, that she was sincerely of the belief that straight lines would pass out within the year and the girl with the curvy figure have a chance again in the world, that fur coats were all the rage—­and he ought to see her sister’s—­it was the grandest in the city, that—­she orated at length on any subject which occurred to her tireless mind; securing his dumb Okeh to her views—­and liking him more and more with each passing minute because he treated her seriously:  like a full grown woman of twenty—­or something.

They pulled up at the curb of the Gresham home.  As they did so Garry Gresham swung out of the gate, paused—­and his eyes widened in astonishment at sight of Carroll.  Then he stepped quickly to the curb as Carroll and the girl alighted.

“Hello, Garry,” greeted Evelyn boldly.  It was the first time she had ever called him by his first name.  But Gresham did not notice.  He nodded a curt “Hello, Evelyn” and addressed himself to Carroll—­eyes level, manner direct.