Chapter Three
Hilda Barry stood in front of the gilt-edged mirror, slowly stroking her long, straight hair. Occasionally, she would cast a glance past her own image to look at the Colonel, who was seated on the edge of the bed, dressed only in his shorts. He was looking at his middle-aged housekeeper with a look of mild admiration.
"You know," Hilda said over her shoulder, "I used to be a rather attractive woman, but I'm afraid a lot of me has sagged out of place." She grinned weakly.
"I like you the way you are."
"Oh, Haskell, you're just a big fibber. You know why you come to see me every so often."
The Colonel rarely allowed anyone to call him by his first name, but because he and his housekeeper had come into more than a casual friendship in her bed, he had given her the libert
