CHAPTER XII A TRIBUTE
“But what could Mary mean?”
This question, or at least some variation of it had been Gloria’s plaint for the better part of a half hour, and Trixy, still patient, offered another suggestion in answer.
“There is something strange about Mary,” she said this time. “I thought I noticed it first when she caught a glimpse of a family picture in Jack’s room. It might have been imagination, we were all under such a strain, but it seemed to me her pale face betrayed sudden alarm.”
“A picture!”
“Yes. Just a rustic snapshot taken somewhere in the mountains. The stepmother, father and a couple of queer looking folks. I didn’t scrutinize it but Mary took it to the light when she thought or appeared to think no one noticed. She had some motive for studying the picture.”
“D
