CHAPTER XV
LOVEMAN SHOWS HIS CLAWSBut the next morning came, and as yet there had been no signs of Clifford.
At half-past ten Mary rang at the door of Maisie Jones. Her plan for beginning their acquaintance was very simple, merely the adaptation of an ancient device belonging to her past with her father and her Uncle Joe Russell—the preparation of two letters addressed to Miss Maisie Jones, which were in fact nothing more than modistes’ engraved invitations to inspect new spring styles.
Miss Jones herself answered Mary’s ring. “My name’s Mrs. Gardner—these letters somehow got mixed in my mail,” Mary began, smiling with the engaging frankness she knew how to assume. “I could have returned them to you by the maid; but the maid—it seems you and I have the same maid—told me that your aunt w
