He looked at me, then at Vicki, and the most extraordinary expression of relief came over his face. He rubbed his hands together, smiling.
Vicki got up instantly and retrieved her white hat and riding crop. “I’ll be going,” she said airily. “See you later.”
She turned at the door and gave Colonel Primrose a slightly intoxicated smile, put on her hat, gave it a debonair pat that I knew she was far from feeling, and sauntered out.
Colonel Primrose looked at me.
“That’s Vicki,” I said. “The hat check girl at the River House.”
“Oh,” he said. His face clouded abruptly. “I thought it was your niece. I . . . also hoped it was.”
For a moment I didn’t understand. Then I thought of Vicki’s full blue-black tresses, and came sharply back to the thing I’d wandered away from, listening to Vicki an
