In the Still of the Night

wait just a moment. I just want you to know that I loved Anthony as much as your friend Addie imagined she loved him. I’m really not an ogre and I wouldn’t want you to think so.”
    Lily felt she’d been pushed to the brink. “Then why did you tell me Addie had spoken to you about this house party?“
    “But she had!“ Lorna exclaimed. “I—I think she was speaking to me anyway. It was at a city hall meeting that a friend had dragged me to. Something about zoning. Too boring for words, but my friend needed a lift in my car, and I decided to sit it out. Afterward, a group of women who knew each other were talking and Addie glanced toward me several times as she spoke about how anxious she was to meet Julian West in person.“
    “Did she specifically invite you to contact me?”
    Lorna had the grace to look ever so slightly embarrassed. “Not in so many words, but she had mentioned your name and where the party was to be held and she knew that I had once been acquainted with Julian. She said something like, ‘I guess you’d like to renew that acquaintance.’ And I assumed she was being sarcastic, but later convinced myself she was sincere. I’ve never known Addie to use sarcasm, you see. She’s so admirably straightforward in her speech. It must come from being a teacher, I suppose.”
    Lily rubbed her eyes. “Mrs. Ethridge, I’m sorry, but I must really check on Mrs. Prinney’s plans for tomorrow and I’m very tired.”
    At that, Mrs. Ethridge hugged Lily warmly and said, “I didn’t mean to impose. Really I didn’t. I really just hoped“—she shrugged elegantly—“that we could be friends, too.”
    Lily managed a faint smile. “Good night,“ she said. And forced herself to walk away slowly rather than to obviously flee.
    When Lily reached the door, Bud Carpenter opened it for her. It wasn’t until she’d gotten to her room that she realized that he’d left with Julian West earlier. When had he come back to the yellow parlor?
    And why? He’d obviously overheard the whole conversation with Lorna as he stood silently in the semidarkness by the door. Was that his purpose in returning to the room?

Chapter 10

    Robert went to the kitchen to find something to nibble. He’d been so busy talking to the guests during dinner that he hadn’t eaten much. And while Julian West’s talk had been a stomach-churner, nothing could really override his appetite.
    He rummaged in the ice box and found a leftover dessert. The one Rachel hadn’t wanted. As he was nearly finished, he heard an odd noise. He abandoned the last crumbs of his snack and went down the pantry steps to the servants’ kitchen and sitting room, which was in the finished part of the basement under the family kitchen. It hadn’t been used for many years, but Mimi the housekeeper, who was obsessed with cleanliness, kept it spotless anyway.
    Mad Henry was there in a snarl of wires, for this was where the previously used bell pull system had been centered in the distant past.
    “Henry, it’s quite late,“ Robert said.
    “I’ve almost got it working, I think. Hold this,“ he said, handing a wire to Robert.
    “You’ve put the things in the upstairs rooms already? In one evening?”

    “I was sorry to miss the talk, but it was a perfect time. Everybody else was in the parlor, so I could work without bothering anybody. Except for Miss Twinkle coming up early. And I’d already done her room.”
    Henry hooked up the wire Robert was holding to another he’d been twisting and said, “That ought to do it.“
    “You test it out yourself. I’m giving up for the day,“ Robert said, yawning. He found most of Mad Henry’s projects interesting, but this one didn’t grab his imagination. It might have been the practical device he’d always thought Mad Henry might come up with, but as no one but Mimi ever came down here, and then only to tidy things up, it was of no use to Grace and Favor.
    Lily had gone to her room, prepared for bed and picked up the book she’d been reading. But she couldn’t even remember where she’d left off. She read a few random pages that didn’t seem familiar. She had too much else on her mind.
    Julian West’s talk, of course, was uppermost in her thoughts. It had been so vivid that she was half afraid to go to sleep for fear she’d dream she was in the war.
    The other thing jostling around in her mind, and giving her even more personal trouble, was the conversation with Lorna Ethridge. Lily’s