Love for Sale

paperwork he had in his hand. “I’ve brushed up on croquet. And brought along some recent newspapers to have them read and discuss.”
    He looked as nervous as a cat on the Fourth of July.
    But by the time he returned to Grace and Favor later that afternoon, he admitted, somewhat grudgingly, that he’d enjoyed his time. “The croquet equipment was too dirty to use, so I unearthed some badminton rackets and a net and a few bedraggled birds—or are they called pucks?—from the closet. Do you know what? The girls are better at badminton. The girls plan ahead. The boys simply bash away as hard as they can. Brains versus brawn, I imagine. Every one of them had fun, though.“
    “Including you?“
    “Especially me,“ he said with a grin. “I’m among the bashers.”

Chapter 4

    Lily’s and Robert’s first day of teaching had been a Thursday, and they somehow managed to get through Friday without much more preparation. But Lily was hoping that the weekend would give her the opportunity to study what to teach the next week. And that went for Robert, too.
    Grace and Favor was ready for the guests, who were due to arrive that evening. And all Robert had to do was deliver meals to the mysterious company. Mrs. Prinney, assuming they would have already eaten dinner, since they weren’t arriving until after eight in the evening, only planned a light snack for their arrival. Nobody had mentioned liquor or beer, so she would serve only coffee and tea.
    Lily wondered if the guests would stay through Tuesday, Election Day. If her own guess was correct about who they were and their secret agenda, they’d be sure to go back by then to wherever they came from, perhaps to spring their last-minute plan on the public. To persuade them to vote for Hoover when it was too late for Roosevelt’s people to refute their arguments.
    Friday afternoon before dinner, Robert asked, “Did anyone find the key to the meeting room? I’ve looked everywhere.”
    They’d had to remove the door from the hinges to get the table into the room, and the key had gone missing.
    “Did you look under the throw rugs in the hall?“ Phoebe Twinkle asked. “A key could have easily slipped under one.“
    “I took them all up,“ Robert said.
    “It’ll probably turn up somewhere,“ Lily said. “The head of the group will be staying in the room and presumably not leaving it. Unless he’s a very heavy sleeper, he would hear if anyone came in. Or you could tell him to jam a chair under the knob.“
    “That’s a cheap way to provide privacy,“ Robert said with a laugh.
    “It is,“ Lily agreed. “But where are you going to find a locksmith before they arrive? It’s too late.”
    Robert shrugged. “I guess I’ll suggest the chair then. By the way, if it’s warm enough Saturday afternoon, I’d like to invite you all to a croquet match on the back lawn. Miss Exley found a set of rules for me, and I invited her to come along.“
    “A date with Miss Exley?“ Lily exclaimed.
    “Not a date, really. Just a gathering to play a game or two and see if I have the hang of it well enough to teach the kids how to play correctly.”
    Lily and Phoebe exchanged conspiratorial smiles, but said nothing more.

    Friday evening at eight was cool enough for light coats, but the guests arrived wearing heavy coats, hats, and mufflers that helped conceal their faces. The man who had arranged for the meeting was still wearing his dark glasses and awful wig. He made no attempt to introduce the members of the group.
    “Just show us to the meeting room and the individual bedrooms and we’ll be no trouble to you, except for meals,“ he mumbled through his muffler.
    Robert led them up the stairs, showed them the adjoining third-floor bedrooms the men could choose, and came back downstairs.
    “Nobody spoke, except the fellow with the bad wig. I left them to pick out their own rooms and explained about the missing key. The wigged gentleman didn’t seem concerned, so I worried needlessly.”
    It was eerie having these strangers in the house, Lily thought. When you have guests, you’re normally obligated to provide entertainment to them. Or at least converse with them. Not just allow them to hide in their rooms.
    Robert loaded up the snack trays and trudged upstairs with them. He was told to leave them in the hallway by the man wearing the wig, who spoke through a mere crack of the door to the master suite. Robert had heard other voices talking very quietly before