THE GIRL IN HIS HOUSE
He went away before you came on this beat."
"All right. I'll be getting back to it."
"Got any cigars, Bob?"
They filled the policeman's pockets and turned him forth into the night.
As the door closed Armitage leaned against the wall and smiled weakly. "That was a narrow squeak," he said. "I'll tell you something about it later. . . . Betty! . . . Bob! . . . Lordy, how wonderful it is to see you again!"
The two caught his hands in theirs and dragged him into the cozy library, where they plumped him down into the lounge before the wood fire and flanked him. The three of them had been brought up in this neighborhood,
"Jimmie, my word, I never expected to see you again! We'd get a letter from you once in a while, but we couldn't answer; you didn't want any news from home. We sent holiday cards to your villa on the Como, but I don't suppose they found you. Thought you were gone for good."
"I didn't," said Mrs. Burlingham, who, like all happily wedded women, believed in
23
