There was no argument, no real interest on Mrs. Havermann’s part. She was picking at the sheets. “Measure the towels by those in the kitchen. Be sure to get them square. Don’t forget to change the bobbin on the machine. Black’s on it now.” She smiled vaguely and turned away. She was short and stout and heavily corseted. The artificial tightness of the corset lengthened her torso, flattened the softness around her middle. She walked as though encased in a barrel whose contents must be kept in delicate balance. Her gray hair she piled high on her head in an effort to gain height.

Mrs. Havermann had stood near, had looked at her and had turned away, and to Karen it was at once a miracle and a revelation. She had never quite realized before how indefinite and withdrawn Mrs. Havermann’s manner was toward her. Along with gratitude over her escape from discovery Karen felt almost a sense of shock that Mrs. Havermann had paid so little real attention.

Karen went back downstairs. Past Stolz’s room—she gave it a quick guilty glance—and then on to where the hall made a right-angle turn in the direction of the pantry, the huge kitchen, and the rear entry. In the sewing room, once a maid’s room, stood a long cutting table made of boards laid on a pair of sawhorses. Karen put the sheets here, got scissors from the sewing machine, and set to work. She had no objection to the task at hand. She was not lazy, and the solitude of working alone gave her time to think.

The thing on which her thoughts fastened most desperately was the great store of money in Stolz’s room. It at once fascinated and repelled her. Most of all, from it she absorbed a stunning sense of danger.

She had worked for a short time when she heard Mrs. Havermann’s quick step in the hall. The door opened and the older woman stared in at her. There was no vagueness now; behind the rimless glasses Mrs. Havermann’s eyes were sharp. “Karen, have you been in Mr. Stolz’s room today?”

On the heels of fright, the denial was automatic. “I never go in there.”

Mrs. Havermann hesitated in the doorway, her excitement subsiding. “Well, it’s rather odd. There’s something out of place in there. I can’t remember seeing it earlier.” She tapped the door lintel with a nail, obviously puzzled.