Eve and I were late for supper. Aunt Cal was pouring her second cup of tea when we came in. We told her about the arrivals and added casually that we'd been for a drive in Hamish's car.
"A boy of that age has no business with a car," Aunt Cal stated severely. "First thing you know you'll be in one of those accidents the papers are full of. In my day young folks didn't go careering around the country!"
As if he realized that his reputation was at stake, Hamish himself reappeared directly after supper. We heard the already familiar honk of his horn as we were finishing the dishes and a moment later, his bespectacled face appeared at the screen door. "Is your aunt in?" he demanded. "I've brought her a little present."
"She's in the garden," I answered. "Just a minute and I'll take you out."
But he did not wait for me to take off my apron. "I'll find her," he called and was striding down the path. Eve giggled. "I warned you," she said, "how things would be if that boy came to town."
I wasn't present at the meeting of my relative and Hamish. By the time we reached the spot where Aunt Cal and Adam were sitting, the moment for introductions had passed. Hamish had just pulled a queer looking package out of his side pocket and was proffering it to my aunt. "Here's a little gadget I picked up on my way down today," he remarked. "I said to myself as soon as I saw it that it was a thing any good house-keeper'd like to own."
Aunt Cal, apparently stunned by the quick movement of events, took the parcel without a word and began unwrapping it. "It's a combination mousetrap and insect sprayer," Hamish explained. "A new invention, just on the market."
"Dear me," said Aunt Cal, turning it over. "You don't say. Much obliged, I'm sure."
"Glad you like it," returned Hamish complacently. "Thought you would. What a handsome cat!" He stooped to give Adam's back a rub.
But Adam--perhaps resenting the mousetrap--got up and with a backward swish of his tail, started up the path.
"Here, kitty, kitty!" Hamish pulled a length of twine from his pocket and began dangling it before the cat's nose. As he did so a piece of paper fluttered to the ground, unseen by him as he walked away.
I recognized it instantly and stooped to grab it. But Aunt Cal was nearest and reached it first. Papers scattered about her garden were not to be endured even for a second. She was about to crumple it in her hand when her eyes fell on the handwriting. In an instant I saw her face change. She was staring hard at the paper and the hand which held it was shaking. "Wh-what is this?" she demanded in a hard strained voice.