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Show - 136 - of the newspapers and smoothed it out on the floor, then looked at it curiously. It was an account of Claudine"s murder and Dirk's disappearance. It puzzled her that she and Vicky had not noticed this the first time they had searched the trunk and wondered who had placed them there. They must have been put in the trunkafter Claudine had died, but by whom? It could have been her parents or one of the help or even Maddie, for that matter. She picked up the little ivory music box carved with flowers, pulled an . old rocker over to one of the windows and sat down. One by one she carefully the letters read all of/ and again her heart went out to the two young people who had loved each other so deeply and been parted so tragically. Truly, they had been' destined for one another, she thought. There was no clue in them that might help her solve the mystery of Dirk's whereabouts. Again, she had come to that same blank wall and it always seemed to end at the the truck gardens where Chang Lin lived. Penny tied the faded ribbon around the letters and placed them in the little box. Then she picked up the locket and opened it. The two faces seemed to be begging for help. "Keep it, Mamselle Penelope, in remembrance of one who has come to consider you a friend. Perhaps one day,when you meet your true beloved,you will tell him of Claudine who died for love of her sweetheart." Penny no longer was surprised when she saw the ghost. She had become so accustomed to her presence that she now took it for granted. She smiled at Claudine as she replied. "I will treasure it all my life and whenever I wear it I'll think of you and Dirk. She reached up and snapped the clasp of the locket around her throat. "Claudine, you know that Maddie has told us all about your death and the events surrounding it. Is there anything you can add to what happened that night?" she said. |
