CHAPTER FIVE

ALOPECIA AND RUBEOLA

Miss Cornelia dropped her newspaper. Lizzie, frankly frightened,
gave a little squeal and moved closer to her mistress. Only Billy
remained impassive but even he looked sharply in the direction
whence the sound had come.

Miss Cornelia was the first of the others to recover her poise.

"Stop that! It was the wind!" she said, a little irritably--the
"Stop that!" addressed to Lizzie who seemed on the point of
squealing again.

"I think not wind," said Billy. His very lack of perturbation added
weight to the statement. It made Miss Cornelia uneasy. She took
out her knitting again.

"How long have you lived in this house, Billy?"

"Since Mr. Fleming built."

"H'm." Miss Cornelia pondered. "And this is the first time you
have been disturbed?"

"Last two days only." Billy would have made an ideal witness in a