He was neither disappointed nor sad. Something had happened in
Lilac Valley that had changed his perspective. Womanlike, she
began probing.
"Glad you liked my valley," she said. "We are told that blue is
a wonderful aura to surround a person, and it's equally wonderful
when it surrounds a whole valley. With the blue sky and the blue
walls and a few true-blue friends I have there, it's naturally a
very dear spot to me."
"Yes," said Mr. Snow, "I can see that it is. I ran down on a
business matter. I have been deeply puzzled and much perturbed
over this prize contest. We have run these affairs once a year,
sometimes oftener, for a long time, so I couldn't understand the
peculiar thing about the similarity of the winning plans and your
work this year. I have been holding up the prize money, because
I did not feel that you were saying exactly what was in your
heart, and I couldn't be altogether satisfied that everything was
right. I went to Lilac Valley because I had a letter from your
friend, Miss Linda Strong. There was an enclosure in it."
He drew from his pocket the folded sheet and handed it to Marian.
Her eyes were surprised, incredulous, as she opened the missing
sheet from her plans, saw the extraneous lines drawn upon it and
the minute figuring with which the margin was covered.
"Linda found it at last!" she cried. "Where in this world did
she get it, and whose work is this on it?"
"She got it," said Eugene Snow, "when she undertook to clean
Peter Morrison's workroom on an evening when she and her cook
were having supper with him.
Pages:
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415