She turned a coat belonging to his
architect that hung with some of his clothing in Peter Morrison's
garage. She was shaking the nest of a field mouse from one of
the side pockets. Naturally this emptied all the pockets, and in
gathering up their contents she came across that plan, which she
recognized. She thought it was right to take it and very wisely
felt that it was man's business, so she sent it to me with her
explanations. I went to Lilac Valley because I wanted to judge
for myself exactly what kind of young person she was. I wanted
to see her environment. I wanted to see the house that she felt
sure was being built from these plans. I wanted to satisfy
myself of the stability of what I had to work on before I
mentioned the matter to you or Henry Anderson."
Marian sat holding the plan, listening absorbedly to what he was
saying.
"It's an ugly business," he said, "so ugly that there is no
question whatever but that it can be settled very quietly and
without any annoyance to you. I shall have to take the matter up
with the board, but I have the details so worked out that I shall
have no difficulty in arranging matters as I think best. There
is no question whatever, Marian, but Anderson found that sketch
on the west side of the Strong residence. When you left your
plans lying on a table before a window in the Strong guestroom
the night before you came to San Francisco you did not know that
the santana which raged through the valley a day or two
previously had stripped a screen from the window before which you
left them.
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