The sisters exclaimed at the extravagance, but Ruth, though listening politely, serenely went her own way, and carried out her own plans. In the matter of fresh flowers, she was like a child, Win said, and she enjoyed the blossoms she ordered as if she had hungered for them for years. Winnie was growing deeply attached to her employer, if that word is applicable, and Ruth Schuyler was fond of Win. But I am digressing. Mrs. Schuyler replied to her sister-in-law's speech by saying, gently, "I am not indifferent, Sarah, but it seems to me we have no real evidence against the girl, and--" "No real evidence! When she was caught red-handed! Or nearly caught! If that stupid waiter had had sense enough to jump and grab her, we would have had no search to make at all!" "It may be so, Sarah, you may be right. But until you do find her don't condemn her utterly. From what Mr. Calhoun has told me of her and from the tone of that letter she wrote to Randolph, I can't make it seem possible that she killed a man she knew so slightly. And yet, it may be she did." "Well," remarked Lowney, "the note proves that she had seen Mr. Schuyler before, anyway. Then, when he came to her house as Mr. Somers, she was naturally annoyed, as she had asked him not to do so. And all that is against the girl, I say. But it remains to be seen what the coroner's jury will think of it." "They'll see it in its true light," declared Rhoda Schuyler. "Of course, she was angry when he came to her house after being forbidden, unless the sly thing wrote the note just to lure him on, but in any case, she was alone with him, she used the knife on him and she ran away. What more evidence do you need? Now, to find her. That's a task I shall never give up or neglect until I've accomplished it." "And you are right, Rhoda," said Ruth, "if the girl is guilty. I hope she will be found, for I'm sure the truth could then be learned, whether she is guilty or not." "Will you come, now, Mrs. Schuyler," said Tibbetts, from the doorway. "The flowers have arrived." Ruth, beckoning to Winnie, rose, and the two left the room. "Perfectly idiotic," said Sarah, "the way she orders flowers! Fresh ones every day!" "But hasn't she a right to spend her own money as she likes?" I defended. "A legal right, perhaps," was the retort, "but not a moral right to disregard her husband's wishes so utterly." CHAPTER XII MORE NOTES Next morning at breakfast, there was but one topic of conversation. Indeed, little else had been talked of for days but the Schuyler case and all its side issues. Winnie held forth at length on the martyrdom Ruth Schuyler had suffered because of the cruelty of her late husband.