He dressed hurriedly in the morning, so as to be ready to tell her when she came, and after breakfast he sat by the window watching for her, but she did not come. He wandered about the house and looked at things, and several times he went to the room where Beman had been the day before, but there was no one in it.
Late in the afternoon Burtin took him to the library. Beman was waiting for him there.
"Come here," Beman commanded.
Peewee approached uneasily.
"Can you read?"
"I can spell."
"Spell this then—spell it out loud."
Peewee took the written slip of paper which Beman handed him. The first words were his mother's name—Helen Lampert. "Born in Chicago," he then spelled out, "age thirty, never employed, associate of various men in Chicago, New York and Seattle, known also as Helen Howse and Heloise Labell, of late frequenter of West Side cafes."
"What do you think of your mother?" Beman inquired. "Not much, if you're wise."
