melita indeed, thought Dudley and disliked him more than ever. There was something dangerous behind those beady black eyes. What did he mean by "neighbors" Was the Prince about to move into New York? Dudley was so anxious to rejoin Carmelita that he thought little more about this at the time.
"I have nothing especially against you," the American said but made no advance to shake hands or follow up Rao-Singh's offer of friendship. The two men walked silently up to the piazza where Lucy received Dudley with moderate cordiality and some curiosity as to what he and the Hindu had been talking about alone.
In their room Dudley handed his wife the South American letter he had told her about over the telephone. Carmelita was excited at once. The name on the envelope was that of the lawyers who had handled the de Cordoba's affairs since she could remember. Was her father relenting? As if to bear this out, a check dropped from the envelope as she slit it open. Dudley stooped and picked it up without reading it. The amount, Carmelita saw, was seven hundred and fifty dollars. Then she read the letter and learned that the money was from the estate of her mother.
Theresa de Cordoba had bequeathed three thousand dollars to her four sisters, who had
