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something is wrong.”
    “Wrong? I’ll say it is. The hussy just brought Sally here—for a visit she said—and while I was cutting lemon cake to go with the coffee, she just took herself off. We all thought she’d be right back, and Sally waited up all night like a dog for its master, but they’d just gone on without her.”
    “That can’t be.”
    “Well, it is. And it has been a struggle keeping body and soul together. I couldn’t afford food for myself before, and now I’ve got to feed Sally. If I didn’t have Willie, I don’t know what I’d do. I give him a quarter a week, and it’s a strain on the pocketbook to do that.”
    “There’s got to be some mistake.”
    “Mistake? I hardly think so. Lydia knew what she was about, sir. They didn’t want to be bothered with Sally, and to tell the truth, I’m surprised they took the little boy.”
    “What in hell are you talking about?” he demanded. “Can’t you just answer me?”
    “Really, sir, but there is no need for vulgarity, is there?” she responded stiffly.
    The woman was driving him mad with a piecemeal tale. Running his hand through his hair distractedly, he tried to placate her. “Look, I’m sorry. But surely you can understand my concern. I’ve had no word from her in months, and now I’ve come home to find her gone. I’m just asking you what happened, Mrs. Stephenson, and that’s all I want to know.”
    “There’s no need for temper, is there?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Well, I suppose you have a right to be angry,” she decided. “Willie, have you gotten yourself lost? Dr. Hardin wishes his coffee!” As the child appeared, carrying a large tray, she smiled thinly. “Just set it on this table and run along, will you? That’s a good boy.” Pausing long enough for him to leave the room, she filled two cups from the pot, added two hard chunks of raw sugar and a dollop of thick cream to each, then pushed one cup toward Spence. “There was a time when I had more to offer than this, but I don’t guess anything will ever be the same anymore. I just wish she would have left something for the care of her mother, but she didn’t. All that money and not one cent to spare for Sally.”
    He was ready to strangle her, but he reached for the cup instead. Taking a polite sip, he found the stuff too bitter to drink, even worse than that concoction of Laura Taylor’s.
    “It’s not very good,is it?” she asked, sighing.
    “No, it’s all right,” he lied. “You were about to tell me what you knew of Liddy,” he added, pointedly reminding her.
    “What is there to tell? She’s just gone.”
    “Where?” he managed through gritted teeth.
    “They certainly didn’t tell me where they were going.”
    “Who is they, Mrs. Stephenson?”
    “Why, she and that man. One of the Donnellys, I believe—yes, I’m sure it was.”
    “Oh.” Somewhat relieved, he sat back. “I expect if I asked around, she’s somewhere here in town, then.”
    A thin eyebrow shot up. “I hardly think so, sir,” she said stiffly. “Macon is not that sort of place. We don’t welcome jezebels here,”
    “It’s not what you think, ma’am. I knew he was here—I sent him to Jamison’s Landing myself.”
    For a long moment, she regarded him as though he were an utter fool. “Then you set the fox in the henhouse, Dr. Hardin. And you needn’t take my word for that, because there are-plenty of others who can tell you what went on out there.” Taking in his thunderstruck expression, she nodded. ‘There’s no pleasant way to say this, but she’s run off with him.”
    “What? I don’t believe you!”
    “Shouting won’t alter the truth, I’m afraid.” Feeling genuinely sorry for him, she looked away. “I didn’t want to believe it either, but die morning after she left Sally here, I walked downtown, which wasn’t an easy thing to do on these old legs, believe me. You cannot imagine my shock when I discovered Lydia and young Donnelly been living