“A woman, I said firmly. “I haven't run across her yet, there are so many, but even if she does turn out to be a dog I hope to God it won't be one of yours. I want the kind I can let run loose. I waved a hand. “Forget it. You like 'em, you can have 'em. Mrs Frey is a member of the household, is she?
“Yes, he said shortly.
“Mrs Rackham keeping her around as a souvenir of her dead son? Being neurotic about it?
“I don't know. Ask her. Leeds straightened up and got to his feet. “You know, of course, that I didn't approve of her going to Nero Wolfe. I went with her only because she insisted on it. I don't see how any good can come of it, but I think harm might. I don't think you ought to be here, but you are, and we might as well go on over and drink their liquor instead of mine. I'll go and wash up. He left me.
Chapter Four
Having been given by Leeds my choice of driving over-three minutes-or taking a trail through the woods, I voted for walking. The edge of the woods was only a hundred yards to the rear of the kennels. It had been a warm day for early
April, but now, with the sun gone over the hill, the sharp air made me want to step it up, which was just as well because I had to, to keep up with Leeds. He walked as if he meant it. When I commented on the fact that we ran into no fence anywhere, neither in the woods nor in the clear, he said that his place was merely a little corner of Mrs Rackham's property which she had let him build on some years ago.
The last stretch of our walk was along a curving gravel path that wound through lawns, shrubs, trees, and different-shaped patches of bare earth.