The Case of The Four Suitors

" It's a troubling problem, Flint, " Mrs. McAdoo told her good friend as she poured a second cup of tea for him. " My daughter Betty is currently going out with four different men: Jerry, Jeff, Hank, and Phil. I've met them all and they seem nice enough. But one can never tell, can one? " She cocked her head to one side.

" What are you getting at, Lulu? " Flint asked, looking up momentarily from his second helping of hot apple pie.

" There are rumours and allusions about, but no one tells me anything directly. My friend Winnie said the other day that someone who had known Betty's brown-haired suitor in France told her on excellent authority that he had been convicted of smuggling there, but had escaped from jail. But you see how complicated it is: Phil, Jerry, and Jeff all have brown hair!

" Winnie also said that the police know all about him, and extradition proceedings are about to begin, " Mrs. McAdoo added.

" Why don't you speak to Betty directly about this? " Flint asked.

" Oh, Flint, don't you see? She'd think I was one of those mothers who pry and snoop. And I'm not. I'm really not. I'm just looking out for her welfare. Just to spite me, she'd probably take up with the one who's a criminal. It seems to be a commonly known fact among my friends that one of Betty's suitors is a criminal" Stirring her tea nervously before she had put sugar in it, she continued talking.

" What really troubles me is this, Flint. Betty tells me that she's fallen deeply in love with one of her young men and that they plan to announce their wedding plans soon. I'm so worried that her future husband and the smuggler will turn out to be one and the same! Oh dear, and I shall not be able to find out in time to save her from the heartbreak! "

" Of course you shall, my dear Lulu, " Flint said, patting her hand reassuringly. " Artemus Flint is here. " Flint took it that that was explanation enough.

Mrs. McAdoo stared thoughtfully down at her teaspoon. " My friends tell me that I've never spoken with the criminal, just greeted him on his way in and out, that sort of thing. It's just so impossible to know, Flint. I'd be flabbergasted if Phil were the criminal. He's led such a sheltered life - never travelled abroad, never lived away from home, always taken good care of his widowed mother. He still lives with her, you know".

" Tell me whatever else you know about the four young men, " requested Flint.

" Well, Jerry's a dear! He's got dimples and green eyes and he really listens when you talk to him. No one has ever been so interested in the story of my operation last year as he was. Really a dear, dear boy, " concluded Mrs. McAdoo.

" Betty's friend Marsha knows who Betty's true love is. She'd never violate a confidence, of course, " - here Mrs. McAdoo's rosy blush indicated that she had learned this from personal experience - " but she did tell me that he has brown eyes"

Then came another thought: " I wonder whether Betty's true love got the raise he was going to ask for. She thinks he deserves it. He's always worked so hard at the office, she says - he's done so despite his personal problems: Since his mother's death, he's the one who looks after three younger brothers."

" Lulu, your tea is getting cold, " Flint reminded her gently.

But' she was miles away. " Jeff is a farmer, " she murmured, more to herself than to Flint. " At least if Betty should marry him, she'd always have enough to eat." Mrs. McAdoo was momentarily content. Then she remembered the problem. " But " what if he's the smuggler? Of course, she'd have enough to eat with him too, but I mean an escaped smuggler! One simply cannot have an escaped smuggler in the family, can one? " The blue eyes looked at Flint in wonderment.

" Lulu, you do have such a charmingly scatterbrained way of giving information. I've managed to put together what you have told me. You want to know who Betty's true love is? Yon wonder whether he is the same person as the criminal? I'll tell you! "

WHO IS BETTY' TRUE LOVE? IS HE THE SAME PERSON AS THE CRIMINAL? WHO IS THE CRIMINAL?