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and get a good reputation for entertaining from this.“
    “Pooh. Elgin’s looking forward to having guests.“ This was more wishful thinking than pure truth. “Go pick your flowers, dear. And take Robert along. He’s in the library and Mimi wants to carpet sweep in there. Agatha has shed all over the rugs.”
    Robert wasn’t only in the library, he’d taken it over. He had newspapers all over the large table. “That Jack Summer is a wonder, Lily,“ he said. “The master of the noneditorial editorial. Look at this issue. See the front page article? President Hoover is still going on about how it’s up to private charities and community funds to cure the financial crisis. He claims the Red Cross should take over the burden. And just below it is a quote from the head of the Red Cross saying they don’t have the resources and the local chapters will have to deal with it themselves. No wonder this country is in a mess.“
    “Hoover actually believes the Red Cross should fund everyone in the country who’s starving?“
    “Apparently so. Now here’s another good piece. Jack’s quoting a speech President Hoover made last week to a group that had convened to formulate suggestions for ending the financial crisis in this country. Hoover said that they were too late, that the financial crisis was over and everything was rosy. People were going back to work in droves. And instead of making any comment directly, Summer snuggled an article right next to it saying that a recent governmental survey had shown that more than one out of four formerly gainfully employed people is now out of work. Brilliant placement.“
    “We aren’t two of the four at the moment,“ Lily said. “I need you to come pick flowers in the woods with me.“
    “We’re going a’Maying?“
    “We’re putting them in the guests’ rooms and the public rooms. Please pick up these newspapers. Mimi needs to carpet sweep.“
    “She does not. You could operate on somebody on this floor. You and Mimi have gone buggy on cleaning.“ Spotting a clump of fur decorating the rose-patterned rug, he yelled for Agatha, Lily’s dog, who had been in hiding under the library table during the height of the cleaning.
    “Hmm,“ Robert said and lifted some of Agatha’s fur. “If this is the start of the Spring Shed, Mimi’s got her work cut out for her. There’s an awfully lot of fuzzy stuff under Agatha’s top coat. I never noticed that before. Look at this. You can pull chunks of it loose.”
    As they headed out the kitchen door with Agatha, Mrs. Prinney handed Lily a large, flat wicker basket.
    “What’s that contraption for?“ Robert asked.
    Agatha shot out the door and gamboled around his legs. Robert plucked another clump of fuzzy fur off his trouser leg.
    Lily rolled her eyes. “It’s a trug. For putting the flowers in, Robert.”
    He shrugged. “I thought it was a clown hat.”
    “Oh, Robert,“ she said, irritated. “And Agatha, if you jump on me one more time...”
    Robert took Lily’s arm and stopped her headlong dash into the woods.
    “Lily. Look at how you’re behaving. We’re having guests. Guests don’t like overwrought, hysterical hostesses. They’re coming to enjoy themselves, and you’ve turned, my dear sister, into the least enjoyable person in the world.”
    Lily glared at him, then relaxed. “You’re right. I absolutely hate it when you’re right.“
    “As seldom as it happens, I can see how it disconcerts you,“ Robert said with a toothy grin. Even making faces didn’t destroy his good looks.
    Lily heaved a great sigh. “Okay. I’m pleasant now.”
    He poked his forefingers at the corners of her mouth. “Then look like it, for Pete’s sake. Everything’s copacetic.“
    “If you say so. And I have noticed Jack sticks those articles next to anything to do with Hoover. It’s a real skill at making a point without beating it to death. He was a good choice.”
    Jack Summer had been the downtrodden reporter on the