“He guessed at plenty,” Claire said.

At the bottom of the stairs a woman from the clerk’s office stopped us and said she had been praying for our family, and she said it kindly, and Claire thanked her.

We went out into the cold.

Arthur came down the last three steps behind us, which he did not have to do.

“Mrs.

Voss.” He stopped himself.

“Miss Reed.

My office needs a person who can keep a filing cabinet in order and answer a telephone without telling the whole county what is on it.