Chapter 43

Ross picked up the book which had had the power to make so keen a business woman as Eleanor Hallam oblivious of an opportunity. It was bound in green cloth, with black lettering and a stencil of black pine trees in silhouette springing from the lower edge of the cover. The title was _Country Neighbors_, the author one Caleb Cox. Both title and author were unknown to Ross. She turned the pages idly at first, then with a pricking of interest. Arresting bits of green pen-and-ink sketches adorned the chapter heads, don…