Part 37 (1/2)

She tossed the letter across the table to Miss Standish, and touched the bell under her foot.

”McGregor,” she said, as the man appeared, ”did you hear any one go out of the house this morning?”

”I thought I did, Miss Winifred, about six o'clock, before light,--that is, I was justly sure I heard the front door shut; but when I got there it was all right, except the outer door was unlocked, and that often happens when your father is at the Club. He do forget now and then.”

”Three hours' start!” said Winifred to herself, then aloud: ”McGregor, go at once to 'The Chancellor' and leave word for Mr. Flint to come here. Wait--I will send a note. Oh dear! why didn't I foresee this possibility?”

”Come!” said Miss Standish, who, even in her excitement, could swallow the last of her cup of hot coffee,--”come, let us go upstairs and see if the foolish girl has not left some clew!”

As Winifred and Miss Standish pa.s.sed out at the parlor door, Master Jimmy entered from the hall, sleek and smiling in his holiday attire.

”Great Scott!” he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. ”What started Miss Standish off like that? Our stairs make the old lady puff when she takes 'em on the slow, and at this rate Fred will have to carry her half-way.

Something's up, that's evident. Never mind, I'm not in it. McGregor,”

he called, ”bring on those griddle-cakes; I smell 'em cooking. Quick now, while there's no one here to count how many I eat! Hurrah for Thanksgiving!”

McGregor failed to appear at Master Jimmy's call, and when Maria came, she said he had been sent out on an errand.

”What's up?” asked Jimmy, between mouthfuls.

”Oh, nothing--nothing--I wonder will they have the police?”

”Cops!” cried Jimmy, waking up for the first time to a genuine interest in the family excitement. ”Has any one gone off with the spoons? It would be just my luck to have had a burglar in the house last night and me never got a pop at him with my air-gun loaded and close by the bed.”

”It's no burglar,” said the maid, with mystery in her tones.

”Not McGregor drunk!” shouted Jimmy, with a scream of delight. ”That would be too good a joke.”

”McGregor drunk, indeed!” sniffed Maria, indignantly. ”If every one as came to this house was as good as McGregor, it would be a fine thing; but when it comes to takin' in all sorts and making a Harbor of Refuge out of a respectable home--I'm not surprised _whatever_ may happen.”

”Oh, hold your tongue, Maria. Don't be a fool! Get me some more cakes, while I go up and ask Fred what's the matter. It won't take _her_ half an hour to get it out, I'll bet.”

With this cheerful observation Jimmy vanished, and Maria disappeared down the kitchen stairs, declaring that that boy was ”a perfect gintleman.”

When Flint entered the Anstices' drawing-room a little later, Winifred was standing by the window, and though she turned away quickly, it was evident that she had been watching for him.

The thought thrilled him.

”What shall we do? Oh, what shall we do?” she broke out, as he came up to her.

He took her hands; they were burning hot.

”First of all, I will tell you what _not_ to do,” Flint answered. ”You are not to work yourself into a fever of distress over this unfortunate business. The responsibility is not yours but mine, and the burden of anxiety is to be mine and not yours.”

”Oh, never mind me! What about Tilly Marsden? It is dreadful to think of her wandering about this great city entirely alone--and she such a simpleton. Of course, it's hopeless to try to find her. Papa says so.”

”Not so hopeless as you think,” said Flint, with a trifle more a.s.surance than he felt in his inmost heart. ”New York stands for two things to a girl like her,--the shops and the theatres,--her ideas of the 'amus.e.m.e.nt' she speaks of in the note you sent me would be limited to one of these. Now, as this is a holiday, none of the shops would be open, and that limits it to the theatres. I shall have detectives at the door of every theatre this afternoon.”

”How clever you are,” murmured Winifred, ”how clever and how sympathetic! You have such feeling for everybody in trouble.”