"Late yesterday evening," he went on, "I received information that a child resembling Dorothy, and accompanied by a lady whose face was veiled, were seen entering a certain residence out near the park,"

explained Rutley, continuing. "I beg you to understand that I entertain a deep interest in the fate of the child, and since the river has not yielded up its secret, and the voice of scandal is rife in innuendoes, I immediately set out to investigate.

"Unsuccessful, I had pa.s.sed along the road and was returning, no doubt at higher speed than justified by the darkness of the night. Absorbed in meditation, I must have temporarily been negligent of proper vigilance, when to my horror, the form of a man suddenly loomed up a few paces directly ahead."

"Dear me, how unfortunate!" exclaimed Mrs. Harris, shivering.

"Impossible to stop the swift moving machine, in the short s.p.a.ce that separated us, I swerved to the right.

"At that moment the man must have discovered me, for he, too, sprang to the right. The impact was inevitable. I hastened to the unfortunate one's a.s.sistance, and you may appreciate my amazement when I recognized my friend, your own relative. Of course, I conveyed him home at once."

"How very good of you," said Hazel, with admiring eyes.

"We shall never be able sufficiently to thank your lordship," added Mrs. Harris, "and we hope that our dear boy will not expose himself to so great a danger again."

As to what Sam thought of the explanation, he kept silent; nevertheless he turned half around and would have whistled significantly had he not at that moment checked himself, for fear of again embarra.s.sing his aunt.

It was at this moment Virginia entered the room, insistently ushered in by Mr. Harris, who, profuse in politeness, said:

"Please do me the honor to be seated, for I know you must be fatigued."

But Virginia, on discovering Rutley, seemed to be suddenly overcome with a timidity quite foreign to her usual self-possession, and shrank away as if to leave the room. Observing her evident embarra.s.sment and, of course, ignorant of the true cause, Mr. Harris concluded she had conceived him as declining her request, and he at once, in a confidential whisper, attempted to rea.s.sure her.

"I can accommodate you with a check for five thousand today, and more in a week."

"Oh, I--I thank you very much," she replied, and though her nervousness was apparent, she managed to control herself. Mr. Harris gently led her to a seat, remarking in a whisper, "I'll write the check for you at once."

She turned upon him very grateful eyes, but almost instantly a shadow crept across her face as she said, "The security I have to offer----"

Mr. Harris looked pained, and lifting his hand, he interrupted her with, "Don't, please don't let the security trouble you."

Again Virginia's eyes unconsciously fastened upon Rutley, who at the same time was regarding her with a keen inquiring gaze. It was the first time they had met since the night of Thorpe's quarrel with Corway, and although Virginia had resolved to cast off all fear of his threat of incriminating disclosures, she nevertheless, while in his presence, felt a subtle influence change her rebellious disposition into a timorous apprehension. The sensation was so strange, so creepy, and at the same time so convincing, that she arose from the seat and muttered in broken accents, "I--I'll await you outside, Mr. Harris. The air in this room is--is so close."

She had turned half around toward the door, when Mrs. Harris addressed her.

"Virginia, dear! Don't go! Most interesting. My lord has just related how last night he accidentally knocked Sam down near the City Park."

Virginia unconsciously repeated, "Last night, he accidentally knocked Sam down, near the City Park."

The information was so startling and her curiosity so keen that she stared at Rutley and Sam alternately, while they in turn stared at each other and at her most significantly.

Mrs. Harris observed the wonderment her information had created, but without troubling her easy brains to penetrate the meaning, added, after due pause, "Yes, dear--a bandaged head, as you see, was the result."

"It was very dark, near midnight, and his lordship was driving an automobile fast."

Heedless of Mrs. Harris' further remarks and so absorbed in an effort to solve the puzzle that Virginia thought:

"What business had he out there at that time of night? Did he know I was there? And Sam there, too! It must have been he who followed me,"--and she shot such a swift meaning glance at him that had he caught it the effect must have been disconcerting.

"Queer, how late at night young men carry on their larks nowadays,"

broke in Mr. Harris with fine humor.

Mrs. Harris was quick to correct him. "Dear me! James, it was on urgent business, no less than a search for Dorothy, but unfortunately unsuccessful."

"I myself am also inclined to the belief Dorothy was stolen. No doubt a demand will soon be made for her ransom," said Mr. Harris.

"Such a notion seems to me as far-fetched, as it is unlikely, for I do not believe the family has an enemy in the world," promptly rejoined Mrs. Harris.

"Vague insinuations of kidnapping find credence through the estrangement of the parents being given publicity," suggested Rutley, in a soft, serious, yet bland manner, which brought from Hazel an explosive reply, "I am sure Constance had no knowledge of it."

"Impossible for Constance to plot at an abduction of her own child, and as for John Thorpe, his grief is too great to permit the faintest suspicion to rest on him," suavely admonished Mrs. Harris warmly.

"John!" gasped Virginia. She was the first to see Thorpe standing in the vestibule, the doors of which had been left open. John Thorpe had entered so quietly that none in the room saw him approach, and their conversation at the moment was so concentrated upon the mystery of Dorothy's disappearance that none of them heard his weary footfalls draw near. He was careworn and haggard.

If John Thorpe felt any emotion on seeing Virginia and hearing her startled voice, he gave no sign. Unmoved, he coldly let his aching eyes rest on her, and then he lifted them to Mr. Harris. In that brief s.p.a.ce of time, Rutley saw in Virginia's abashed eagerness to address her brother, a shadow of peril threaten him. The situation called for immediate action. He had previously noted his magnetic power over her and at once brought into requisition the wonderful "nerve" distinctly his heritage, and which had so often befriended him in moments of danger. Under cover of the fresh interest manifested in Mr. Thorpe's appearance, he coolly, quietly, and without the least hesitation, quickly placed himself beside her, and whispered in her ear: "Beware!"

His tone was so menacing, though concealed by an unctious personality, that Virginia shrank from him, yet with the low, rebellious exclamation: "Scoundrel!"

Nevertheless, she timidly deemed it discreet to arrange a meeting with John alone.

Mr. Harris silently grasped Mr. Thorpe by the hand. They had been close friends, socially and in business affairs for many years, and the hopeless, haggard, careless appearance of his long time friend touched Mr. Harris deeply.

"Poor fellow," he said, sympathetically. "You look all in."

"Sleepless nights and wearisome days have doubtless produced results,"

languidly replied Mr. Thorpe. "Mr. Harris, I have come to beg your hospitality for an hour's rest."

"Welcome to 'Rosemont,' thrice welcome, my dear friend. I shall have a quiet room prepared at once. Make yourself comfortable for a few moments until I return," and the energetic Mr. Harris immediately set out on his mission.

"Dear me!" commented Mrs. Harris, "If we could but unravel the mystery of Dorothy's disappearance, what a relief it would be. Do you think it possible the child was abducted, Mr. Thorpe?"

"Would to G.o.d I could believe it true," he gravely replied.

"I am loath to believe that the mother was aware of it," interposed Rutley, in his soft, lazy, drawling voice, "but"----

Surprised, Mrs. Harris promptly interrupted him with: "Dear me, have you heard that Constance had intrigued for her child's disappearance?"

Rutley fixed his gaze on Virginia, then transferred it to John Thorpe as he falteringly replied to Mrs. Harris' question: "Circ.u.mstances of a--a suspicious character tend to--a--implicate her."

A dead silence followed. So silent, that Sam suddenly cast an alarmed look at Virginia, as though he feared she had heard him hiss--"The contemptible sissy!"--and was surprised that no response met his silent thought, either by look or word.

Virginia was speechless. Yet she was bursting to tell them Dorothy was alive, but in captivity. She remembered the terrible threat made by the Italian in the park. It burned into her brain and made her tremble with anxiety lest the secret should get out and the child's life jeopardized thereby.

But, how to deny the vile lie that Constance was a party to the kidnapping? It was a question that baffled completely all the ingenuity that had aided her in other situations.

While she was racking her brains for some guiding thought, to silence slanderous tongues, she heard John Thorpe very gravely say: "My lord must be mistaken."

It was such sweet relief to know that he did not believe Constance was guilty of the crime that Virginia unconsciously exclaimed: "Thank Heaven!"