The time had come, then, when Jane-Ellen was to be friendless and out of a job; the third act was here.
"Anything that suits you pleases me, Burton," said Tucker.
"In that case," answered Crane, "I will telephone Reed to come over at once and make arrangements for giving up the house. We can't, I suppose, catch that night train, but with luck we may get away to-morrow morning."
"You seem in a great hurry."
"I'd like never to see the place again," returned Burton.
In the moment of silence that followed this heartfelt exclamation, a figure came briskly around the corner of the piazza, a figure discernible in the light shed by the front door.
"Oh, come here," said Crane.
The figure betrayed no sign of having heard, unless a slight accentuation in its limp might be so interpreted.
"What's your name?" shouted Burton.
The old man looked up.