"I'll come back, you know, Lucy, any time you ask me," declared Marian, grown serious.
"Oh, I'll ask you now—for three hundred and sixty-five days in the year," said Lucy promptly. "Come on, Marian, I'm roasting in these things."
Back at their own house, Lucy heard voices from her father's study and stopped for a second, puzzled. But Marian, behind her, at the first sound of that voice was in doubt no longer. With a wild rush she flung the door wide open and ran into the room.
"Father! I knew it!" she cried, in a burst of overwhelming delight, and as Mr. Leslie sprang from his chair she flung her arms about his neck.
"Why, Marian, it's really you—safe and sound," he said, joyfully hugging her, and he pulled the tam from her tumbled hair and looked long into her smiling happy face.
[CHAPTER XV]
ONE CHANCE OUT OF FIFTY
Before Mr. Leslie went to bed that night he had heard all the Gordons could tell him about Bob, and of the fear that lay heavy at their hearts, even since the coming of Elizabeth's message. No one could resist the power of Mr. Leslie's generous and overflowing sympathy. He could not put into words his sorrow and deep concern at Bob's misfortune, but his face, as responsive to his thoughts as Marian's own, showed all he felt, and the Gordons spoke to him as they had spoken to no one else.