“Where’s Elizabeth?” asked Lucy, her pulse quickening with the words.
“Elizabeth’s out, too, Miss. She asked leave of the General this morning. Gone to see a friend, I think.”
Lucy entered the house and, going into her father’s study, sank down in his chair and caught hold of the telephone, thinking hard a minute. Elizabeth’s absence made things real. There was no more time for hesitation. She called up Larry and, to her tremendous relief, heard his voice answer.
“Larry, it’s Lucy,” she said hurriedly. “I’m at Father’s. Can you come here a minute? I wouldn’t ask you if it were not——”
“Of course I’ll come,” Larry interrupted. “Why the excuses? I’ll be there in a jiffy.”
He rang off and Lucy sat waiting, trying to piece her plan together as she fingered the letter once more withdrawn from her pocket.
“At nightfall,” she repeated to herself. “That means four or half-past. We haven’t much time to lose.”
In a quarter of an hour the bell rang, and Lucy, going to the house door, found Larry on the steps.
“Hello, Larry. Thank you lots for coming. Let’s walk, shall we? I’ll explain as we go,” she said, all in a breath.
The next moment they were threading their way along the street, Larry’s blue eyes turned on Lucy with a curiosity that refused to be suppressed. “I’m all ready to hear about it,” he said. “Which way shall we go?”