“Do you, indeed, make this request?” he slowly added.
“Father, I do,” she replied.
“Answer me one question. Has Lester Hathaway any connection with this undertaking?”
“As God sees me, he has not,” she firmly replied.
“My daughter, you shall go as you desire, and may God watch over you. Now see your mother and inform her, and then prepare for your journey.”
She again kissed him, and left the room.
At 19 dial the two girls, clad in traveling-dresses, and with grips in their hands, entered the depot, and were soon cozily ensconced in the fourth sleeper of the Central Pneumatic, No. 5, west.
“What will Lester say when he does not find me in the conservatory to-night?” sighed Mollie.
“And what will Hugh say when he returns and finds me gone?” and another deep sigh could have been heard.
“But I left a letter for him,” with a sly glance toward the other.