"You would like to get at the truth, if I promise to hold the story back?" I persisted, catching her eye.
"Yes," she answered, in a low tone, "but—" then stopped.
"I will ask my friend, Professor Kennedy, at the university, to come here," I urged.
"You know him?" she asked, eagerly. "He will come?"
"Without a doubt," I reassured, waiting for her to say no more, but picking up the telephone receiver on a stand in the hall.
Fortunately I found Craig at his laboratory and a few hasty words were all that was necessary to catch his interest.
"I must tell mother," Cynthia cried, excitedly, as I hung up the receiver. "Surely she cannot object to that. Will you wait here?"
As I waited for Craig, I tried to puzzle the case out for myself. Though I knew nothing about it as yet, I felt sure that I had not made a mistake and that there was some mystery here.
Suddenly I became aware that the two women were talking in the next room, though too low for me to catch what they were saying. It was evident, however, that Cynthia was having some difficulty in persuading her mother that everything was all right.
"Well, Cynthia," I heard her mother say, finally, as she left the room for one farther back, "I hope it will be all right—that is all I can say."