“Go on, tell it all,” Pennington Wise put in; “you wanted that money——”
“To pull me out of a desperate hole,” Louis burst forth. “I got in bad—very bad—with some gamblers and some loan sharks—and Sis was good enough to try to get me out of it. She—she didn’t have to marry old Gleason—even if she did announce an engagement.”
“Hush, Buddy,” said Phyllis, looking at him reprovingly; “I never thought of saying yes to him, and backing out afterward. I wouldn’t do such a thing. But I planned to go there that afternoon and try once more to persuade him to give me the money, without a definite promise on my part. I hoped that for the sake of Louis’ good name I could persuade him. But—I didn’t go.”
“Never mind all that,” Zizi said, impatiently, “it won’t get us anywhere to mull over that. Now, Penny Wise, here’s where I stand. All people here present are innocent of this crime. Philip Barry—I think—is also innocent. I’ve no reason to suspect a stranger—an acquaintance of Mr Gleason’s—and I think if there were such an individual, there must have been some trace of him. People don’t glide in and out of a situation like shadows.”
“Go slow, Ziz,” cautioned the detective, looking at her thoughtfully. “Keep your imagination in leash.”
“Yes, sir,” and she bowed with mock docility. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to Coggs’ Hollow.”
“To-night!” gasped Millicent, as Zizi rose, and began pulling on her gloves.
“Yes; there’s a train at midnight, I can easily catch it. Good-by, all.”
She drew her cloak together and fastened it, and held out her hand to Wise with a demanding gesture.
Understandingly, he took out his pocketbook, and gave it to her without a word.