But when she saw Gordon Lockwood she was glad she had, and, without waiting for an invitation he stepped inside the room and closed the door.
He looked at her with a face full of compassion and love, but he spoke as one who must attend to an important business.
“Anita,” he said, speaking very low, “the crisis has come. They have learned of the check Doctor Waring gave you that night, and it is the last straw. Stone is already, I think, convinced of your guilt, and that young chap, McGuire, will get at the bottom of everything, I’m sure.”
“Check? What do you mean?” Miss Mystery said, with a blank look on her face.
“Don’t equivocate with me, dear.” Lockwood laid his hand gently on hers. “There’s no time now to tell you of my love, as I want to tell it. Now, we can only assume that it is all told, that we are engaged, and that we are to be married at once. We are going to elope, Anita.”
“Elope!” she stared at him, but her eyes grew soft and her pale cheeks flushed. “What do you mean?”
“It isn’t a pretty word,” Gordon smiled, “but it’s the only thing to do, you see. If you stay here, you’ll be arrested. If you go, I go with you. So—we both go, and that makes it an elopement.”
“But, Gordon—”
“But, Anita—answer me just one question—do you love me?”
“Yes,” with an adorable upward glance and smile.