"I'm looking for a friend… I'm just inquiring here because you're on my list of boarding houses. I guess I've asked at two hundred if I've asked at one."
"What's your friend's name? Man or woman?"
"Her name is Foote. Ruth Foote."
"No such person here… We got Richards and Brown and Judson, and a lot of 'em, but no Foote."
The young woman sighed. "I'm getting discouraged…. I am afraid she's ill somewhere. It's been months, and I can't find a trace. She's such a little thing, too…. Maybe she's changed her name. Quite likely."
"Is she hidin' away?" asked Mrs. Moody.
"Yes—you might say that. Not hiding because she DID anything, but because—her heart was broken."
"Um!… Little, was she? Sort of peaked and thin?"
"Yes."
"Ever hear the name of Frazer?"