She crossed the room with light footsteps. Presently she returned.
“He is just crossing the street,” she announced. “I think that he seems to be coming here.”
Craig took the girl for a minute into his arms.
“Good-bye, dear,” he said. “I want you to take this paper and keep it carefully. You will be cared for always, but I must go.”
“But where must you go?” she asked bewildered.
“I have an appointment at Professor Ashleigh’s,” he told her. “I cannot tell you anything more than that. Good-bye!”
He kissed her for a moment passionately. Then suddenly he tore himself away. She heard him run lightly down the stairs. Some instinct led her to the back window. She saw him emerge from the house and pass down the yard. Then she went to the front. The man in the blue serge suit was talking to the landlady below. She sank into a chair, puzzled and unhappy. Then she heard heavy footsteps. The door was opened. The man in the blue serge suit entered, followed by the protesting landlady.
“There’s no sense in coming here to worry the young lady,” Mrs. Malony declared irritably. “As for Mr. Craig, I told you that he’d gone out.”
“Gone out, eh?” the man repeated, speaking in a thick, disagreeable tone. “Why, I watched him in here not ten minutes ago. Now then, young lady, guess you’d better cough up the truth. Where’s this precious uncle of yours?”
“My uncle has gone out,” the girl replied, drawing herself up. “He left five minutes ago.”