Mr. Richards, however, was inclined to give the man the benefit of the doubt.
“Maybe he’s reformed—you couldn’t blame him for changing his name to get a clean start,” he suggested.
“But he hasn’t made a clean start—that’s just the difficulty. They are after him now for a contemptible crime—and they have his picture on record at City Hall. That’s how I identified him.”
“They haven’t caught him, then?”
“No; he’s sneaked out of the city, of course. Now, what worries me, naturally, is that he may have tried to lure Queenie after him. He does that sort of thing.”
“Then we’ve got to locate Queenie!” cried Richards, alert for action.
“Yes, for even supposing he were honest in his desire to marry her, he’s no sort of man for her to throw herself away on.”
“Obviously not. What shall we do first?”
“Go to the girl’s home. I’ll give Lily an inkling of the situation, and get Queenie’s address. Marjorie mustn’t hear a word about it until the game is over—then Lily can use her own discretion.”
“Right!” agreed the other, in admiration of John’s direct reasoning and well calculated plan.