While he was deliberating, the door opened again, and the man came out. He hurried up to the corner, where stood a cab, and got in.
Was he going to leave the woman behind? It certainly looked so.
But an instant later the woman came out and with all speed she ran toward the cab.
Bob dashed forward, but before he could stop the woman she had entered the cab beside the man, and the driver whipped up the horses.
Away went the cab at a high rate of speed.
Bob tried to catch on behind, to signal the driver to stop, but he failed in both. He slipped on the wet stones, and went down on one knee, and by the time he arose the cab had disappeared in the darkness.
Bob was much chagrined. He felt almost certain that the woman could have told him something concerning the past.
“And that’s not the worst of it,” grumbled Bob to himself. “It’s bad enough to let them slip, but they are most likely going out of town, and goodness only knows when I’ll see her again.”
He turned back under the shed again, and dashing the water from his hat, and wiping off one of his hands, which had become covered with dirt, he rang the hall bell.
A moment of utter silence passed, and then a tall, sour-faced woman, evidently an old maid, appeared.