Copyright 1926, by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
It was no easy matter for a girl who was still in boarding school, but she had done it. She had come to New York and had found a post as nursery governess, and later as waitress in a tea room, and then in the art department of an enormous store. She had gained no tangible profit from these three years, she had no balance in the bank, but that did not trouble her. She had learned that she could stand on her own feet, that she could trust herself; and with this knowledge and the experience she had had, and her quick wits and splendid health, she felt herself fully armed against the world. Indeed, she had not a care on earth this evening except the cross-word puzzle.
“It must be ‘tocsin,’” she said to herself. “There’s something wrong with the verticals. It can’t be ‘fix,’ and yet—”
The telephone bell rang. Still pondering her problem, Lexy went across the room.
“Is Miss Enderby there?” asked a man’s voice.
“She’s out,” answered Lexy cheerfully.
“No!” said the man’s voice. “She can’t—I—for God’s sake, where’s Miss Enderby?”
“She’s out,” Lexy repeated, startled. “She went to the opera with her mother and father.”
“Who are you?”