“I thought I ought to tell you—” Lexy began; and still she hesitated, moved by the unaccountable feeling that this might be treachery to Caroline.
“Tell me what?” asked Mrs. Enderby. “Come, if you please, Miss Moran! Tell me at once!”
“Caroline’s gone.”
The words were spoken. Lexy waited in great alarm, wondering if Mrs. Enderby would faint or scream.
The lady did neither. She came out into the corridor, shutting the door of her room behind her, and her first word and her only word was:
“Hush!”
Then she glanced about her at the closed doors, and, taking Lexy’s arm in a firm grip, hurried her to Caroline’s room. Not until they were shut in there did she speak again.
“Now tell me!” she said. “Speak very low. You said—Caroline has gone?”
“Yes,” said Lexy. “I came in here after you’d gone to bed, and—you can see for yourself—the bed hasn’t been slept in. She’s taken her things—her brush and comb and—”
“And she told you—what?”