“Now you are bigger than anybody,” he said, “and you need never be afraid any more.”
Josie was a generous antagonist and she could not help feeling sorry for Cheatham. He looked like a whipped hound as he approached them, cringing pitiably. He must make an effort and try to appear at his ease.
He whispered to Miss Fitchet: “Go on! Take your brother and pretend we are not together.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” she answered, showing her teeth like a snarling tiger. “The jig’s up and you are to take the blame, so watch your step.”
Cheatham tried to think quickly. Should he pass Ursula without recognition? What should he do? He could not turn tail and run, as he would have liked to do. If it were not for the hateful Fitchet and her rowdy brother he might have faced the situation. How could he explain his conduct to Teddy Trask? How could his stepdaughter have found her brother and got him away from their clutches? What had that colorless Miss Friend to do with it all? Why had she gone to Cincinnati by one train and returned to Louisville by the next? What proof would they have that he had been implicated in the kidnaping?
Such thoughts brought him up to where Ursula stood, with her two good friends and her brothers. Evidently she would leave it to him whether or not speech was to pass between them. She moved not a muscle, but stood with erect head and flashing eyes, as if about to pass judgment on a criminal.
Josie broke the spell by saying: “Ah, Mr. Cheatham, so we came back on the same train! If I had only known! Wasn’t it wonderful, too, that I met my dear friend Ursula Ellett on the train? Such a sweet girl! It was so fortunate that quite by chance I ran across her little brother at the Hotel Haddon.
“You see, I went to the Alpha, directly across the street. When you told me you were going to the Haddon I didn’t like to go there, too, because you might have thought I was pursuing you, and far be it from me to give any man that impression, but since you had assured me the neighborhood was respectable, I just stopped at the Alpha.
“I saw little Philip peeping out of the second-story window, and as I knew his sister was very uneasy about him, I gave up my date in Cincinnati and just brought him along with me. You see, Miss Ellett and I are very dear friends. In fact, we are partners in a little business in Dorfield. She runs the tea room and I do the washing and dabble a bit in detective work.”
All of this chatter Josie got off without drawing breath, and with the mincing manners of a very silly young person. Teddy found himself laughing and Ursula could not help giggling, in spite of the deep emotion that was mastering her.