"Not if I live," said Rivington. "Anything else?"
"No; only a million thanks! I'll explain everything when we meet."
"All right. Good-bye!"
As he hung up the receiver, a heavy frown drove the kindliness out of his face.
"What have they been doing to the child?" he said. "It's a pretty desperate step for a girl to take. At least it might be, it would be, if I were any one else."
Suddenly the smile came back and drew afresh the kindly, humorous lines about his eyes.
"She seems to remember me rather well," he murmured. "She certainly was a jolly little kid."
III
THE LADY IN DISTRESS
The afternoon sunlight streamed golden through the cathedral as Cecil Rivington passed into its immense silence. He moved with quiet and leisurely tread; it was not his way to hurry. The great clock was just booming the hour.