CHAPTER XVIII
Arethusa's trembling fingers could hardly find the telephone receiver at first, and even when once located, they could scarcely keep it to her ear.
"Hello!" her greeting was soft and almost breathless.
"Hello!" And she recognized the deep drawl immediately. "Is this Miss Worthington at the 'phone?"
"Yes, it's me, all right!" Arethusa was too excited to be quite grammatical. "But I've been running to get here, and I've lost my breath!"
At the other end of the line, Mr. Bennet smiled rather broadly, and his stenographer, just then depositing a pile of letters to be signed on his desk, could not help wondering what the young lady had said that was so funny. Mr. Bennet did not often smile so into a mere telephone.
"Well, this is Gridley Bennet talking."
"I knew it was!" happily.
"And I should like to know if you have any engagement for to-morrow night?"
"Oh, Mr. Bennet!"