“Mr. Gowan,” she said, “in the first place I ought to thank you.”
“Nay,” he said, “I promised to help you to care for Mollie.”
“I ought to thank you,” she repeated. “And I do. But in the second place I am going to ask you to do something for me which may be disagreeable.”
“You may be sure,” he replied, “that I shall not hesitate.”
“Yes,” she said, “I think I am sure of that, or I should not ask you. I am so eager about the matter, that I could not bear to waste the time. I want you to help me. On Thursday afternoon I am going home. Can you trace this report to its source before then, and let me know whether it is a true or a false one?”
“I can try.”
She clasped both her gloved hands together on the small table before her, and lifted to his such a determined young face and such steadfast eyes, that he was quite impressed. She would rise in arms against the world for poor, unwise Mollie, it was plain. It was not so safe a matter to trifle in Vagabondia, it would seem,—that Gerald Chandos would find to his cost.
“If you bring word to me that what you have heard is a truth,” she said, “I can go to Mollie with my weapon in my hand, and I can end all at one blow. However wilful and incredulous she may have been heretofore, she will not attempt to resist me when I tell her that. It is a humiliating thing to think he has insulted her by keeping his secret so far; but we meet with such covert stings now and then in Vagabondia, and perhaps it will prove a blessing in disguise. If we had used our authority to make her dismiss him without having a decided reason to give her, she might only have resented our intervention as being nothing but prejudice. As it is, she will be frightened and angry.”
So it was agreed upon that he should take in hand the task of sifting the affair to the bottom. His time was his own, and chance had thrown him among men who would be likely to know the truth. As soon as he had gained the necessary information, Dolly would hear from him, or he would call upon her and give her all particulars.
“You have a whole day before you,—nearly two whole days, I may say, for I shall not be likely to leave here until five or six o'clock on Thursday,” Dolly said, when their rather lengthened interview terminated.