"He is a friend," he replied. "It is as a friend he will do this for me."
"Oh," she answered confused, "I don't know what to do! But I feel that I can trust you—I will trust you."
"Thank you. Then I must begin work at once. There is a telephone in the house?"
Her face brightened instantly. He seemed so decisive and sure. The fact that he was so immediately active, that he did not wait until daylight, when conditions would be best, but began the search in the face of apparent impossibility, brought her immediate confidence. She liked a man who would, without quoting the old saw, hunt for a needle in a haystack.
She directed him to the telephone, and he summoned a cab. He returned with the question,
"Do you know how much money he had?"
"Money? He had none."
"Then," said Donaldson, "won't he come back of himself? Opium is one thing for which there is no credit."
"I 'm afraid not. He has been away before without money, and—"
She stopped as abruptly as though a hand had been placed over her mouth. Her face clouded as though from some new and half forgotten fear. She glanced swiftly at Donaldson, as though to see if he had read the ellipsis.