"Oh!" Leah cried passionately, "I don't care how much she hurt me—she's not responsible, I'm sure—but I'm afraid that now she'll send me away again. Then what will become of Miss Joy? If she'll strike me, she'll do worse. If we don't do something pretty soon, it will be too late!"
"You must keep out of sight as much as possible for the rest of the day," I said, "especially as the doctor will probably come down. If we could only prevent that!" At the words, an idea occurred to me. "What train does he usually come down on?"
"The ten o'clock from the city. He usually takes luncheon here."
"Then there's just time, perhaps, to catch him. Come up-stairs. I'm going to try to see if we can't find out something. It's a desperate chance, but I'll take it. The thing can't be much worse, even if we're found out."
We went up into the study and I called up the doctor's number. While we were waiting for it I gave Leah her instructions.
"Don't speak loud, just barely loud enough so that he may hear with difficulty, and let him do most of the talking. Pitch your voice as high as you can. Ask him what train he's coming down on. I'll take the receiver and listen, and tell you what else to say."
In a few minutes the bell rang and we were connected with the doctor's office. I heard him say, "Hello! Is that you, Miss Fielding?"
"Say 'yes,'" I whispered. Leah did so.
"Anything the matter?" he asked. Leah said "No."
"What did you want, then?" was his next question.