“So it was that I might have time to think—time to plan—that I dissembled. I pretended that Lorenzo was in my room when he was not. I did not want them all in here. So I pretended. But you—you discovered my secret. Now, can you help me find my boy? Will you? I do not know you, I have never seen you before, and yet from your face I see that I can trust you. And also you reporters—you are so resourceful. Every day I read of the marvelous things you do. In my country it is not so. But, oh, these wonderful United States! Perhaps you can help me. Will you?”
Once more she held out her hands in a mute appeal.
“I will if I can!” exclaimed Larry. “I’ll do all in my power. Listen! I’m a newspaper man, first of all, and though I want to help you, it is only through the power of the press that I can. I ask no reward, only that you let my paper—the Leader—have this news first, exclusively. I’m glad now that you did not raise an alarm. It makes it possible for me to get a ‘beat.’ Tell me all you wish to about the case. Then I’ll get busy.”
“Oh, it is such a long story, I cannot tell half of it now. Sufficient to say that there are enemies of my dead husband who seek to injure me through my only son. They have often sought to get possession of him, but I have foiled them by keeping him close to me always. But this time I failed. Oh, Lorenzo! My poor Lorenzo! where are you?”
She was overcome with emotion for a moment, but soon resumed her story.
“I had been warned,” she said, “but I did not heed. To-night, when I saw that man—my enemy—I was filled with fear. I fainted, and when I was myself again I looked for Lorenzo. He was safe, and I asked him to stand in sight, in the wings, during the rest of the concert. Only by such means would I know he was safe. He did so, and all went well, until the end.
“Then, after my last number, I looked for him. I did not see him. I cried out! I ran! The others were alarmed. They asked me what was the matter. I did not tell them all I feared. I said I thought Lorenzo might have fallen down some trap-door, or have stumbled over some scenery—anything to keep the truth back for a time.”
“Why?” asked Larry curiously.
“Because I realized that if I gave an alarm at once, and took after the scoundrels, they might—they might injure my son. There was but one thing to do—meet cunning with cunning—and I took that way.
“When many of my friends, and the stage hands, were looking for my boy, I rushed to my dressing-room, and called out that he was here. Then I shut the door, and told Goegi to keep my secret until I could make my plans.