It was significant that no thought of escape came to her. She had met the new danger as something which must be faced and lived down, and the natural alternative of notifying the authorities of the foul play to which she had been an unwitting accessory after the fact never entered her mind. Instead, with a singleness of purpose which seemed inexplicable she resolutely forced her thoughts into other channels than those which led to the appalling mystery, and strove to focus her attention on the books.
Through the long afternoon Betty plodded on at her tedious task, for it was dusk when Welch came to announce the seamstress' arrival. The silence in the house had remained unbroken, but as she left the library the girl became aware of distant and confused shouting in the street beyond the great gates. It sounded upon her ears like the clamor of an approaching mob, and her heart beat fast as she hurried upstairs.
"What can it be?" she voiced her query aloud as Mrs. Atterbury met her at the door of the sewing room. "Those cries upon the street! Did you hear them? Could there have been a—an accident?"
"It is just the news-sellers crying an 'extra'," the other responded, adding with an amused smile, "No wonder it startled you! I suppose they are unknown in your home town. They are an unmitigated nuisance, but the public feeds on cheap sensation—"
"There's been a murder!" the little dressmaker croaked suddenly from the corner where she had been waiting. "A gentleman was found stabbed—"
Mrs. Atterbury's lips tightened and she lifted an authoritative hand.
"If you please, Miss Pope!" Her voice was as cold as the ringing of steel on steel. "Horrors do not appeal to me, and I am averse to discussing them."
"I'm very sorry, I'm sure." Miss Pope fluttered in distress, her pallid face flushing darkly. "I didn't think when I spoke, but I saw it in big staring headlines in a man's paper on the car, and the words just popped out of my mouth. I wouldn't say anything to upset anybody for the world——"
"You haven't." Mrs. Atterbury stemmed the quick, nervous flow of speech, and her own voice had sunk to its normal unemotional level. "I do not believe in encouraging a tendency to morbidity, especially in the young. We all know, unfortunately, that crime exists, but we who do not come in contact with it should spare ourselves the revolting details. Now let us see how the gown will fit."
Tremblingly, the cowed little creature busied herself about the girl's slender figure. Betty stood like an automaton, turning obediently at a touch of the seamstress' hand, but oblivious to all that went on about her. Miss Pope's inadvertent words had seared themselves on her brain in letters of fire and for an instant everything grew black before her eyes. Then out of the whirling darkness had come a fleeting glimpse of Mrs. Atterbury's face and all doubt of her knowledge of the midnight tragedy was gone forever. Stunned by the confirmation of her own secret fears, Betty gave no heed to the seamstress, until Welch appeared to call his mistress to the telephone.