“Of course you must,” agreed Mrs. Gray briskly. “I should like to see her myself. My opinion of that young woman is very high.”
It seemed to Grace as though she could hardly wait until their taxicab drew up in front of Wayne Hall. Mrs. Elwood herself answered the bell.
“Oh, Mrs. Elwood,” cried Grace, “is Kathleen in?”
“Yes; she came in only a little while ago.”
“I’ll wait for you in the living room, Grace. Bring that blessed little newspaper girl down stairs with you,” directed Mrs. Gray.
As Grace hurried up the stairs and down the hall to the end room the memory of another day, when she had sought Kathleen West to do her honor, returned to her. Her face shone with a great tenderness as she turned the knob and walked straight into the room without knocking. An instant and she had folded in her arms the alert little figure that sprang to meet her. “Kathleen, dear girl,” she cried. “How can I ever thank you?”
“Don’t try,” smiled Kathleen, her black eyes looking unutterable loyalty at Grace. “I had to leave a milestone, you know, and I couldn’t have left it in a better cause. I enlisted long ago under the banner of Loyalheart. So you see it was my duty to fight for her.”
It was after three o’clock when Grace left Mrs. Gray at the Tourraine and went back to Harlowe House. At Mrs. Elwood’s urgent invitation they had remained at Wayne Hall for luncheon, and with Patience added to their number had held a general rejoicing over the way things had turned out. Mrs. Gray’s last words to Grace on saying good-bye to her at the hotel were, “Grace, I am coming over to see you this evening.”
Grace walked home, her heart singing a song of thanksgiving and happiness. As she entered the house the maid met her with, “There’s a lady to see you, Miss Harlowe. She just came.”