It was almost eleven o'clock when Emma returned.
"I'm so glad you've come," greeted Grace as her friend entered their room. "Evelyn Ward hasn't come in yet and I'm worried about her. I saw her this afternoon, but she hasn't been here since then."
"Very likely she is with Miss Parker." Emma spoke in an unconcerned tone.
"No she isn't. I telephoned Miss Parker. She hasn't seen Evelyn for two days."
"She hasn't?" Emma glanced at Grace in surprise. The ring of anxiety in Grace's voice had not been lost upon her. "What's happened, Gracious!" she asked.
For answer Grace handed Ida Ward's letter to Emma. "Read it," she commanded.
Emma read the letter. "Do you think—" she began.
"What do you think?" interrupted Grace. "What can one think? Evelyn received her letter from Ida Ward before I received this. She knew that this letter was on the way. This afternoon I found her at the door sorting the mail. She had two letters in one hand, which she had separated from the others. When she saw me she dropped the two. I stooped to pick them up. Both of them were for me. I said, 'Did I startle you, Miss Ward?' and she stammered something about expecting a letter. She shoved the other letters into my hands and ran upstairs. I haven't seen her since."
"Who was the other letter from that she had picked out?"
"Oh, it was a bill from Hanford's. I—" Grace stopped short and stared at Emma. A horrible suspicion had seized her. She was afraid that she now understood the meaning of the bill she had received. In one of those curious, illumining flashes, which sometimes reveal in an instant what seems hopelessly obscure, she had hit upon the truth.