“Billie-e-e—” it said.
“Who are you?” asked the girl, with a feeling of foreboding which an unexpected call on the long distance telephone always causes.
“It’s Edward—Edward l’Estrange. Listen. I must go away. Something has happened. Make Edward Paxton keep his word. You are the only one who knows about it. Tell Virginia if necessary. But no one else. Everything depends on nobody’s knowing I’m not at Palm Beach. Tell Edward I’ll be back, and he must represent me in every way until I come, as he promised. You understand, don’t you? Every way. You won’t lose faith in me, Billie, will you?”
“No,” she replied, wondering what it all meant.
“Good-bye,” she answered mechanically, feeling that she was in some sort of strange dream.
“Wait,” called the voice that sounded so like and still so unlike Edward’s. “Do you promise?”
“Yes,” replied Billie.
“Good-bye again.”
“Good-bye,” she answered, feeling very much like giving way to a few inexplicable tears.