“Oh, no,” said the girls, all pulling together at her skirts.
Miss Sallie had to pause. “If you think, young ladies,” she said, calmly, “that, because I have not unearthed a jewel robber, nor attacked a burglar in the dark, I am therefore more of a coward than a parcel of silly girls, you are vastly mistaken. Let go of me!” Miss Sallie marched majestically forward.
“Susan, I will go down.”
“Oh, no’m,” pleaded Susan, giggling. She had no idea what all the fuss was about, but she knew it was most unnecessary. “Please’m, let me whisper to you. It’s only that Miss Gladys Le Baron, but I promised not to give her name. I am sure she means no harm, miss. She looks like she was worried and had been crying a bit, ma’am.”
“It is all right, Barbara,” said Miss Sallie. “From what Susan tells me you may go downstairs alone.”
Bab had not the faintest idea who could be waiting for her. In all the excitement, she had entirely forgotten that she had told Gladys Le Baron to come to see her this morning without fail. As soon as she opened the library door, she remembered. “Good morning,” she said, coldly.
But Gladys flung her arms about her neck and burst into a torrent of tears. “I know it all, all!” she said. “Mrs. Post and Mrs. Erwin called me into their rooms last night, and told me everything. I had expected Harry Townsend to take me home from the ball, and, when he didn’t put in his appearance, I was so angry and behaved so badly Mrs. Post said I had to be told at once. Mrs. Erwin wanted to wait until morning. O Bab, I didn’t sleep a wink last night!”
“I am sorry,” said Bab, but she didn’t really show a great deal of feeling.
“Bab,” Gladys went on, “I simply can’t believe it! And to think you knew it almost all the time! Mrs. Post says I have to believe it, now, because the whole story is out. She says she was completely deceived, too, and can understand why I thought Townsend was a gentleman. Father seemed to think he was all right. He told us all about his being an orphan, and who his rich relations were. Mrs. Erwin is so good. She just says she is sorry for me, and hasn’t uttered a word of blame. Only think, I brought that dreadful wretch to her house, and I am responsible for all the trouble! O Barbara, I can never face it!” Gladys wiped her eyes again with her handkerchief, which was already wet with her tears.
“I want to go home to mother to-day, but Mrs. Erwin says I have to stay with her a little while longer. She says that, if I rush right off now, if I disappear the very same day Harry Townsend and that woman leave, people will believe there is more between us than there really is. There wasn’t anything exactly serious, though I did like him. I am sure I shall never hold up my head again.”