“That’s mean, considering that I am so frightfully penitent and all that,” Tavia reproached her. “Can’t you let bygones be bygones?”
“I am not worrying about what has already happened,” Dorothy returned. “It’s the future that troubles me.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about Garry, if I were you,” advised her chum. “Our friend Gibbons may think he is as innocent as a babe and all that, but you and I know better. If there is any funny business going on, you can bet Garry isn’t blind to it.”
“But this fellow spoke as if there were others plotting against him, too,” said Dorothy, adding bitterly: “It isn’t fair, so many against one.”
“Garry has friends, too, you know,” Tavia reminded her. “Even Stanley Blake admits that. You can make sure Lance Petterby isn’t the only one, either. Garry’s the kind that makes friends. Imagine hearing Lance’s name here in the dining room of the Blenheim Hotel!” she added with a chuckle, as Dorothy’s thoughtful silence still continued. “The world is certainly a small place.”
“As I believe countless thousands have remarked before you,” sighed Dorothy. “Oh, Tavia, I wish you could say something original—think what we ought to do next.”
“Why, if you mean about Garry, it seems to me you have already done about all you can do,” returned Tavia. “That telegram will warn him to be on his guard.”
“If only they had gone on talking for a little while longer,” sighed Dorothy. “I have a feeling that they were about to reveal something that might have been enlightening.”
“Well, no use crying about spilled milk,” said Tavia, stretching herself out luxuriously on the bed. “If you will excuse me, I think I will take a wink or two of sleep. You would be wise to do the same. We have had, as I need not tell you, a long and tiresome journey.”
But Dorothy had no intention of taking her friend’s advice. In the first place she was so excited that she could not have slept had she tried. In the second, there was the feeling that she could not afford to waste a precious minute that might bring her nearer to finding Joe or to the discovery of just what danger it was that threatened Garry.