"Oh, I forgot," exclaimed Tavia suddenly. "I have an engagement for this afternoon. I ought to go back, Ned. It must be lunch-time." And, as she spoke, Dorothy remembered that the day was Thursday, and that Tavia was to go on that day to see Miss Estelle Brooks, the little woman in black.
CHAPTER XIV
TAVIA'S TROUBLES
"You must contrive to help me, Nat," urged Tavia, when, an hour or so later, she managed to get a word alone with him. "I can never deliberately go off alone on an afternoon like this, when every one is so busy."
"You certainly cannot walk out to Ferndale on a day like this," answered Nat. "I'll have to take you if you must go. But why don't you wait until next week, when we might get a better chance?"
"Oh, I simply can't," sighed Tavia. "I feel so mean over the whole thing. And, honestly, I'm so nervous about it. Do you suppose that woman has anything to do with—the matter?"
"Seems to understand it, at any rate. It won't do any harm to talk with her. I'll manage to get the machine out, and then, all in a flash, you ask if I won't take you, pretending you did not plan it. I don't see any other way out of it."
"Oh, Nat, you are a dear!" exclaimed Tavia in real joy. "But I do hate so to get you into trouble."
"Oh, never mind me," replied the youth good-naturedly. "Guess I'm big enough to take care of myself. Clear off, now, and when you hear three toots you will know that is the signal. I'll get ready under pretense of going into town for something, and it won't take long to get out to Ferndale."