“Now, now,” said their visitor with a genial smile, “she hasn’t the slightest thing to fear from me. In fact, I think I’m going to prove one of the best friends she has.”
“Oh,” breathed Cora in relief, “I hope you will! The poor girl is sadly in need of all the help she can get.”
“I have been looking for her for a long time past,” said Mr. Baxter. “At least I feel reasonably sure that she’s the girl I’m after. And my only object in finding her is to restore her to the home and relative that she ran away from in a fit of youthful anger. I suspected that I had found her in Nina the gypsy girl. But now that I have seen her dressed in civilized clothes and compared her with the pictures in my possession, I feel practically sure of it. Still, I won’t know positively until I bring her and my client face to face.”
“O,” cried Cora, “is your client——”
“There, there!” Mr. Baxter checked her. “No names, please. If I am right in my identification you’ll know all about it before long.”
“I think I can name him now,” smiled Cora.
“Never jump at conclusions,” advised Mr. Baxter. “But what I called for especially to-day was to warn you that your house was to be robbed.”
“So we heard only a few minutes ago,” replied Cora. “Thank you very much for the warning, though.”
“So she told you?” remarked Mr. Baxter with a gratified smile. “That’s good. I am glad that she has defied that fellow’s threats. I was concealed near by and heard the whole conversation.”
“What do you think we ought to do?” asked Cora.