However, she sprang out of bed herself the next moment, for Angel had picked up a package from the floor which had a blue paper and a rubber band about it and was also marked with the Governor's official seal.
Faith tried to jerk the letters from her friend's hand.
"Put those down at once, Angel!" she commanded angrily. "Why don't you do as I tell you? Those papers are not mine; I am keeping them for Kenneth Helm. He told me they were of the most private nature possible and that no one was to be allowed to see them."
However, even after this stern injunction, the French girl did not give up the package of letters. Instead, without Faith's being aware of her intention, she kept edging nearer and nearer toward the door which led into the hall and so farther along to Betty's and Governor Graham's rooms. She remembered that they had also gone up-stairs together after dinner. And her hope was that they had not yet left the house.
Then suddenly she turned, and running faster than she ever had since her lameness she got out of Faith's bedroom and was on her way to her desired destination.
Moreover, for the moment Faith made no effort to follow her, for she believed Angel to have lost her senses.
Why should she desire to run away with Kenneth Helm's private papers? Faith could even now hear Angel's cane tapping its way rapidly along the hall.
Then she ran to the door and stuck her head out, calling the other girl to return. She didn't quite dare follow her, for she had on only her night-dress and dressing gown and the servants or Governor Graham might probably see her.
For another half hour Faith had to remain in anger and suspense. Of course, she dressed as quickly as possible and went to Angel's room, but Angel was not there, neither could she be discovered in either of the children's nurseries or in any room on the ground floor.
At last in desperation Faith knocked on Mrs. Graham's sitting room door. It was Betty herself who answered the knock, although Faith caught a glimpse of Angelique Martins standing with the Governor under a rose-colored electric light and thought they both looked unusually cheerful.