“How do you again, sir,” said Tom, shaking hands. “I’ve come for my wife, but I thought I’d never get here.”
“Tom, dear, do sit down,” said Berty, eagerly, “and listen, or perhaps you can help me with my story. I was just at the most exciting part.”
Tom and Titus seated themselves side by side on the sofa, and Mrs. Everest continued.
CHAPTER XXIV
The Explanation Continued
“As I was saying when Titus left the room, this morning was the time fixed by the kidnapers for their grand stroke. You, in all ignorance of it, and we, too, for that matter, though we were all on the alert, watched little Bethany go to school. She was quietly and happily doing her tasks with the other children when at ten o’clock there was an arrival at her teacher’s front door.”
“I think you said that you took Mrs. Hume into your confidence,” remarked the Judge.
“Yes, sir, we did; therefore when her maid said that there was a carriage at the door and that a young woman wished to see her, Mrs. Hume went quickly to her little parlor. She said a respectably dressed young person stood there and said that you had sent her—”
“That I?” inquired the Judge.
“Yes, that you, Judge Sancroft, had requested her to call and get Bethany; that Mrs. Tingsby had been taken suddenly ill, and you had gone to her; that the doctor was afraid the poor woman would die, and she wished to see Bethany. The whole thing was quite natural. Under ordinary circumstances Mrs. Hume’s suspicions would not have been aroused. However, knowing what we had told her, she was on her guard. And then, of course, she did not know that the woman’s story was false. She asked whether it wasn’t quite a drive out there, and the young woman said yes, about five miles. She said she was a neighbor of Mrs. Tingsby’s, and would take good care of the little girl. Mrs. Hume said she would get Bethany ready, and she went away, leaving the young woman in the parlor. Now, we had had a telephone put into Mrs. Hume’s house in the attic, and hurrying up there she telephoned to you.”
“I remember,” said the Judge. “She telephoned this morning.”