Just beyond the path that led off from the road stood a carriage with two showy young women in it talking with a young man who had apparently just met them as Marion came in sight. There was something odd about their appearance, and the girl had curiosity enough to watch them for a moment as she stood sheltered behind a screen of wild grape-vine that almost hid the entrance to the path. The party were whispering, so there was nothing for her to hear even had she been nearer; but their presence in that quiet place seemed strange.
In a moment the women jumped out of the carriage and the young man took a seat in it, saying in a raised voice, probably for the driver’s benefit:
“Well, don’t stay long with your old friend, or you’ll miss the 1:15 train, and there’s no other till 6:35. We’ll drive around a while and be waiting for you here. Now, look sharp and keep your wits about you.”
Perhaps they were going to see the servants at Mrs. Abbott’s, Marion thought, as she walked on, feeling troubled she hardly knew why; but if so, why not have driven around to the front gate, from which the kitchen was reached by a side path; but, after all, it was none of her business, she told herself as she trudged along.
There was not much delay at the bank, and Marion, feeling rather important, and somewhat anxious about the safety of the roll of bills, started for home. It would be so terrible to have any thing happen to such a lot of money that she hardly knew what to do with it. Mrs. Abbott had given her an old purse to put it in, but she thought as she went along of all the stories she had heard of highway robbery, so she took it out of her purse and tucked it into the bosom of her dress. After a few minutes the dread came that some tramp might demand her money or her life, and then there’d be a scuffle, and in the scuffle her dress might be torn to pieces and the bills fall out; so back into her pocket they went, then into her dress waist again. Then an inspiration seized her and she divided the bundle of bills, of which there were six fives and two tens, and wound them around each ankle under her stockings. There they seemed quite safely concealed even if they detracted from the symmetry of the ankles, and Marion walked comfortably on with the empty purse held conspicuously in her hand, having a little plan in her mind of flinging it far from her in the event of an attack from highway robbers, and, while they were dashing after it, taking to her heels and escaping with her stocking-protected treasure.
There never had been a highway robbery in the neighborhood, but a course of promiscuous reading had given Marion a realization that such things could happen, and she went on with almost an expectation of some adventure.
As she neared the point where the path struck into the carriage road she heard a sound of rapid wheels, and, running to the vine-covered tree and peering through the leaves, she saw, as she thought probable, the carriage she had seen as she went upon her errand. The driver was not there, but the young man who promised to wait for the women sat upon the front seat and was urging the horses to their utmost speed. One of the women was by his side; the other sat upon the back seat with a child in her arms.
It was Elfie!
How she could have recognized her in that one quick glance through the leaves Marion could not have told, but she was sure of it. It flashed upon her then that these people must have been employed to steal her, and now they had succeeded!
Where were they going? To the station to catch the 1:15 express. Perhaps she could get there in time to stop them; any body would assist her, for Mrs. Abbott was well known.