"So there's the whole story in a nutshell," continued Lucy, after a minute; "I ain't got time to spin it out, for you and me, Miss Bonnibel, has to get away from here as quick as ever we can! Do you think you can climb down my ladder of rope?"
Bonnibel smiled at the anxious tone of the girl's question.
"Of course I can, Lucy," she said, confidently, "I wish there were nothing harder in life than that."
"Miss Bonnibel," said the girl, in a low voice, "we must be going in a minute or two, now. Can you get a dark suit to put on? And have you any money you can take with you? For it will take more money than I have in my purse, perhaps, to carry us home to New York."
"To New York—are we going back there?" faltered the listener.
"As fast as wind and water can carry us!" answered the girl. "You and me are needed there in a hurry, my darling mistress. At least you are, for I feel almost sure that a man's life is hanging on your evidence."
"Lucy, what can you mean?" exclaimed Bonnibel, in amazement.
"Ah! I see they have told you nothing!" answered Lucy.
Bonnibel caught her arm and looked anxiously into her face.
"No one has told me anything," she said. "What should they have told me?"