"It is all right, sir," said the officer, at last convinced that he had made a mistake, for Allandale & Capen had been a well-known firm to him. "You can go on," he added, touching his hat respectfully, "and I beg pardon for troubling you."
Without more ado he turned away, while Edith and her escort passed on, but the frightened girl was now trembling in every limb.
"Calm yourself, dear," whispered her companion, involuntarily using the affectionate term, as he hastened to lead her into the fresh air. "You are safe, and I will soon have you in a place where your enemies will never think of looking for you."
He beckoned to the driver of a carriage as he spoke, and in another minute was assisting Edith into it; then, taking a seat beside her, he gave the man his order, and as the vehicle moved away in the darkness, the poor girl began to breathe freely for the first time since alighting from the train.
Mr. Bryant gave her a little time to recover herself, and then asked her to tell him all her trouble.
This she was only too glad to do; and, beginning with the death of her mother, she poured out the whole story of the last three months to him, dwelling mostly, however, upon the persecutions of Emil Correlli and the climax to which they had recently attained.
He listened attentively throughout, but interrupting her, now and then, to ask a pertinent question as it occurred to him.
"I was in despair," Edith finally remarked in conclusion, "until yesterday, when, by the merest chance, my eye fell upon that advertisement of yours and it flashed upon me that the best course for me to pursue would be to come directly to New York and seek your aid; I felt sure you would be as willing to help me as upon a previous occasion."
"Certainly I would—you judged me rightly," the young man responded, "but"—bending nearer to her and speaking in a slightly reproachful tone—"tell me, please, what was your object in leaving New York so unceremoniously?"
He felt the slight shock which went quivering through her at the question, and smiled to himself at her hesitation before she replied: