“But,” continued Katie in the same anxious way as before, “it will not surely be a breach of confidence merely to tell me if the boy was a small, active, good-looking little fellow, with bright eyes and curly hair.”
“I am bound to admit,” said Queeker, “that your description is correct.”
To the amazement, not to say consternation, of every one, Katie covered her face with her hands and burst into tears, exclaiming in an agony of distress that she knew it; she had feared it after sending him away; that she had ruined him, and that it was too late now to do anything.
“No, not too late, perhaps,” she repeated, suddenly raising her large beautiful eyes, which swam in tears; “oh papa, come with me up-stairs, I must speak with you alone at once.”
She seized her astonished father by the hand and led him unresisting from the room.
Having hurriedly related all she knew about Billy Towler, Morley Jones, and Nora, she looked up in his face and demanded to know what was to be done.
“Done, my dear child,” he replied, looking perplexed, “we must go at once and see how much can be undone. You tell me you have Nora’s address. Well, we’ll go there at once.”
“But—but,” said Katie, “Nora does not know the full extent of her father’s wickedness, and we want to keep it from her if possible.”
“A very proper desire to spare her pain, Katie, but in the circumstances we cannot help ourselves; we must do what we can to frustrate this man’s designs and save the boy.”
So saying Mr Durant descended to the dining-room. He explained that some suspicious facts had come to his daughter’s knowledge which necessitated instant action; said that he was sorry Mr Queeker felt it incumbent on him to maintain secrecy in regard to his mission, but that he could not think of pressing him to act in opposition to his convictions, and, dismissing his guests with many apologies, went out with Katie in search of the abode of Nora Jones.