As Florence finished her story; as she spoke of seeing her double talking with the broad shouldered man of the seaman-like bearing, Lucile suddenly leaned forward to exclaim:
“Florence, that man must have been our bundle carrier, James. He has told Cordie of his trips upon the sea. There could scarcely be two such men in one store.”
“It might be true,” smiled Florence, “but don’t forget there are two such persons as I am in this store. You never can tell. I’d as soon believe he was the same man. Wouldn’t it be thrilling if he should turn out to be a friend of my double’s and we should get all mixed up in some sort of affair just because I look exactly like her. Oh, Lucile!” she whispered excitedly, “the day isn’t done yet!” And indeed it was not.
“And this man who followed you after you had bought the bag,” said Lucile thoughtfully. “He sounds an awful lot like the one who tried to carry Cordie away. Do you suppose——”
“Now you’re dreaming,” laughed Florence as she reached for her check, then hurried away to her work.
CHAPTER XVII
AN ICY PLUNGE
Florence’s opportunity for following her surprising double came sooner than she expected; that very evening, in fact. She had quit work at the regular time, had donned hat and coat, had gone to the checking room to retrieve her Christmas bag. She was just leaving by a side door when, ahead of her in the throng, she caught a glimpse of that splendid cross fox which her double had insisted on her wearing the day before.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Here’s where I solve a mystery.”
Without a thought of what it might lead to, she followed the girl to a surface car and boarded it just behind her. At Grand Avenue the girl got off and Florence followed her again, boarded an eastbound car and, almost before she knew it, found herself following the girl through a blinding swirl of snow that swept in from the lake.
The street the girl had taken was covered with untrodden snow. It led to the Municipal Pier, the great city pier that like some great black pointing finger of destiny reached a full half mile out into the white ice-bound lake.