Curlie did not speak. He could not. He turned and walked slowly from the room.
He was hardly out of the door when he was confronted by an eager-faced young lady.
“If you please,” she said, “is Mr. Carson in there?”
“I am Curlie Carson.”
“Now what?” the boy thought to himself.
“I am Grace Palmer,” said the girl, “and I wanted so much to see you.”
Grace Palmer. Worse and worse. He had never heard of her. Here was fresh mystery.
Yet, if he had but known it, this sudden meeting was to figure largely in his destiny.
CHAPTER XIV
“THE VOICE”
In this life of ours, years become months, months become weeks, weeks narrow down to days, days dwindle to hours, hours to minutes; then the unexpected happens.