“I surely am.”
“Want to see that she gets safely home?”
“I—I will.”
“And see here,” the officer turned a stern face on the others, “if you interfere with this child in the future, we’ve got enough on you to put you away. You ain’t fit to be no child’s parents. Far as I can tell, this here old man is. This case, for the present, is settled out of court. See!”
He motioned to his subordinates. They stood at attention until Lucile and the child passed out, then followed.
The sergeant saw the girl and the child safely on the elevated platform, then, tipping his hat, mumbled:
“Good luck and thank y’ miss. I’ve got two of ’em myself. An’ if anything ever happened to me, I’d like nothin’ better’n to have you take an interest in ’em.”
Something rose up in Lucile’s throat and choked her. She could only nod her thanks. The next instant they went rattling away, bound for the mystery cottage on Tyler street.
For once Lucile felt richly repaid for all the doubt, perplexity and sleepless hours she had gone through.
“It’s all very strange and mysterious,” she told herself, “but somehow, sometime, it will all come out right.”