“Well,” said Florence, after a moment’s thought, “I’ll go, but if it’s another frightful robbery, if she’s going to break in somewhere and carry away some book worth thousands of dollars, I’m not in on it. I—I’ll drag her to the nearest police station and our fine little mystery will end right there.”
“Oh, I don’t think it can be anything like that,” said Lucile sleepily. “Anyway, we can only wait and see.”
With that she turned her right cheek over on the pillow and was instantly fast asleep.
CHAPTER XV
A STRANGE JOURNEY
The hours of the following day dragged as if on leaden wings. With nerves worn to single strands, Lucile was now literally living on excitement. The fact that she was to go with the mystery child on a night’s trip which held promise of excitement and possible adventure in it, went far toward keeping her eyes open and on their task, but for all this, the hours dragged.
At the library she was startled to note the worn and haggard look on Harry Brock’s face. She wanted to ask him the cause of it and to offer sympathy, but he appeared to actually avoid her. Whenever she found some excuse to move in his direction, he at once found one for moving away to another corner of the library.
“Whatever can be the matter with him?” she asked herself. “I wonder if I could have offended him in any way. I should hate to lose his friendship.”
Night came at last and with it the elevated station and Tyler street.
With her usual promptness, the child led them to a surface car. They rode across the city. From the car they hurried to an inter-urban depot of a steam line.
“So it’s to be out of the city,” Florence whispered to Lucile. “I hadn’t counted on that. It may be more than we bargained for.”