"What is it?" cried Mrs. Morrell in apparent anxiety.
Without a word Nan extended the paper. Written in pencil were these words:
MADAM: Your husband has been injured in an attempt at arrest. He wants me to tell you he is at Jake's Place hurt bad. With respects. JOHN Q. ALDER.
For an instant Mrs. Morrell did not dare look up. She was thoroughly angry at what she thought to be her husband's stupidity.
"Why, that wouldn't deceive a child!" she thought contemptuously.
"How dreadful! Who is Alder?" she said, merely to say something.
Nan shook her head.
"I don't know," she replied rather wildly. "One of the Vigilantes, I suppose. I must go out there. At once!"
She ran to the hall where she began to rummage for cloaks. Mrs. Morrell followed her in wonderment. She was going to take this crude bait after all! Mrs. Morrell had not the slightest idea Nan still loved her husband.
"You can't go alone!" she cried in apparent sympathy. "You poor child!
Jake's Place—at this time of night!"