She smiled down at him. “Let’s leave it then that I am—wonderful. But suppose Mr. Towne doesn’t fall for your plan? Perhaps he won’t let her have the bag or a check-book or money or—anything——”
Jane saw then a sudden and passionate change in her brother. “If he doesn’t let her have it, I will. I may be poor but I’ll beg or borrow rather than have her brought back to face those—cats—until she wants to come.”
CHAPTER VIII
JANE AS DEPUTY
Frederick Towne never arrived in his office until ten o’clock. So Jane was ahead of him. She sat in a luxurious outer room, waiting.
To the right was a great open space—with desks boxed in by glass partitions. The wall paper was green, so that the people at the desks had the effect of fish in an aquarium. There was the constant staccato tap of typewriters, and now and then a girl got up, swam as it were, out of one of the glass boxes and into another.
The girls were most of them well dressed. Much better dressed than Jane who had on a cheap gray suit and a soft little hat of the same color. One of the girls, fair-haired and slender, was in the nearest glass box. She wore a black serge frock and a string of ivory beads. She looked to Jane much more distinguished than any of the others.
When Frederick came in he saw Jane at once, and held out his hand smiling. “You’ve heard from Edith?”
“Yes. Last night. Too late to let you know.”