"Helen Redmond."
For a moment Miss Herrick scarcely knew what to do. She glanced helplessly at the window from which a few minutes before she had seen Elizabeth drive away. Then she looked at the clock. There was a good half-hour yet before the train would start.
"What is the matter, Caroline? Do tell me what is in the telegram, instead of keeping me in suspense," exclaimed Miss Rebecca.
Her sister thrust it toward her without a word, and left the room. She was dressed for the street, for she had intended to go out as soon as the carriage should return from taking Elizabeth to the station. She went out of the house, and her acquaintances would have been greatly startled had they seen the stately Miss Herrick almost run to Walnut Street, and with ungloved hand signal to a trolley-car to stop for her. It was rarely that Miss Herrick condescended to set foot in any conveyance but her own carriage.
She was quite breathless when she reached the station and mounted the stairs. She looked for the gate through which the passengers were crowding to the southern train.
"Your ticket, madam?" said the gate-keeper.
"Oh, I have none! I am not going anywhere. I must get my niece. Scarlet fever!"
And before he could stop her, Miss Herrick had pushed through and was running down the long platform.
Elizabeth, sitting forlornly in her place in the parlor-car, with the back of Miss Rice's austere-looking bonnet in front of her, and her mind filled with the dread of Virginia, was astonished to see her aunt suddenly appear at her side and grasp her hand.
"Come quickly, Elizabeth! You are not to go, after all. Come, before the train starts."