"Suicide? Nothing of the kind," said Mrs. Wilde. "Jane is eccentric, as every thoroughly truthful woman is. But sane. One of the sanest people I know."
She summoned Betty, and the two women were closeted together for half an hour.
"You should have sent for me," she said when the story was ended. "The child should not have been left to the tender mercies of these men. Call him in."
When Van Ness appeared he saw that the old lady's eyes were red.
"You are going in pursuit of her? Mrs. Nichols has told me all," she said blandly.
"I shall search for her, undoubtedly. Her mind was evidently shaken. There is a bare chance that she may have gone on the train. But the river being so near and her grief so great, I fear the worst, Mrs. Wilde."
"No doubt, no doubt! But if you do follow her on the train—How was she dressed, Betty?"
"In gray. Black hat and gray feather," said Betty like a parrot.
"Thank you! That will be of assistance to me.—They are trying to help her escape," he thought as he went out, with a bow and melancholy smile. He had waited to talk with Mr. Lampret. He asked him for a certificate of the marriage.
"If my wife is living and wandering insane through the country, it will be necessary to prove my right to claim her."