Sally's chuckling broke out afresh. "No, he's not, I'm afraid. Those displays of temper are not unusual. Now, Fox, come along."
Fox was a little surprised—just a little—to feel Sally's hand within his arm, but he did know better than to show his surprise, if there were some things that he didn't know. If he had only known, he—well—but Sally was speaking to him.
"Now, Fox," she was saying, "how in the world did you happen to turn up just at that moment? You were in the nick of time."
"Oh, I don't know about that. You would probably have left them. They were about all in, both of them. But I didn't happen to turn up. It wasn't any accident. I was looking for you."
Unconsciously, Sally tightened her hold upon his arm. "Oh," she murmured, "that was nice!"
"I only got here this afternoon," Fox continued, paying no obvious attention to her murmured remark, "and I went right to Mrs. Stump's. I found your mother a little upset and rather anxious, but I didn't succeed in finding out what it was about." He did not say—perhaps he did not know—how upset Mrs. Ladue had been. She had been torn by conflicting emotions, and she showed evidences of it. But there had been never a moment's hesitation about the course she would pursue. Only she had raised troubled, tearful eyes to Fox, and had said—but what Mrs. Ladue had said forms no part of this chronicle. Whatever she said, she did not tell him clearly of the rumors connecting Everett's name with Sally's. He would hear those rumors soon enough, if there was anything in them; if there was not, for that matter.
Sally had been thinking. "I am afraid," she said softly, "that it was about me. I hoped she was all over it when I left."
Fox turned his head and looked at her, but he did not reply to her remark directly. "She said that you had gone for a walk, but she didn't know where. I waited a long time, thinking you might come in. Your mother and I had a long talk."
Sally would have given a good deal to know what the long talk was about. "It—it isn't true, Fox," she began slowly.
"What! It is true, too. We talked for an hour and forty minutes, while I was waiting. I know."