Part 47 (1/2)

”Oh, Sue! Sue!” The girl clung to her. ”Don't think too badly of me.

It came out last night--when Alan and I were talking. I told him I didn't love Wallace the way I should--oh, Sue, _you_ know I never have--and that it was because I loved someone else. And, oh, he grew so--so white--he was so hurt--and I told him--I had to. It just poured out of my soul, Sue. It had been kept in so long.”

”You darling girl!” They clung to each other, murmuring.

”Now you know why I was so--so broken up yesterday,” explained Farvel.

”It wasn't--Laura. It was Hattie.”

”Oh, we've cared for each other from the first!” confessed Hattie.

”And we've settled how it is all going to be. I'll stay in New York, where we can be near each other, and see each other now and then--oh, we shall be only friends, Sue. But I'd rather have his friends.h.i.+p than the love of any other man I've ever known. And we'll be patient. And if we can't ever be more than friends, we'll be glad just for that.

See how happy you've been, Sue, with no one--all these years. And here I shall have Alan.”

”Ah, my dear girl!” exclaimed Sue. She stroked the bright hair. ”Ah, my dear girl!”

”Oh, Sue, you mean you haven't been happy? Why don't you marry?”

Sue laughed. ”_I_? What an idea! Why, I don't think I've ever even had the thought. Anyhow, the years have gone--the inclination is gone, if it ever was there. I'm too old.” Then with sudden and pa.s.sionate earnestness, ”But you two.” She rose and took each by a hand, and led them to the dial. ”Read! Read what is written in the stone!--_Tempus Fugit_--time flies! Oh, take your happiness while you can! Don't wait. Oh, don't!--We must find a way somehow. The Church--we must see the proper authorities--oh, it isn't right that you two should be punished----”

”Momsey!” Peter, the pale, was calling from the drawing-room door.

”There's a gentleman----”

A man appeared behind the boy, and pushed past into the Close--a young man, unshaven and haggard, with bloodshot eyes.

”Is there something I can do for you?” asked Farvel, quickly. He hastened toward the visitor, who looked as if he had suddenly gone mad.

”Hull is my name,” announced the man; ”--Felix Hull.”

”Oh, yes,” said Sue, eagerly. She signed to Hattie to go, and the girl hastened away through the door under the wedding-bell.

”You have news?” questioned Farvel.

Hull crossed the lawn to the dial. He walked slowly, like an old man.

And his shoulders were bent. His derby hat was off, and he clutched it in two shaking hands.

”Tell us,” bade Sue. ”It's--bad news?”

”Yes.”

”Take your time,” she added kindly.

”Yesterday--just before you saw her--I was there. She was--well, you know. She begged me to go--and keep away from the house. That made me suspicious. I told her I wouldn't come back. Well, I didn't. Because I never left. I knew she wasn't telling me the truth--I beg your pardon, sir.--So I hung around. I saw you all go in. After a little, I saw her come out--on the run. I followed. She went about twenty blocks----”

”Where?”

”You're Miss Milo, aren't you?”

”Susan Milo.”

”She spoke of you--oh, so--so loving. Well, it was a girl's club--called the Gramercy. I knew it well because we'd met there many a time. I went in. There was a new maid on hand, but I saw Clare.