Officer 666 Part 18

"I am sure to see him before I leave," responded the young man.

"And would you be kind enough to give him a message for me?"

She had gathered up her fur piece and m.u.f.f and was moving toward the door.

"Delighted," said Barnes, with a deferential bow.

"Thank you so much. I want you to tell him that I cannot avoid the opera to-night--that I have simply got to go, but that I'll get away as soon as I can and come to him directly from there."

"But you can't do that," interposed Sadie in a voice that thrilled with alarm.

"But I am going to do that," cried Helen, her face aflame and her head held high. "And now we must go--I'd no idea we'd stayed so long.

Good-by and thank you."

She had taken a step toward the entrance to the hallway when Gladwin strode forward.

"You didn't say good-by to me," he said in an injured tone. Then with a sudden vehemence: "But I am glad you didn't, for we are going to meet again."

"I suppose we shall if you are here when I return," she said coldly and without looking at him.

"When you return?" he said, in quick surprise.

"Yes, when I come back here to-night," in the same disdainful, snubbing tones.

"You're going to meet Travers here to-night?" he queried, in palpable unbelief.

"Yes, I am. He wanted me to meet him at the station, but I insisted on coming here."

"And what time was it Travers wanted you to meet him here? I'd almost forgotten."

"At half-past ten," answered Helen, taken off her guard and submitting unconsciously to his cross-examination.

"Oh, yes, at half-past ten," he repeated. "That's right."

"But you," pointedly addressing Barnes, "must tell him I may be late."

"I will," acquiesced Barnes, a trifle bewildered.

"I hope you will be very late," cut in Gladwin.

"What do you mean?" she caught him up.

"I mean you have no idea what a mad thing you are going to do."

"Please"----she began icily.

"Don't be angry," he pleaded. "I'm saying this for your good."

"I don't care to hear it."

"But you've got to hear it," he cried. "To leave your aunt and run off with a man you hardly know--why you must be mad even to think of it."

"How dare you speak to me in this way?"

If ever a young lady's fur was up, as the saying is, such was the case with the enraged Helen Burton. If her eyes had been weapons to slay, Travers Gladwin would have been annihilated at a glance. But he stuck doggedly to his guns.

"Well, somebody ought to speak to you," he ran on. "Can't you understand that this man is no good--that he must be a scoundrel to ask you to do such a thing, that"----

"Stop! I forbid you to say any more--to say such horrible, cowardly things about him behind his back. You, who claimed to be his dearest friend."

Her anger was suddenly checked by a thought that flashed in her mind.

"Only a few minutes ago you said you were glad I was going to marry Mr. Gladwin, and that you would do everything in your power to help."

"And I jolly well meant it," he acquiesced, with a low bow.

"You meant it! Then how could you--oh," and she started suddenly from him, "why didn't I see it before? _You've been drinking._ Come, Sadie."

Barnes turned away with an uncontrollable snicker. Gladwin was stunned. As he saw her leaving him he made a last desperate effort:

"But just a moment. Please allow me to explain. I said I wanted you to marry Travers Gladwin, because I am"----

"I don't care why you said it," she flung at him, "because I don't think you know what you are saying."

She fairly sailed through the portieres, leaving the young man staring after her in a state of utter mental collapse.

The little cousin had listened to this impa.s.sioned dialogue in the att.i.tude of a frightened bird, standing first on one foot and then on the other, struggling with all her small nervous force to hold back the tears. As Helen disappeared, a sob escaped her and she ran forward. Barnes started after her.

"Oh, Miss Sadie--just one word!"

"Oh, don't--please don't!" she wailed over her shoulder.

"But won't you let me call on you--just once?" he pleaded, in real distress.

Sadie stopped, gave him one frightened glance, smiled through her tears and burst out:

"I shall be delighted."

Then she was gone and a moment later the door slammed.

CHAPTER XX.

MICHAEL PHELAN TO THE RESCUE.