old
you, and I noticed her stop and thought she had a good head to wait a
second instead of running in before me, and there came those two girls
right under the car from the other side. I only had a glimpse of her as
she stooped for the flowers. I saw a big braid of hair, but I was half a
block away before I got it all connected, and then came the crush in the
street, and I was blocked."

The doctor broke down and wiped his face and expressed his feelings
unrestrainedly.

"Don't!" said the Harvester patiently. "It's no use to feel so badly,
Doc. I know what you would give to have found her for me. I know you did
all you could. I let her escape me. We will find her yet. It's glorious
news that she's in the city. It gives me heart to hear that. Can't you
just remember if she seemed ill?"

The doctor meditated.

"She wasn't the tallest girl I ever saw," he said slowly, "but she was
the tallest girl to be pretty. She had on a white waist and a gray skirt
and black hat. Her eyes and hair were like you said, and she was plain,
white faced, with a hue that might possibly be natural, and it might be
confinement in bad light and air and poor food. She didn't seem sick,
but she isn't well. There is something the matter with her, but it's not
immediate or dangerous. She appeared like a flower that had got a little
moisture and sprouted in a cellar."

"You saw her all right!" said the Harvester, "and I think your diagnosis
is correct too. That's the way she seemed to me. I've thought she needed
sun and air. I told the South Wind so the other day."

"Why you blame fool!" cried the doctor. "Is this thing going to your
head? Say, I forgot! There is something else. I traced her in the store.
She was at the embroidery counter and she bought some silk. If she ever
comes again the clerk is going to hold her and telephone me or get her
address if she has to steal it. Oh, we are getting there! We will have
her pretty soon now. You ought to feel better just to know that she is
in town and that I've seen her."

"I do!" said the Harvester. "Indeed I do!"

"It can't be much longer," said the doctor. "She's got to be located
soon. But those policemen! I wouldn't give a nickel for the lot! I'll
bet she's walked over them for two weeks. If I were you I'd discharge
the bunch. They'd be peacefully asleep if she passed them. If they'd let
me alone, I'd have had her. I could have turned around easily. I've been
in dozens of closer places."