for her to speak. He noticed that she had not dismissed the cab
that waited at the curb.

"Can you come with me immediately?" she asked, quickly. "I want you to
see Consuello, tonight."

"Did she send you for me?" he entreated.

"No, but I know that she wants you," she replied.

"Are you sure?" he persisted.

"Don't be a foolish boy," she said, with a gesture of impatience. "No
one in the world knows Consuello as well as I do. I am doing this for
her. Do you think for a moment that I would be here if I wasn't certain
I was doing the proper thing?"

"I know she trusts you," he said, reassured by her mild vexation.

"Hurry, then; I'll explain things while we're on our way. I'll wait for
you in the cab," she said.

Mrs. Sprockett's husband answered the door when he crossed the street to
the Sprockett home to tell his mother he had been called away.

"Tell mother that I'm going to see a friend and that I'll be home before
it is late," he said. "Tell her there's no need to worry about me."

"Just a minute and I'll call her," Mrs. Sprockett's husband suggested.

"No, just give her my message," he said, apprehensive of the probable
consequences of telling his mother that it was Consuello he was going to
meet.

As the cab started away from the curb he turned to Betty with the
question that, in his mind, had been begging for an answer from the
moment he recognized her.

"How is she?" he asked, his voice betraying his anxiety.

"She is very brave," Betty said, earnestly.

"Perhaps I should not ask you this, but has she seen--Gibson?" So much,
he felt, depended on her reply to this question. If Consuello had
already talked with Gibson and Betty divined that she wanted to see him,
then----

"Perhaps I should not tell you, but--she has talked to him. That's as
much as I will tell you. The rest must come from her," Betty replied.

She had talked with Gibson and yet she wanted to see him! Or, could
Betty be mistaken? Had she interpreted Consuello's mood erroneously in
coming for him?

"Forgive me for my doubtfulness," he said, "but are you certain that she
wants to see me?"

A shade of exasperation crossed Betty's face.

"You said a moment ago that you knew Consuello trusted me," she said.
"If she trusts me, then why can't you?"

Reassured by this pertinent counter question he deduced that Betty, with
the welfare of Consuello at heart, had concluded that he might be able
to furnish the solace her companion n