he door, but when it had closed
behind her, she paused trembling as though suddenly bereft of her
strength.

In the silence, Angie's querulous tones rose sharply from the other side
of the door.

"I felt all along that something was wrong! I knew that wild uncouth
thing couldn't be a Murdaugh, in spite of the common mother----"

Willa put her hands to her ears and fled madly up the stairs to her room
where she sank limply upon the couch. Exhausted in mind and body with
the storm of emotion which had swayed her and the strain of the
protracted effort of self-control, she fell asleep at last with one
determination firmly fixed in her mind. The roof which had reluctantly
sheltered her should do so no longer.

She awakened in the early morning and lay for a moment in drowsy
bewilderment before full realization came. Then she sprang from her bed,
dressed hastily in her plainest clothes, and, packing a small bag with
necessities, stole softly down the stairs.

She shivered as she let herself out into the cold, bleak morning. As yet
no plan had formed in her mind save to find a temporary abode in some
quiet neighborhood until the search for Tia Juana was ended in some
conclusive fashion. That was still the first of the duties confronting
her and the change in her fortunes did not swerve her an iota from the
charge she had laid upon herself. Later there would be two points to be
achieved; the one which had actuated her from the beginning, and another
which was even now beating upon her consciousness.

When Dan Morrissey came whistling into the garage an hour later, he
stopped short in amazement at the sight of his employer seated just
inside the entrance with her bag at her feet.

"Good-morning, Dan. Is the car in order?"

"Yes, Miss. Good-morning." He stared blankly, and then with a start he
recovered himself. "Just a minute, Miss! I'll have her out in no time."

"I will wait for you at the Broadway corner. Bring my bag, please."

Willa had scarcely reached the appointed place, however, when Dan came
chugging up behind her and in a moment they were speeding away from the
vicinity of the garage.

"I have decided to leave home, Dan," she announced without preamble. "I
want to live quietly under cover until we have found Tia Juana and Jose.
It is important that none of the family nor their friends shall know
where I have gone. Do you know of any place where I can arrange to board
for a time? The more