my, between mouthfuls.

"Oh, nothing--nothing--I wonder will they have the police?"

"Cops!" cried Jimmy, waking up for the first time to a genuine
interest in the family excitement. "Has any one gone off with the
spoons? It would be just my luck to have had a burglar in the house
last night and me never got a pop at him with my air-gun loaded and
close by the bed."

"It's no burglar," said the maid, with mystery in her tones.

"Not McGregor drunk!" shouted Jimmy, with a scream of delight. "That
would be too good a joke."

"McGregor drunk, indeed!" sniffed Maria, indignantly. "If every one as
came to this house was as good as McGregor, it would be a fine thing;
but when it comes to takin' in all sorts and making a Harbor of Refuge
out of a respectable home--I'm not surprised _whatever_ may happen."

"Oh, hold your tongue, Maria. Don't be a fool! Get me some more cakes,
while I go up and ask Fred what's the matter. It won't take _her_ half
an hour to get it out, I'll bet."

With this cheerful observation Jimmy vanished, and Maria disappeared
down the kitchen stairs, declaring that that boy was "a perfect
gintleman."

When Flint entered the Anstices' drawing-room a little later, Winifred
was standing by the window, and though she turned away quickly, it was
evident that she had been watching for him.

The thought thrilled him.

"What shall we do? Oh, what shall we do?" she broke out, as he came up
to her.

He took her hands; they were burning hot.

"First of all, I will tell you what _not_ to do," Flint answered. "You
are not to work yourself into a fever of distress over this
unfortunate business. The responsibility is not yours but mine, and
the burden of anxiety is to be mine and not yours."

"Oh, never mind me! What about Tilly Marsden? It is dreadful to think
of her wandering about this great city entirely alone--and she such a
simpleton. Of course, it's hopeless to try to find her. Papa says so."

"Not so hopeless as you think," said Flint, with a trifle more
assurance than he felt in his inmost heart. "New York stands for two
things to a girl like her,--the shops and the theatres,--her ideas of
the 'amusement' she speaks of in the note you sent me would be limited
to one of these. Now, as this is a holiday, none of the shops would
be open, and that limits it to the theatres. I shall have detectives
at the door of every theatre this afternoon."

"How clever you are," murmured Winifred, "how clever