t was the 'errand' you went upon
yesterday morning in Paris. Wasn't it?"

She was very much taken aback. She has told me since that she had no
idea I suspected the truth.

"Wasn't it?" I repeated.

"Why--why, yes, it was, Hosy. I did go to see him, there at his hotel.
When you told me how he acted and what he said to you I thought 'twas
awfully funny, and the more I thought it over the funnier it seemed. So
I made up my mind to see him and talk with him myself. And I did."

"What did he tell you?" I asked.

"He told me--he told me--Well, he didn't tell me so much, maybe, but he
gave me to understand a whole lot. She's gone to those Crippses, Hosy,
just as I suspicioned, not because she likes 'em--she hates 'em--or
because she wanted to go, but because she thought 'twould please us if
she did. It doesn't please us; it doesn't please me, anyway. She sha'n't
be miserable for our sake, not without a word from us. No, we must go
there and see her and--and tell her once more just how we feel about it.
It's our duty to go and we must. And," with decision, "we're goin' now."

She had poured out this explanation breathlessly, hurrying as if fearful
that I might interrupt and ask more questions. I asked one of them the
moment she paused.

"We knew all that before," I said. "That is, we were practically sure
she had left Paris to get rid of us and had gone to her cousins, the
Crippses, because of her half-promise to me not to sing at places like
the Abbey again. We knew all that. And she asked me to promise that we
would not follow her. I didn't promise, but that makes no difference.
Was that all Bayliss told you?"

Hephzy was still embarrassed and confused, though she answered promptly
enough.

"He told me he knew she didn't want to go to--to those Leatherheaded
folks," she declared. "We guessed she didn't, but we didn't know it for
sure. And he said we ought to go to her. He said that."

"But why did he say it? Our going will not alter her determination to
stay and our seeing her again will only make it harder for her."

"No, it won't--no it won't," hastily. "Besides I want to see that Cripps
man and have a talk with him, myself. I want to know why a man like
him--I'm pretty well along in years; I've met folks and bargained and
dealt with 'em all my grown-up life and I KNOW he isn't the kind to do
things for nothin' for ANYBODY--I want to know why he and his wife are
so generous to her. There's somethin' behind it."