his, now that Harwood was fully armed to protect her.

"Keep after Ramsay by telephone until you find him. Tell him to come
here and wait for me if it's all day. If you fail to catch him by
telephone, go out and look for him and bring him here."

In a moment he was hurrying toward Mrs. Owen's.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE MAN OF SHADOWS

The dome was a great blot against the stars when, shortly after eight
o'clock that evening, Sylvia entered the capitol.

All night, in the room she had occupied on that far day of her first
visit to Mrs. Owen, Sylvia had pondered. It is not for us to know what
passed in that still chamber between her and her friend; but it was the
way of both women to meet the truth squarely. They discussed facts
impersonally, dispassionately, and what Sylvia had assumed, her old
friend could not controvert. Not what others had done, not what others
might do, but what course Sylvia should follow--this was the crux of the
situation.

"I must think it out; I must think it out," Sylvia kept repeating. At
last Mrs. Owen left her lying dressed on the bed, and all night Sylvia
lay there in the dark. Toward morning she had slept, and later when Mrs.
Owen carried up her breakfast she did not refer to her trouble except to
ask whether there was any news. Mrs. Owen understood and replied that
there was nothing. Sylvia merely answered and said: "Then there is still
time." What she meant by this her kind old friend did not know; but she
had faith in her Sylvia. Dan came, but he saw Mrs. Owen only. Later
Sylvia asked what he had said, and she merely nodded when Rose's story
was repeated. Again she said: "Yes; there is still time."

Sylvia had kept her room all day, and Mrs. Owen had rigidly respected
her wish to be alone. She voluntarily appeared at the evening meal and
talked of irrelevant things: of her school work, of the sale of the
house at Montgomery, of the projected school at Waupegan.

"I'm going out for a while," she said, after an hour in the little
office. "I shan't be gone long, Aunt Sally; don't trouble about me. I
have my key, you know."

When she had gone, Mrs. Owen called one of the colored men from the
stable and gave him a line to Harwood, with a list of places where Dan
might be found. Her message was contained in a single line:--

"Sylvia has left the house. Keep an eye out for her; she told me
nothing."

Sylvia found consolation and courage in the cold night air; her old