noticed she grew suddenly quite pale, and seemed troubled and
anxious. Waste no time! Go at once!"

The only answer was a sharp click over the wire, as Mrs. Slawson snapped
the receiver into its crotch.

But though Claire was not five minutes in advance of her, Martha was
unable to make up the distance between them, and by the time she had
mounted the stairs leading to the Elevated, and stood panting for breath
on the platform, the train she had hoped to catch was to be seen
disappearing around the curve at Fifty-third Street.

All the way uptown she speculated as to the why and wherefore of Mr.
Ronald's immediate concern about Claire.

"It's kinder previous, his gettin' so stirred up over her at this stage
o' the game," she pondered. "It ain't natural, or it ain't lucky. I'd
much liefer have it go slower, an' be more thora. A thing like this
affair I'm tryin' to menoover, is like some o' the things you cook. You
want to leave 'em get good an' het-up before the stirrin' begins. If
they're stirred up too soon, they're ap' to cruddle on you, an' never
get that nice, smooth, thick, _gooey_ look you like to see in rich
custuds, same as love-affairs. I hope she didn't go an' have a scare on,
an' give 'em to think she ain't healthy. She's as sound as a nut, but if
Mis' Sherman once is fixed with the notion she's subjeck to
faint-spells, nothin' on earth will change her mind, an' then it'll be
nit, not, nohow for Martha's little scheme. I must caution Miss Claire
about showin' the white feather. No matter how weak-kneed she feels,
she's just _got_ to buck up an' ack like she's a soldier. That's how--"

Martha had reached her own street, and was turning the corner, when she
stopped with a sensation as of a quick, fierce clutching at her heart.
Evidently there had been some sort of accident, for a great crowd was
gathered on the sidewalk, and beside the gutter-curbstone, just ahead of
her, stood waiting an ambulance. Her healthy, normal mind did not easily
jump at tragic conclusions. She did not, as a general thing, fear the
worst, did not even accept it when it came, but now, somehow, a close
association of ideas suggested Claire in an instant, and before ever she
had stirred a step, she saw in her mind's eye the delicate little form
she loved, lying injured, maybe mangled, stretched out upon the asphalt,
in the midst of the curious throng.

She hurried, hurried faster than any of the others who were also
hurrying, and p