could pour affection. Then she went to the telephone. She
called Dave's office; nothing was known of Mr. Elden; he had been
working there last night; he was not down yet. She called his
apartments; there was no answer. Then, with a bright thought, she
called the garage. Mr. Elden's car was out; had not been in at all
during the night. Then she tried a new number.

"Hello, is that the office of _The Call_? Will you let me speak to----"

Her mother interrupted almost frantically. "Irene, you are not going
to tell the papers? You mustn't do that. Think of what it means--the
disgrace--a shooting affair, almost, in our home. Think of me, your
mother----"

"I'll think of you on one consideration--that you explain what happened
last night, and tell me where Dave Elden is."

"I can't explain. I don't know. And I don't know----"

"And you don't want to know. And you don't care, so long as you can
keep it out of the papers. I do. I'm going to find out the facts
about this, if every paper in the country should print them. Hello?
Yes, I want to speak to Miss Morrison."

In a few words she explained Dave's sudden disappearance, stripping the
incident of all but vital facts. Bert Morrison was all sympathy.
"It's a big story, you know," she said, "but we won't think of it that
way. Not a line, so far as I am concerned. Edith Duncan is the girl
we need. A sort of adopted sister to Dave. She may know more than any
of us."

But Edith knew absolutely nothing; nothing, except that her own heart
was thrown into a turmoil of emotions. She spent the day and the
evening down town, rotating about the points where Dave might likely be
found. And the next morning she called on Irene Hardy.

In spite of all her efforts at self-control she trembled as she pressed
the bell; trembled violently as she waited for the door to open. She
had never met Irene Hardy; it was going to be a strange experience,
introducing herself to the woman who had been preferred over her, and
who had, apparently, proven so unworthy of that preference. She had
difficult things to say, and even while she said them she must fight a
battle to the death with the jealousy of her natural womanhood. And
she must be very, very careful that in saying things which were hard to
say she did not say hard things. And, most difficult of all, she must
try to pave the way to a reconciliation between Dave and the woman who
stood between her and happiness.