owed his advice, and wanted
his good opinion? Why had she looked at him the way she had the day of
Miss Enid's wedding, and said she remembered her dances with him better
than those with anybody else? In bitterness of spirit he went over all
the treasured words and glances he had hoarded since the day he met her.
He didn't believe she loved Harold Phipps! She didn't love anybody--yet.
But, in her mad desire to escape from home, she had taken the first means
that presented itself. She had stepped into a trap, from which he was
powerless to rescue her.

In a sudden anguish of despair he flung himself face downward on the
steps and gave way to his anguish. There was no one to see and no one to
hear. All the doubts and discouragements, the humiliations and
disappointments, through which he had passed to win her, came back to
mock him, now he had lost her. The world had suddenly become an
intolerable vacuum in which he gasped frantically for breath.

What was the use in going on? Why not put an end to everything? He could
make it appear an accident. Nobody would be the wiser. The temptation was
growing stronger every second, when he suddenly remembered Miss Isobel.

"I forgot she was waiting," he muttered, stumbling into the sitting-room
and fumbling for the telephone. "Miss Nell said I was to keep her from
being anxious--she wanted me to comfort her. But what in hell can I say!"

CHAPTER 25

At nine-thirty Edwin came in and passed up the creaking stairs. Ten
minutes later Cass limped by the door, stopping a moment in the pantry to
get a bite to eat. Quin sat motionless in the dark sitting-room and made
no sign. He was waiting for Rose, with a dumb dependence the strongest
man feels for the understanding feminine in times of crisis.

When he heard her cheerful voice calling good night to Fan Loomis, the
clock was just striking ten.

"Quin! What is it?" she cried in alarm the moment she saw his face. "Is
anybody dead?"

"Worse! She's run away to get married!"

"Not Myrna?"

"No. Miss Nell. She left to-night for Chicago to marry Phipps!"

"But she can't!" cried Rose wildly. "It's got to be stopped. He's not fit
to marry anybody! We've got to stop her!"

"I tell you, it's too late! She left on the eight-o'clock train."

"Who said so? Are you sure? Do the Bartletts know?"

"Nobody knows but you and me; nobody must know--yet. Maybe she'll change
her mind."

"But the Bartlett