would run to tell some one all about it!

Patricia had noticed Nancy's cheeks when they suddenly went white, she
had seen the look of fear in her eyes, and she was wild with curiosity
to know what it meant.

When they had started out Nancy had thought that the ride could not last
too long, but the sight of the tall, dark man at the edge of the forest
had changed all that, and when Marcus drove in at the gateway of
Glenmore, and drew up at the steps, Nancy was the first to spring out.
Without stopping in the hall to talk over the ride with the others who
had enjoyed it, she bounded up the stairs, and soon was in her room.

Vera stopped Dorothy to ask if Nancy was ill.

"No, oh, no!" Dorothy answered, as she followed Nancy up the stairway.

Vera's question, and Dorothy's hasty reply reached Patricia's ears.

"I'd like to know what it's all about," she whispered, "and I mean to
find out, no matter how long it takes me."

It was strange how eagerly interested Patricia always was in anything
that did not concern her. She did not know that a newsmonger is never
respected, nor did she know that no girl whose nature was refined would
care to know other people's business. Nothing so delighted Patricia, as
a bit of news that she could, by hook or crook obtain, and the added joy
of running off to repeat it, especially if she knew it should not be
repeated, was greater than she could have described.

Dorothy, when she reached their room, found Nancy sitting upon a low
stool, her hands loosely clasped, her eyes downcast as if studying the
pattern of the rug.

Dorothy closed the door, and then, tossing her wraps upon the couch,
sat down, Turkish fashion, on the rug beside her.

"Now, Nancy," she said, "you're not to let that man you saw this
afternoon make you so uneasy. It couldn't have been Professor Bonfanti
who taught you to dance, and was so harsh with you. Why should he be out
here, walking through the woods at Glenmore? And even if really it had
been Bonfanti, why would you be so frightened? It was your old uncle who
stole you from us, and made you dance at the theaters to earn money for
him. Bonfanti just taught you because your old Uncle Steve hired him
to."

"But Dorothy, you don't know how often he said, while he was training
me: 'Oh, if I had you in my hands, I could make you earn twice as much
as Ferris does!'

"When he said that he would look as eager as if he really _saw_ the
heaps of money that he though