"
"What 'Bert'?" asked the little woman quickly.
"Why, did I say Bert?" said John, with a guilty look. "I meant Haines,
of course, you know--Haines and Josie.--And did they really elope?"
"That's the report," answered the little woman, as though deliberating
some important evidence; "and they say, too, that the plot of the
runaway was quite ingenious. It seems the young lovers were assisted
in their flight by some old fellow--friend of the young man's--Why,
Mr. McKinney, you _are_ ill, surely?"
John's face was ashen.
"No--no!" he gasped, painfully: "Go on--go on! Tell me more about
the--the--the old fellow--the old reprobate! And is he still at
large?"
"Yes," said the little womon, anxiously regarding the strange demeanor
of her companion. "They say, though, that the law can do nothing with
him, and that this fact only intensifies the agony of the
broken-hearted parents--for it seems they have, till now, regarded him
both as a gentleman and family friend in whom"--
"I really am ill," moaned John, waveringly rising to his feet; "but I
beg you not to be alarmed. Tell your little boy to come to my room,
where I will retire at once, if you'll excuse me, and send for my
physician.
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