"Ah, that"s it," he responded. "I"m on guard--keeping watch!"
"I knew it! I knew it!" and the shrill voice rose to a plangent pitch again. "You have hidden her away. Helen! Helen!"
"Now, now, now--my dear lady," broke in Barnes, soothingly.
"I"m not your dear lady," she flashed on him.
"My dear auntie"--Mrs. Burton"s hysteria was becoming contagious--"I beg your pardon," he added hastily, "your niece, Miss Helen, is not here. I"ve been watching for hours, and she"s not here--no one is here."
"That shirt-sleeved man is here--and you"re here!"
"But, auntie, he"s a friend of Mr. Gladwin"s," interposed Sadie.
"Ah, ha! I knew it!" screamed Mrs. Burton. "He"s in the plot." And again she plunged for him, crying, "You"re his friend--you"re helping him to steal my niece. But you shan"t--I"ll prevent it--I"ll search the house. Come, Sadie!"
Barnes dodged skilfully and permitted Mrs. Burton to pa.s.s out into the hallway. Sadie was about to follow when the young man stopped her.
"But I must go with auntie," Sadie objected.
"Never mind auntie now. I want to tell you about your cousin."
"Then you"ve seen her?"
"No."
"But you know where she is?"
"No."
"Then what can you tell me about her?"
"Everything! Sit down, please. Remember you asked me to help you and I promised to do so."
Mrs. Burton had managed to switch on the lights in the big reception room back of the hallway and was searching behind curtains, under books, behind pictures and in innumerable other places, after the manner of hysterical women.
"I said I would help you, you know," ran on Barnes.
"Yes," and Sadie looked up into his eyes confidently.
"Do you know why I promised?"
"No. Why did you?"
Barnes bent down toward her and said with all the ardor he could command:
"Because from the moment I saw you I became your slave. When I saw how distressed you were about your cousin this evening my heart went out to you--the instant you left I decided to act and I"ve been acting ever since."
"Oh, how kind--what have you done?"
"I"ve watched."
"Watched?"
"Yes, watched. You don"t understand that, but it"s a very serious matter. If you only knew how serious this whole thing is you"d realize how I am trying to help you, and the risk I am taking."
"Oh, how n.o.ble of you! How brave you are!" and if Mrs. Burton had waited another moment before returning to the room she would have had another case for hysterics on her hands entirely separate and independent of Helen"s elopement.
"I can"t find her--I don"t believe she"s in the house," wailed Mrs.
Burton.
Barnes regarded her dumbly for a moment and then said slowly and ponderously:
"My dear lady, I a.s.sure you that she is not in the house. If you"ll only listen a moment"----
"I won"t listen," Mrs. Burton snapped him up.
Sadie jumped to her feet and rallied to Barnes"s defense:
"But, auntie, this gentleman has been doing everything he can to help us--everything. He"s been watching."
"Watching? Watching what?" demanded auntie, suspiciously.
"Ah, that"s it! What? What haven"t I been watching--for hours?" cried Barnes.
"But what have you been watching for?" Mrs. Burton shrilled.
"For hours"----
"What?"
"I mean for yours--and Miss Sadie"s sake, and now if you"ll wait here and watch with me"----
"Now I see it all," stormed Mrs. Burton, shaking her hand at Barnes wrathfully. "You want to keep us here. Helen and that scoundrel have gone and you want to prevent our following them."
"No, auntie, he"s trying to help us," sobbed Sadie.
"He"s lying to you, child," said Mrs. Burton, shooting vindictive glances at Barnes. "Don"t you know he"s a friend of that wretch Gladwin? But they can"t hoodwink me. I know what to do now! Helen is not of age--I"ll swear out a warrant--I"ll have him arrested for abduction, a State prison offense."
"No, no, no," implored Barnes, in real alarm, "you must not do that.
That will make the whole thing public, and that is just what Gladwin is trying to avoid."
"Don"t you suppose I know that," sneered Mrs. Burton. "He"s probably a bigamist. He may have a dozen wives living--the beast!"
"But won"t you understand," insisted Barnes. "He"s trying to save her, privately."
"Now, what are you talking about?"
Mrs. Burton regarded him as if she had suddenly realized he was a raving maniac. And by way of justifying her inspiration he stumbled on blindly: