"Good-by," it said, "and thank you for taking me in. I suppose I ought to be very grateful. I came here because I could not help it, and I am going away without taking a meal, or sleeping in your bed. I don't like being taken on charity. If it had not been for you, Mr. Flint might have cared for me, same as the hero did in 'The Unequal Marriage.' I saw last night it was you he was talking about when he said there was somebody he wanted to marry who wouldn't have him. My heart is broken; but I mean to have _some_ enjoyment, which I couldn't, if I stayed here with you and that poky Miss Standish. I think it was real mean of Mr. Flint to bring me here anyhow." Yours truly, "MATILDA MARSDEN" She tossed the letter across the table to Miss Standish, and touched the bell under her foot. "McGregor," she said, as the man appeared, "did you hear any one go out of the house this morning?" "I thought I did, Miss Winifred, about six o'clock, before light,--that is, I was justly sure I heard the front door shut; but when I got there it was all right, except the outer door was unlocked, and that often happens when your father is at the Club. He do forget now and then." "Three hours' start!" said Winifred to herself, then aloud: "McGregor, go at once to 'The Chancellor' and leave word for Mr. Flint to come here. Wait--I will send a note. Oh dear! why didn't I foresee this possibility?" "Come!" said Miss Standish, who, even in her excitement, could swallow the last of her cup of hot coffee,--"come, let us go upstairs and see if the foolish girl has not left some clew!" As Winifred and Miss Standish passed out at the parlor door, Master Jimmy entered from the hall, sleek and smiling in his holiday attire. "Great Scott!" he ejaculated. "What started Miss Standish off like that? Our stairs make the old lady puff when she takes 'em on the slow, and at this rate Fred will have to carry her half-way. Something's up, that's evident. Never mind, I'm not in it. McGregor," he called, "bring on those griddle-cakes; I smell 'em cooking. Quick now, while there's no one here to count how many I eat! Hurrah for Thanksgiving!" McGregor failed to appear at Master Jimmy's call, and when Maria came, she said he had been sent out on an errand. "What's up?" asked Jimmy, between mouthfuls. "Oh, nothing--nothing--I wonder will they have the police?" "Cops!" cried Jimmy, waking up for the first time to a genuine interest in the family excitement. "Has any one gone off with the spoons? It would be just my luck to have had a burglar in the house last night and me never got a pop at him with my air-gun loaded and close by the bed." "It's no burglar," said the maid, with mystery in her tones. "Not McGregor drunk!" shouted Jimmy, with a scream of delight. "That would be too good a joke."