"I know; but I was so afraid they'd find out--some way." "They didn't--from me." She raised startled eyes to his face. "You don't mean they _do_ know where I am?" "Oh, no. But--" The doctor stirred uneasily. "Mrs. Denby, don't you think-- Won't you let me tell them where you are?" "Do they want to know?" "Yes. They are trying very hard to find you." "Of course. But if they find me--what then? Does Burke--want me?" The doctor flushed. "Well, he--yes--that is, he--well, of course--" "You don't have to say any more, doctor," interposed Helen Denby, smiling a little sadly. The red deepened on the doctor's face. "Well, of course, Burke is very angry and very bitter, just now," he explained defensively. "But if you two could be brought together--" He paused helplessly. She shook her head. "'Twould be the same old story--only worse. I see so many things now that I never saw before. Even if he said right now that he wanted me, I wouldn't go back. I wouldn't dare to. 'Twouldn't be a day before he'd be ashamed of me again. Maybe some time I'll learn--" She paused, her eyes wistfully fixed out the window. "But if I don't"--she turned almost frenziedly--"Betty will. Betty is going to be a lady from right now. Then some day I'll show her to him. He won't be ashamed of Betty. You see if he is!" Again the doctor stirred uneasily. "But, think! How can I go on from day to day and not let your husband know--" Helen Denby sprang to her feet. The wild look of that first night of flight came into her eyes, but her voice, when she spoke, was very calm. "Dr. Gleason," she began resolutely, "it's just as I told you before. Unless you'll promise not to tell Burke where I am, till I say the word, I shall take Betty and go--somewhere. I don't know where. But it'll be where you can't find me--any of you." "Oh, come, come, my dear child--" "Will you promise?" "But just think how--" "I _am_ thinking!" choked Helen. "But _you_ don't seem to be. _Can't_ you see how I want to stay here? I've got a chance, maybe, to be like you and your sister, and all the rest of Burke's swell--I mean, like Burke's friends," she corrected, with a hot blush. "And, anyhow, Betty's got a chance. We've made a start. We've begun. And here you want to go and tip it all over by telling Burke. And there can't anything good happen, if Burke knows. Besides, didn't he say himself that we _needed_ to have a vacation from each other? Now, won't you promise, please?" With a despairing cry the doctor threw up his hands. "Oh, good Heavens, yes! Of course I'll promise," he groaned. "I suspect you could make me promise to shave my head and dance the tango barefooted down Washington Street, if you set out to. Oh, yes, I'll promise. But I can tell you right now that I shall wake up in the dead of night and pinch myself to make sure I _have_ promised," he finished with wrathful emphasis. Helen laughed light-heartedly. She even tossed the doctor a playful glance as she turned to go.