"Who? Fledra Vandecar?" His taunt was untimely, and his daring smile changed her distrust to repulsion. "No; you know whom I mean--Fledra Cronk. She's, not here. Horace has gone away for a few days, and I'm wild with anxiety. Will you help me find her, Everett? She must be here with us until it is decided which way the matter will go." They had been standing apart; but the girl's words drew him closer, and he took her hand in his. He had truly missed her, and was glad to be in her confidence once more. "Ann, you've never been frank with me in this matter; but I'm going to return good for evil. I really don't know where the girl is; still, anything I can do I will. But I do know that her father has seen her; for he told me about it. It was--" Ann cut him off with a sharp cry: "But he's seen her only the once, Everett--only that one afternoon when he first came." This time Everett answered with heart-rending deliberateness: "You're mistaken, Ann. Your paragon got out of the window when you were all asleep," Ann's sudden pallor disturbed the lawyer only an instant, and, not heeding her clutch on his arm or a pained ejaculation from her, he proceeded, "and went to her father. He told me this. Ann, don't be stupid. Don't totter that way. Sit down, here, child. No, don't push me away.... Well, as you please!" "Oh, you seem so heartless about it," gasped Ann, "when you know how Horace loves her!" Miss Shellington did not notice the smile that crossed his lips as he looked down at her, or the triumph in his eyes when he said: "But, Ann, I've told you only what you've asked of me. I think you're rather unkind, Dear." "I don't intend to be," she moaned, leaning back and closing her eyes. "Oh! she was with us so long! What shall I say to Horace?" "Didn't you say he was out of town?" "Yes, for four or five days," Ann put the wrong meaning to Everett's deep sigh, and she finished; "but I'm going to send for him." "And, pray, what can he do? The girl is gone, and that ends it." "But Horace might ascertain if she had been forced to go." Brimbecomb laughed low. "No one could force her to jump from the window of her bedroom." "Everett, Fledra has always said that she hated her father, and that she never wanted to go back to him, because he abused both her and her brother." "Yes, so you told me before, and I think I remember telling you that you were making a mistake in trusting in her truthfulness. It seems her brother told her that he did not wish to return with the squatter; so she left him here with you. For my part," Everett pressed closer to her, "I'm glad that she is gone. The coming of those children completely changed both you and Horace. You'll get used to ingratitude before you've done much charity work." Ann's intuition increased her disbelief in the man opposite her. "Everett, will you swear to me that you had nothing to do with her going?" Brimbecomb swore glibly enough, and supplemented his oath with: