I can wait--I can
wait--time is not _so_ essential. Oh, I will postpone his coming! I will
call him up again! Run, Gladys, ring the bell! Call up Long Distance! I
can't get there quickly enough."
And indeed it seemed some feeble old woman hirpling through the shadows,
rather than the vigorous commanding presence of a few minutes ago. Gladys
felt that the reaction was ominous as Lillian held the receiver with a
hand that shook as with palsy. All had feared the usual delay, but while
they were still in the hall the bell jangled, and the night-clerk of the
hotel in Crystal responded--little to a cheering effect to the listener,
though of this he was unaware. Mr. Bayne had already set out, he stated
glibly. He must be five miles away by this time (the clerk evidently
thought that he pleased his interlocutor by his report of the
precipitation with which Mr. Bayne had obeyed her summons). Mr. Bayne was
a good judge of horse-flesh, and the clerk would venture to say that he
had never handled the ribbons over a higher-couraged animal than the one
he had between the shafts to-night.
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