"Why should he be mad about that? Isn't Mr. Reddy good enough for her?"
"_I_ think he is. I told you before I thought the best thing she could
do would be to marry him. But----" she looked round to see that no one
was coming in----"don't say a word of what I'm going to tell you. I have
no right to repeat what I hear as an employee but I'm worried and don't
know what's the best thing to do. Mrs. Fowler has as good as told me
that her husband's lost all his money and it's Sylvia's that's running
Mapleshade. And what _I_ think is that the Doctor doesn't want her to
marry _anyone_. It isn't her he minds losing; it's thirty thousand a
year."
"But when she comes of age she can do what she wants and if he makes it
so disagreeable she won't want to live there."
"That's two years off yet. He may recoup himself in that time."
"Oh, I see. But he can't do any good by fighting with her."
"Molly, you're a wise little woman. _Of course_ he can't, but he doesn't
know it. He treats that hot-headed, high-spirited girl like a child of
five. Mark my words, there's going to be trouble at Mapleshade."
I thought of the telephone message I'd overheard the day before and it
came to me suddenly what "the secret" might be. Could Sylvia have been
planning to run away? I didn't say anything--it's natural to me and you
get trained along those lines in the telephone business--and I sat
turning it over in my mind as Anne went on.
"I'd leave to-morrow only I'm so sorry for Mrs. Fowler. She's as
helpless as a baby and seems to cling to me. The other day she told me
about her first marriage--how her husband didn't care for her but was
crazy about Sylvia--that's why he left her almost all his money."
I wasn't listening much, still thinking about "the secret." If she _was_
running away was she going alone or with Jack Reddy? My eyes were fixed
on the window and I saw, without noticing particular, the down train
from the city draw into the station, and then Jim Donahue run along the
platform swinging a lantern. As if I was in a dream I could hear Anne:
"I call it an unjust will--only two hundred thousand dollars to his wife
and five millions to his daughter. But if Sylvia dies first, all the
money goes back to Mrs. Fowler."
The train pulled out, snorting like a big animal. Jim disappeared, then
presently I saw him open the depot door and come slouching across the
street. I knew he was headed for the Exchange, thinking Minnie Trail was
there, he being a widower with a crush on Minnie.
He came in and, after he'd got over the shock of seeing me, turned to
Anne and said:
"I just been putting your young lady on the train."
Anne gave a start and stared at him.
"Miss Sylvia?" she said.
"That's her," said Jim, warming his coat tails at the radiator.