n of a person who isn't to be bamboozled. "He
came twice every day to see if I had any word from you; and when I went
to Cousin Hattie's he called me up on the 'phone every morning and
evening. Most unreasonable, Mr. Straker was. He said there wasn't a
singer in town he could get to fill your engagements, and he was losing
a hundred dollars a day. He's very much put out, Miss Redmond."

"Well, I was, too," said Agatha, but somehow her tone failed to satisfy
the maid. To Agatha the thought of the dictatorial manager fluttering
about New York in quest of a vanished singer--well, the picture had its
humorous side. It had its serious side, too, for Agatha, of course,
but for the moment she put off thinking about that. Lizzie, however,
had borne the brunt of Mr. Straker's vexation, and, in that lumber-box
she called her mind, she regarded the matter solely as her personal cue
to come more prominently upon the stage.

"Then your accompanist came every morning, as you had directed, Miss
Redmond; and Madame Florio sent word a dozen times about those new
gowns." Lizzie, with the memory of her sudden importance, almost took
up the role of baffled innocence. "I declare, Miss Redmond, I didn't
know what to do or say to those people. The whole thing seemed so
irregular, with you not leaving any word of explanation with me."

"That is true, Lizzie; it was irregular, and certainly very
inconvenient. And it is serious enough, so far as breaking my
engagements is concerned. But the circumstances were very unusual
and--pressing. Some one else gave the message at the hotel, and, as
you know, I had no time even to get a satchel."

"That's what I said when the reporters came--that you were so worried
over your sick relative that you did not wait for anything."

Agatha groaned. "Did--did the papers have much to say about my leaving
town?"

"They had columns, Miss Redmond, and some of them had your picture on
the front page with an announcement of your elopement. But Mr. Straker
contradicted that; he told them he had heard from you, and that you
were at the bedside of a dying relative. Besides that, Miss Redmond,
the difficulty in getting up an elopement story was the lack of a
probable man. Your manager and your accompanist were both found and
interviewed, and there wasn't anybody else in New York except me who
knew you. Your discretion, Miss Redmond, has always been remarkable."

Agatha was suddenly tired of Lizzie.