But she had been glad to see Steve again after all
this while--if Steve had known how glad, he would certainly have found
courage and said what he had so often failed to say--and, knowing that
Mrs. Porter was out, she had thought the risk of his presence worth
taking. Now, with discovery imminent, panic came upon her.
The voices were quite close now. There was no doubt of the destination
of the speakers. They were heading slowly but directly for the nursery.
Steve, not being fully abreast of the new rules and regulations of the
sacred apartment, could not read Mamie's mind completely. He did not
know that, under Mrs. Porter's code, the admission of a visitor during
the hours of sleep was a felony in the first degree, punishable by
instant dismissal. But Mamie's face and her brief reference to trouble
were enough to tell him that the position was critical, and with the
instinct of the trapped he looked round him for cover.
But the White Hope's nursery was not constructed with a view to
providing cover for bulky gentlemen who should not have been there. It
was as bare as a billiard-table as far as practicable hiding-places
were concerned.
And then his eye caught the water-proof sheet of the shower-bath.
Behind that there was just room for concealment.
With a brief nod of encouragement to Mamie, he leaped at it.
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