'Will you please knock at her door?
I must see her.' Totty came down immediately.

She had her hat on and a shawl thrown about her.
'What ever is it ?' she asked.
'Just come a little way off, Totty; I want to speak to you.' She accompanied him to the dark side of the street, and, having got her there, he could find no fitting word with which to begin.

He had no intention of telling her what he had heard and what he had discovered for himself, but she was a close friend of Thyrza's and might know or suspect something; moreover, she was a good girl, a girl thoroughly to be trusted, he felt sure of her.

Perhaps a hint would be enough to induce her to share a secret with him, when she understood what his suspicions pointed to.
'Totty--' 'Yes, you frighten me.

What is it ?' 'Have you seen Thyrza Trent lately ?' 'Why ?' She tried to read his face through the darkness.