His face lighted with a merry smile that was good to see as he crossed over to her with outstretched hand, saying laughingly: "The lost is found! Well, young lady, this is a pretty performance! What do you mean by shocking your fond relatives and friends almost into catalepsy?
I happened to drop in at the studio just as Joyce got your message, and she and Betty were at their wits' end to account for your disappearance." "Oh, I'm so _glad_ to see you," answered Mary.

"You can't imagine! I'm even as glad as I was that time you happened along when the Indian chased me." She ignored his question as entirely as if he had not asked it.
He asked it again when they were presently seated on a homeward bound car.

"What I want to know is, what made you wander from your own fireside ?" Mary felt her cheeks burn.

She was prepared to make a full confession to the girls, but not for worlds would she make it to him.

Quickly turning her back on him as if to look at something that had attracted her attention in the street, she groped frantically around in her mind for an answer.