"Sit down, Hilda; you're wet through.

Let me take off your coat--and your boots; they're oozing water." He knelt down and began to unlace her shoes, while Hilda shrank into the chair.

"Here, put your feet on this stool.
You don't mean to say you walked down--and without overshoes!" Hilda hid her face in her hands.

"I was afraid to take a cab.

Can't you see, Bartley, that I'm terribly frightened?
I've been through this a hundred times to-day.