Page:The Breath of Scandal (1922).djvu/333

 sequently he possessed the street number of his daughter's present residence, but he had not visited the place. If he did, and she was home, how could he answer what she was sure to ask?

Whittaker, of course, was looking out for her; Whittaker, indeed, appeared to be occupied with nothing else; and knowledge of that was reassuring and comforting to Charles Hale. It gave him time he needed to consider his course in respect to his daughter and that girl, not married to him nor wanting to be married, but who had no idea of giving him up; obviously, Marjorie could not be in real danger with Billy about.

It was perhaps twenty minutes later that he opened his door to see if the hallboy had brought his paper and in the dim light he read the headline spread across the front page: LAWYER SLAIN AT ROAD HOUSE.

Hale picked up the paper and carried it into his room without special thought of this sensation; indeed, he was attracted to glance at a column which had no connection with it, when his eye caught, "William Whittaker."

That brought him up; could that be Billy? There it was; no doubt about it. "With the well-known law firm of Kemphill, James, Jones and Stern."

Billy Whittaker at Cragero's road house and killed in a brawl,—Billy! What was Billy doing there? And with this, fright shot a film before Hale's sight; Billy was Marjorie's protector; he had just been thinking of him as Marjorie's protector and as making Marjorie safe.

Now he could read again. "Whittaker seems to have rushed into the roadhouse convinced that a friend of his was held there. He"