Page:The Star in the Window.pdf/270

260 all night? To clear away their doubts it would not be improbable for them to come here to this awful hotel, and talk with the fat proprietor. They would discover her signature in the register! She would be forced to tell them about Nathaniel Cawthorne! What excuse, then, could she give to Miss Ellsworth and Louise, for receiving attentions from Chadwick Booth? She could not plead innocence of the knowledge of her own marriage, could she?

"No, no, I can't go back," Reba whispered to herself. "I'd rather stay here in this hotel forever and ever than go back!"

After Louise's reprimand, and all that had happened since, Reba felt sure that it could be only after a long and painful investigation that Miss Ellsworth would consider her suitable for a secretaryship at the Alliance. And if finally she was allowed a second trial, could she, she asked herself, endure meeting Chadwick Booth two and three times a week, as he passed in and out of the classrooms? He could not well give up his classes at the Alliance. It was fall, the beginning of a busy new year. Classes were just being formed, and doctors were greatly in demand with their ranks already depleted by the ever-increasing number of units sailing for France.

"No, I can't go back," whispered Reba again. "I can't ever go back. But oh" She looked despairingly about the unlovely room. "Of course I can't stay here! What can I do? Where can I go?"