I 'phoned the
_Star_ photographer to meet me here, but he's failed to connect.
However, Kitty can sketch--"
"Oh, Miss Bryant!" wailed Aunt. "An interview! How frightful! Can't you
let her off?"
"Why, I don't exactly see how--though I might--" Cadge deliberated,
studying Aunt's face rather than mine, "--might wait and see the red
extras. I know how she feels, Mrs. Baker--they're always that way, at
first--and I'm anxious to spare her, but--I can't let the _Star_ be
beaten. If I were you--"
She turned to me, hesitated a moment, then burst out impulsively:--
"If I were you, I wouldn't say a word! Not--one--blessed--word! I'd pique
curiosity. There! That _is_ treason! Why, I'd give my eye teeth,
'most, for a nice signed statement. But I'll wait--that is, if you really,
honest-Injun, prefer."
"You're very kind," said Aunt Frank, with a sigh of bewildered relief.
"We'd give anything, of course--_anything_!--to avoid--"
"Mind," Cadge admonished me as she rose to go. "I'm running big risks,
letting you off; the office relied on me. If you do talk to anybody else,
or even see anybody, you'll let me know, quick? And if you don't want to
give up, look out for a little fat girl with blue eyes and a baby stare;
she'll be here sure, crying for pictures; generally gets 'em, first time,
too.
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