With a quick, searching glance that took in bedraggled organdie, rose hat,
and pink parasol, and set them aside for what they were worth, George
Benedict observed and classified Lizzie.
"Will you excuse yourself, and let me take you home a little later?" he
asked in a low tone. "The crowd will be very great, and I have my
automobile here."
She looked at him gratefully, and assented. She had much to tell him. She
leaned across the seats, and spoke in a clear tone to her cousin.
"I will come a little later," she said, smiling with her Rittenhouse
Square look that always made Lizzie a little afraid of her. "Tell
grandmother I have found an old friend I have not seen for a long time. I
will be there almost as soon as you are."
They waited while Lizzie explained, and the grandmother and aunt nodded a
reluctant assent. Aunt Nan frowned. Elizabeth might have brought her
friend along, and introduced him to Lizzie. Did Elizabeth think Lizzie
wasn't good enough to be introduced?
He wrapped her in a great soft rug that was in the automobile, and tucked
her in beside him; and she felt as if the long, hard days that had passed
since they had met were all forgotten and obliterated in this night of
delight. Not all the attentions of all the fine men she had met in
society had ever been like his, so gentle, so perfect. She had forgotten
the lady as completely as if she had never heard of her. She wanted now to
tell her friend about her heavenly Friend.
He let her talk, and watched her glowing, earnest face by the dim light of
the sky; for the moon had come out to crown the night with beauty, and the
unnatural brilliance of electric blaze, with all the glitter and noise of
Willow Grove, died into the dim, sweet night as those two sped onward
toward the city. The heart of the man kept singing, singing, singing: "I
have found her at last! She is safe!"
"I have prayed for you always," he said in one of the pauses. It was just
as they were coming into Flora Street. The urchins were all out on the
sidewalk yet, for the night was hot; and they gathered about, and ran
hooting after the car as it slowed up at the door. "I am sure He did hide
you safely, and I shall thank Him for answering my prayer. And now I am
coming to see you. May I come to-morrow?"
There was a great gladness in her eyes. "Yes," she said.
The Bradys had arrived from the corner trolley, and were hovering about
the door self-assertively. It was most apparent to an onlooker that this
was a good opportunity for an introduction, but the two young people were
entirely oblivious. The man touched his hat gravely, a look of great
admiration in his eyes, and said, "Good night" like a benediction. Then
the girl turned and went into the plain little home and to her belligerent
relatives with a light in her eyes and a joy in her steps that had not
been there earlier in the day. The dreams that visited her hard pillow
that night were heavenly and sweet.