"Sometimes I don't know but you are right," he admitted. "Why, it'll
be three years next June since Billy was here. She must be nearly
twenty-one--and we know almost nothing about her."
"That's so. I wonder--" Bertram paused, and laughed a little, "I wonder
if NOW she'd play guardian angel to me through the streets of Boston."
William threw a keen glance into his brother's face.
"I don't believe it would be quite necessary, NOW, Bert," he said
quietly.
The other flushed a little, but his eyes softened.
"Maybe not, Will; still--one can always find some use for--a guardian
angel, you know," he finished, almost under his breath.
To Cyril Bertram had occasionally spoken, during the last two years,
of their first suspicions concerning Billy's absence. They speculated
vaguely, too, as to why she had gone, and if she would ever come back;
and they wondered if anything could have wounded her and sent her away.
To William they said nothing of all this, however; though they agreed
that they would have asked Kate for her opinion, had she been there.
But Kate was not there. As it chanced, a good business opportunity had
called Kate's husband to a Western town very soon after Billy herself
had gone to Hampden Falls; and since the family's removal to the West,
Mrs. Hartwell had not once returned to Boston.
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