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de cook. Dat young lady in dere's done _passed_
_out!_ An' de butleh -- he gone, too."

The colored woman waved her dark hand in-
definitely.

"Mercy! You don't mean anybody's dead!"

"No, honey, not daid. No, you jus' _keep_out._
Ain' nuffin yo' kin do only git yo'se'f into trub-
ble." This addition was because Betty was evi-
dently about to offer help, as she turned un-
certainly in the direction from which the colored
maid had come. With this, the maid disappeared
down the stairs from which the sounds of rev-
elry still rose. Betty went back to get her wraps.
Did she have any car-fare? Well if she didn't,
she'd get on anyhow, one of those cars where
you didn't have to pay till you got off. She'd
give the conductor her name and address or give
him the ring from her finger or -- anything!
Betty was getting panicky by this time. She
could not go down stairs with her wrap, and
run the risk of being discovered. Probably there
was a back stairway. There was, as Betty dis-
covered by looking along the upper halls. Dear
me, she would know the way around _this_ house
again. She wondered why the maid had not
gone down to the kitchen that way, but supposed
that the cook was to be found somewhere else.
It had stopped raining, after only a shower.


 [[211]]