preferring Shelby, Tom agreed to Claxon on my insisting on the latter
place, which was the Mecca for runaway couples from our section of
the state. If I were going with them--

"Going with them?" The inflection in Selwyn's voice was hardly
polite. "You don't intend--"

"Yes, I do. They've made a mess of the first try and they'll be
caught and brought back if somebody isn't there to keep them from
being held up. I'm going with them."

"How do you expect to hold off--the holding up?" Selwyn was staring
at me and anxiety concerning Harrie was for the time in abeyance. He
needed something to distract him. "What are you going to do?" he
asked.

"I don't know--don't have to know until to-morrow--I mean later
to-day." I motioned toward the hall and, following me into it, he
partly closed the door behind us. "We'll let those children have a
chance to say good night, and then please go home. And don't look at
me like that! I don't approve of runaway marriages any more than you
do. I'd never be a party to one, because I wouldn't marry an
angel-man before I was twenty-one. Afterward running away wouldn't
be necessary. Tom and Madeleine are not entirely to blame."

"The blame for this will be put on you. Mrs. Swink will credit you
with the instigation and carrying out of the whole affair. You
mustn't go with them, Danny. It isn't necessary."

"Maybe it isn't, but I'm going. I can't let a girl of Madeleine's