in the city before and all was strange to her. But here it seemed to
her that the stories she had read of crowded streets must have been
exaggerated, for she saw few people. Sometimes automobiles passed her,
and delivery wagons, and a few children were playing here and there. But
there were no high buildings, and it seemed almost as peaceful as it had
around Hedgeville.

But then gradually, as she went on, conditions changed. She crossed a
street on which there ran a street car line, and there many people were
passing. Still she managed to keep Jake Hoover in sight, and, though she
could not always see Charlie Jamieson, she supposed that Jake could, and
it was Jake she was following, after all.

More than once Jake turned and looked behind him, and Bessie had to be
constantly on her guard lest he discover her. At first it was easy
enough to escape his eye--she had only to dodge behind a tree. But as
she drew nearer and nearer to the business part of town the trees began
to disappear. There was no more green grass between the pavement and the
street itself; the pavements were narrower, and they were needed for the
crowds that passed quickly along. But in those very crowds Bessie found
a substitute for the trees. She felt that they would protect her and
cover her movements, and she increased her pace, so that she could get
nearer to Jake, and so run less risk of losing him in the crowd.

No one paid any attention to her, and that seemed strange to Bessie,
used to the curiosity of country folk regarding any stranger, although
Zara, who knew more about city life, had told her that it would be so.
She was grateful, anyhow; she wanted to be let alone. And evidently Jake
was profiting by the same indifference.