To the police mind, now that Larry was aware he
was known to be in New York, the pawnshop would obviously be the last
place in which he would seek refuge or through which he would have
dealings. Nevertheless, the Duchess deemed it wise to lose no moment
and to neglect no possible caution. Therefore, while Barney was still
with Chief Barlow and before the general order regarding Larry had
more than reached the various police stations, the Duchess, in cape,
hat, and veil, was out of her house. A block up the street lived the
owner of two or three taxicabs, concerning whom the Duchess, who was
almost omniscient in her own world, knew much that the said owner
ardently desired should be known no further. A few sentences with this
gentleman, and fifteen minutes later, huddled back in the darkened
corner of a taxicab, she rolled over the Queensboro Bridge out upon
Long Island on her mission of releasing a fact whose effect she could
not foresee.
An hour and a half after that Larry was leading her to a bench in the
scented darkness of the Sherwoods' lawn. She had telephoned "Mr.
Brandon" from a drug-store booth in Flushing, and Larry had been
waiting for her near the entrance to Cedar Crest.
"What brought you out here like this, grandmother?" Larry whispered in
amazement as he sat down beside her.
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