"What did he say?"
"The first thing I heard was--excuse me, Miss Innes, but it's what he
said, 'The damned rascal,' he said, 'I'll see him in'--well, in hell
was what he said, 'in hell first.' Then somebody else spoke up; it was
a woman. She said, 'I warned them, but they thought I would be
afraid.'"
"A woman! Did you wait to see who it was?"
"I wasn't spying, Miss Innes," Warner said with dignity. "But the next
thing caught my attention. She said, 'I knew there was something wrong
from the start. A man isn't well one day, and dead the next, without
some reason.' I thought she was speaking of Thomas."
"And you don't know who it was!" I exclaimed. "Warner, you had the key
to this whole occurrence in your hands, and did not use it!"
However, there was nothing to be done. I resolved to make inquiry when
I got home, and in the meantime, my present errand absorbed me. This
was nothing less than to see Louise Armstrong, and to attempt to drag
from her what she knew, or suspected, of Halsey's disappearance. But
here, as in every direction I turned, I was baffled.
A neat maid answered the bell, but she stood squarely in the doorway,
and it was impossible to preserve one's dignity and pass her.
"Miss Armstrong is very ill, and unable to see any one," she said. I
did not believe her.
"And Mrs. Armstrong--is she also ill?"
"She is with Miss Louise and can not be disturbed."
"Tell her it is Miss Innes, and that it is a matter of the greatest
importance."
"It would be of no use, Miss Innes. My orders are positive."
At that moment a heavy step sounded on the stairs. Past the maid's
white-strapped shoulder I could see a familiar thatch of gray hair, and
in a moment I was face to face with Doctor Stewart. He was very grave,
and his customary geniality was tinged with restraint.
"You are the very woman I want to see," he said promptly. "Send away
your trap, and let me drive you home. What is this about your nephew?"
"He has disappeared, doctor. Not only that, but there is every
evidence that he has been either abducted, or--" I could not finish.
The doctor helped me into his capacious buggy in silence. Until we had
got a little distance he did not speak; then he turned and looked at me.
"Now tell me about it," he said. He heard me through without speaking.
"And you think Louise knows something?" he said when I had finished.
"I don't--in fact, I am sure of it. The best evidence of it is this:
she asked me if he had been heard from, or if anything had been
learned. She won't allow Walker in the room, and she made me promise
to see you and tell you this: don't give up the search for him. Find
him, and find him soon. He is living."