Part 29 (1/2)
To his anxious relief there was no reply. But as he listened, he heard the loud, measured tick, tick, of the old clock, appalling in the darkness, on the silence of that empty room. Chauncey could not have told just how he got the door to, nor where he found strength to lock it and drag his feet downstairs, but the hand that held the key was moist with cold perspiration as he reached the open air.
”Well, if that's rain I'd like to know where it comes from!” He looked up at the moon breaking through drifting clouds. The night was keen and clear.
”If I was to tell that to Cerissa she'd never go within a mile o' that house again! Maybe I was mistaken--but I ain't goin' back to see!”
Next morning on calmer reflection he changed his mind about removing the lawn-mower and other hand-tools from the loom-room as he had determined overnight should be done. The place continued to be used as a storeroom, open by day.
At night it was Chauncey's business to lock it up, and he was careful to repeat his search--as far as the stair-door. Never did the silent room above give forth a protest, a sound of human restraint or occupation. He reported to the mistress that all was snug at the old house, and n.o.body anywhere about the place.
XXV
THE FELL FROST
After the rain came milder days. The still white mornings slowly brightened into hazy afternoons. The old moon like a sleep walker stood exposed in the morning sky. The roads to Stone Ridge were deep in fallen leaves. Soft-tired wheels rustled up the avenue and horses' feet fell light, as the last of the summer neighbors came to say good-by.
It was a party of four--Miss Sallie and a good-looking youth of the football cult on horseback, her mother and an elder sister, the delicate Miss Remsen, in a hired carriage. Their own traps had been sent to town.
Tea was served promptly, as the visitors had a long road home before their dinner-hour. In the reduced state of the establishment it was Katy who brought the tea while Cerissa looked after her little charge.
Cerissa sat on the kitchen porch sewing and expanding under the deep attention of the cook; they could see Middy a little way off on the tennis-court wiping the mud gravely from a truant ball he had found among the nasturtiums. All was as peaceful as the time of day and the season of the year.
”Yes,” said Cerissa solemnly. ”Old Abraham Van Elten was too much c.u.mbered up with this world to get quit of it as easy as some. If his spirit is burdened with a message to anybody it's to _her_. He died unreconciled to her, and she inherited all this place in spite of him, as you may say. I've come as near believin' in such things since the goings on up there in that room”--
”She wants Middy fetched in to see the comp'ny,” cried Katy, bursting into the sentence. ”Where is he, till I clean him? And she wants some more bread and b.u.t.ter as quick as ye can spread it.”
”Well, Katy!” said Cerissa slowly, with severe emphasis. ”When I was a girl, my mother used to tell me it wasn't manners to”--
”I haven't got time to hear about yer mother,” said Katy rudely. ”What have ye done with me boy?” The tennis-court lay vacant on the terrace in the sun; the steep lawn sloped away and dipped into the trees.
”Don't call,” said the cook warily. ”It'll only scare her. He was there only a minute ago. Run, Katy, and see if he's at the stables.”
It was not noticed, except by Mrs. Bogardus, that no Katy, and no boy, and no bread and b.u.t.ter, had appeared. Possibly the last deficiency had attracted a little playful attention from the young horseback riders, who were accusing each other of eating more than their respective shares.
At length Miss Sallie perceived there was something on her hostess's mind. ”Where is John Middleton?” she whispered. ”Katy is dressing him all over, from head to foot, isn't she? I hope she isn't curling his hair. John Middleton has such wonderful hair! I refuse to go back to New York till I have introduced you to John Middleton Bogardus,” she announced to the young man, who laughed at everything she said. Mrs.
Bogardus smiled vacantly and glanced at the door.
”Let me go find Katy,” cried Miss Sally. Katy entered as she spoke, and said a few words to the mistress. ”Excuse me.” Mrs. Bogardus rose hastily. She asked Miss Sallie to take her place at the tea-tray.
”What is it?”
”The boy--they cannot find him. Don't say anything.” She had turned ashy white, and Katy's pretty flushed face had a wild expression.
In five minutes the search had begun. Mrs. Bogardus was at the telephone, calling up the quarry, for she was short of men. One order followed another quickly. Her voice was harsh and deep. She had frankly forgotten her guests. Embarra.s.sed by their own uselessness, yet unable to take leave, they lingered and discussed the mystery of this sudden, acute alarm.
”It is the sore spot,” said Miss Sally sentimentally. ”You know her husband was missing for years before she gave him up; and then that dreadful time, three years ago, when they were so frightened about Paul.”
Having spread the alarm, Mrs. Bogardus took the field in person. Her head was bare in the keen, sunset light. She moved with strong, fleet steps, but a look of sudden age stamped her face.