Part 31 (2/2)

”Now,” said Rogers, as the matter was concluded, ”I owe you some money.

If you'll just step up to the house with me I'll give it to you. I'd like to settle matters up at once.”

”Oh, let it go till I come again,” said Gardley, impatient to be off. He wanted to get by himself and think out a solution of the two letters. He was more than uneasy about Margaret without being able to give any suitable explanation of why he should be. His main desire now was to ride to Ganado and find out if the missionaries had left home, which way they had gone, and whether they had met Margaret as planned.

”No, step right up to the house with me,” insisted Rogers. ”It won't take long, and I have the money in my safe.”

Gardley saw that the quickest way was to please Rogers, and he did not wish to arouse any questions, because he supposed, of course, his alarm was mere foolishness. So they went together into Rogers's private office, where his desk and safe were the princ.i.p.al furniture, and where no servants ventured to come without orders.

Rogers shoved a chair for Gardley and went over to his safe, turning the little nickel k.n.o.b this way and that with the skill of one long accustomed, and in a moment the thick door swung open and Rogers drew out a j.a.panned cash-box and unlocked it. But when he threw the cover back he uttered an exclamation of angry surprise. The box was empty!

CHAPTER x.x.xII

Mr. Rogers strode to the door, forgetful of his sleeping daughter overhead, and thundered out his call for James. The servant appeared at once, but he knew nothing about the safe, and had not been in the office that morning. Other servants were summoned and put through a rigid examination. Then Rogers turned to the woman who had answered the door for Gardley and sent her up to call Rosa.

But the woman returned presently with word that Miss Rosa was not in her room, and there was no sign that her bed had been slept in during the night. The woman's face was sullen. She did not like Rosa, but was afraid of her. This to her was only another of Miss Rosa's pranks, and very likely her doting father would manage to blame the servants with the affair.

Mr. Rogers's face grew stern. His eyes flashed angrily as he turned and strode up the stairs to his daughter's room, but when he came down again he was holding a note in his trembling hand and his face was ashen white.

”Read that, Gardley,” he said, thrusting the note into Gardley's hands and motioning at the same time for the servants to go away.

Gardley took the note, yet even as he read he noticed that the paper was the same as those he carried in his pocket. There was a peculiar watermark that made it noticeable.

The note was a flippant little affair from Rosa, telling her father she had gone away to be married and that she would let him know where she was as soon as they were located. She added that he had forced her to this step by being so severe with her and not allowing her lover to come to see her. If he had been reasonable she would have stayed at home and let him give her a grand wedding; but as it was she had only this way of seeking her happiness. She added that she knew he would forgive her, and she hoped he would come to see that her way had been best, and Forsythe was all that he could desire as a son-in-law.

Gardley uttered an exclamation of dismay as he read, and, looking up, found the miserable eyes of the stricken father upon him. For the moment his own alarm concerning Margaret and his perplexity about the letters was forgotten in the grief of the man who had been his friend.

”When did she go?” asked Gardley, quickly looking up.

”She took supper with me and then went to her room, complaining of a headache,” said the father, his voice showing his utter hopelessness.

”She may have gone early in the evening, perhaps, for we all turned in about nine o'clock to keep the house quiet on her account.”

”Have you any idea which way they went, east or west?” Gardley was the keen adviser in a crisis now, his every sense on the alert.

The old man shook his head. ”It is too late now,” he said, still in that colorless voice. ”They will have reached the railroad somewhere. They will have been married by this time. See, it is after ten o'clock!”

”Yes, if he marries her,” said Gardley, fiercely. He had no faith in Forsythe.

”You think--you don't think he would _dare_!” The old man straightened up and fairly blazed in his righteous wrath.

”I think he would dare anything if he thought he would not be caught. He is a coward, of course.”

”What can we do?”

”Telegraph to detectives at all points where they would be likely to arrive and have them shadowed. Come, we will ride to the station at once; but, first, could I go up in her room and look around? There might be some clue.”

”Certainly,” said Rogers, pointing hopelessly up the stairs; ”the first door to the left. But you'll find nothing. I looked everywhere. She wouldn't have left a clue. While you're up there I'll interview the servants. Then we'll go.”

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