Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John

E-text prepared by Afra Ullah, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
1911
Major Gregory Doyle paced nervously up and down the floor of the cosy sitting room.
Something's surely happened to our Patsy! he exclaimed.
A little man with a calm face and a bald head, who was seated near the fire, continued to read his newspaper and paid no attention to the outburst.
Something has happened to Patsy! repeated the Major, Patsy meaning his own and only daughter Patricia.
Something is always happening to everyone, said the little man, turning his paper indifferently. Something is happening to me, for I can't find the rest of this article. Something is happening to you, for you're losing your temper.
I'm not, sir! I deny it.
As for Patsy, continued the other, she is sixteen years old and knows New York like a book. The girl is safe enough.
Then where is she? Tell me that, sir. Here it is, seven o'clock, dark as pitch and raining hard, and Patsy is never out after six. Can you, John Merrick, sit there like a lump o' putty and do nothing, when your niece and my own darlin' Patsy is lost—or strayed or stolen?
What would you propose doing? asked Uncle John, looking up with a smile.