In about three seconds he had picked Patty up, and before she knew it, she found herself sitting on the top shelf of that big dumb-waiter, and, moreover, she found herself being lowered, at first slowly, and then rapidly.
She was about to scream when she heard Big Bill whisper softly, but commandingly, "Not a word! Not a sound! I'll pull you up in a few minutes."
She heard the doors above her close. She was in total darkness. She had no desire to scream, but she was consumed with laughter.
Farnsworth had hidden her! Hidden her from Mona and the others, in the dumb-waiter! What a man he was! She had no idea what he intended to do next, but she was not afraid. It was an escapade, and of all things Patty loved an escapade!
After closing the doors, Bill put out the light in the butler's pantry, opened the door, slipped through the dimly lighted dining-room, and came around by a side hall to the group in the main hall.
"Calling me?" he said. "I was just coming to say good-bye to you all.
Where's Patty?"
"That's what we want to know," said Mona. "We thought she was with you."
"She isn't," said Bill, truthfully enough.
"Well, where CAN she be? I've looked everywhere! Even in the pantries."
"Hasn't one load already started?"