“I got the hoss, Mistuh Stacey,” said Elijah, coming forward with the toy. “Mistuh Jim Bradley, he give it to me to bring. He’s done gone, Mistuh Bradley is.”
“That was sweet of him!” Mrs. Langdon exclaimed.
“What the dickens did he go for?” Stacey remarked regretfully. Jim Bradley? He’d heard the name somewhere.
“You must come over to my place for the night,” he observed. “No, no, it would be silly to go into town when I’ve all those empty rooms,” he added quickly, as Mr. Langdon attempted to protest. “And you’ll want to get back here early in the morning to see to things.”
He was insistent, and they, no doubt, were very tired. At any rate, they yielded.
“A cousin of mine has brought his Ford around,” said Mr. Langdon. “He’ll take us over presently. But—”
“Good! Then Elijah and I will cut across and get things ready,” Stacey concluded.
Back at the house, Stacey plunged into a bath, then hurriedly put on other clothes. But all at once he paused in his dressing and uttered an exclamation. Jim Bradley? Of course! It was the name of the young man who, Elijah said, had threatened to “get” Mr. Langdon. Stacey smiled, then frowned.
Before long the Langdons arrived, with a car-load of rescued clothes. Stacey welcomed them cordially.
“Elijah has your rooms ready,” he said, “and there’s a bathroom next one of them.”