“That will be all right. We’ll just put up a sign. ‘Closed for repairs,’ and nobody will be the wiser whether it is repairs on the place itself or one of the inmates. I fancy we had better not mention this to anyone, don’t you, Dr. Coles?”
“Perhaps it would be just as well. When Mrs. Dexter gets stronger, she can talk about it if she chooses. That is her affair. In the meantime, I’ll be around in the morning. I am giving her a sleeping powder to insure a good night’s rest. Who are the tenants she says are going in the old Hathaway house?”
“A blind gentleman and his young son. They have a Chinese cook and hail from the far west, so I hear.”
“Well, I hope they won’t give our poor little friend any trouble. She has had enough. Fortunately she is blessed with a robust constitution. Her pulse is strong and I am not looking for any trouble from this—this—whatever this supposed telephone call might be called. She is a very sensible young person and not at all emotional. It was a thing that might have happened to anyone who had gone through so much in the last few months. The dark, mysterious looking house and all the memories that had crowded around her and then the thought of the wireless message she got from her husband the night her grandfather had that stroke—all of these things might easily combine so that she might fancy anything. Keep her quiet and cheerful and let me know if you need me. I am glad Mrs. Dexter has such a level-headed friend.”
“Even though I gave way and cried?”
“Oh, that was good for you. I was glad to see you do it. Now I can trust you not to go to pieces after I leave.”
Mary Louise slept through the night, thanks not only to the powder the doctor gave her but to a kind of peace that had fallen on her. She felt tired and had a sense of sweet restfulness and protection. She no longer worried, no longer sorrowed. The color returned to her pale cheeks and the breath came softly and regularly. Josie watched her anxiously until she realized that all was well with her dear little friend and then she went to sleep herself and dreamed wonderful dreams about catching and jailing evil-doers and finding Colonel Hathaway’s lost fortune all by herself without the aid of Captain Charley Lonsdale and his bungling assistants.
CHAPTER XIX
A MIDNIGHT CALLER
The blind gentleman with his son and the Chinese cook moved into the Hathaway house very quietly, so quietly that nobody saw them when they came, although Aunt Hannah Conant took particular pains to watch for them. They must have come in while she was seeing to it that the ice man didn’t track up her clean kitchen. They had paid a month’s rent in advance, procured the key from the agent, and taken possession.