Her fear told in her voice now as she summoned Moses, who had just entered the Grimsby-Atwater living-room with a scuttle of coal.
“Monstus strange,” declared Moses solemnly, as he stood with his wife before Enoch’s untouched bed. “It suttinly am monstus strange, Tildy,” he repeated, shaking his woolly head dubiously. “Dar’s his gripsack sho’ ’nouf,” he exclaimed, opening the closet door. “Yo’ sho’ he didn’t say nuffin ’bout gwine away? Rack yo’ brain, honey, an’ stop yo’ tremblin’, won’t do no good to go on dat-a-way.”
“Last time I seen him,” declared Matilda, “was yisterday when I was breshin’ up de sittin’-room. He sot over dar yonder in de big chair a-readin’ of his mail.”
“An’ he didn’t say nuffin ’bout gwine away?” Moses insisted.
“Nuffin mo’en ‘good mornin’, Matildy.’ Bimeby I done got through ma dustin’, an’ was a-gwine in to make his bed, when I seen him open one er de letters what come dat mornin’. He tar it open like it was a-hidin’ some news from him. Den he done read it anxious like. Den he jump up from de big chair an’ grab his hat an’ overcoat, an’ slap out de do’, lickety-split. Didn’t even close de do’. Den I run an’ look out de winder, an’ I seen him. He was a-walkin’ fast—like he couldn’t walk no faster—an’ a shakin’ of his head. I tell yo’, nigger, somethin’ was monstus heavy on his mine. I never seen Marser Crane like dat befo’.”
“Which-a-way was he a-goin’?” asked Moses anxiously.
“I dunno which-a-way he was a-goin’, but he done turned de corner leadin’ to de Broadway.”
When that night Enoch did not return, and no word had come from him, Moses and Matilda could no longer keep their fears secret. They informed the household. Joe seemed to be less alarmed and more philosophical than the rest. It was more probable, he assured them all, that Enoch had been hurriedly called away on important business, had even sent word of his intended absence, and the letter or telegram miscarried.
When the next night he did not return Joe, too, became alarmed. He called at three of Enoch’s clubs, only to learn that Mr. Crane had not entered any of them for over a week. Neither had he been at his office in South Street.