"Could n't what? I sat up until two o'clock this morning in the lobby. I was awake in my room here two hours after that!"
"You must be mistaken, sir. We rang your room telephone several times yesterday, and pounded at your door without getting an answer."
"I was away during the day, but I was here all last night. I asked you particularly if any call had been received for me."
The clerk smiled tentatively.
"The chamber-maid found you in bed at eleven o'clock in the morning, sir."
"The chamber-maid must have come into the wrong room," answered Donaldson, beginning to suspect that he had caught the two men in the act of thieving. "I was n't in bed at all yesterday, and left the city at nine o'clock."
The clerk hitched uneasily. It was evident to him that Donaldson had been drinking, and had the usual morning-after reluctance about admitting it. The night telephone operator had said that he had acted queer. However, as long as the man was n't dead this did n't concern him.
"Sorry the mistake was made, sir," he replied, anxious now to conciliate the guest. "I would n't have bothered you only the lady said the call was urgent."
"Good lord, man, what call?"
"It is to ring up Miss Arsdale's house at once, sir."