Arthur silently turned and led the way into the house, where Patsy, Beth and Helen Hahn, all three worn and haggard, met them in the hall.
“Louise?” asked Arthur.
“Sleeping quietly,” replied Beth. “Marcia is sitting beside her.”
“Has Dr. Knox gone?”
“No; he’s in the library, smoking. Eulalia is getting him something to eat, for it seems he missed his dinner.”
“Why, so did I!” trilled big Runyon, in his clearest tenor. “I’ve just remembered it.”
“You must all eat something,” declared Patsy, “else you won’t be fit to continue the search. Go to the library—all of you—and Beth and I will see what we can find in the kitchen.”
[CHAPTER X—CONJECTURES AND ABSURDITIES]
In somber procession the men trailed up the stairs to the big library, where a dapper little man sat reading a book and puffing at a huge cigar. He looked up, as they entered, and nodded a head as guiltless of hair as was that of Uncle John. But his face was fresh and chubby, despite his fifty years, and the merry twinkle in his gray eyes seemed out of place, at first thought, in this house of anxiety and distress.
“Ah, Weldon; what news of little Jane?” he cheerfully inquired.