[CHAPTER XIX—THE MAN BY THE RUIN.]
Leslie reached her own door; she eagerly turned the handle. The door was locked. She called Annie’s name; there was no answer of any sort. She then knelt down and endeavored to peer through the keyhole. The room was in darkness. Had Annie gone to bed and really forgotten her? For a moment Leslie felt quite alarmed. Her own special friends had already retired to their rooms. She could not well stay in the corridor all night; but she was not really thinking of herself nor her own inconvenience. She was terribly anxious about Annie. Suppose she had gone out! Suppose she was not in her room at all! Again Leslie rattled the handle of the door. There was no reply. At that moment the door of the room next to the one at which she was knocking was opened, and Susan Merriman looked out.
“Oh, is that you, Miss Gilroy?” she exclaimed. “Can I do anything for you?”
“No, thank you,” replied Leslie; “this door is locked, and I am afraid Miss Colchester has gone to bed and forgotten all about me. If so, I will ask Jane Heriot to take me in until the morning.”
“I am sure Annie Colchester has not gone to bed,” replied Susan. “I saw you leave your room on the way to East Hall this evening, and a moment afterwards she came out and ran down the back-stairs. I thought, of course, she had gone across to the hall. Was she not there?”
“No,” replied Leslie; “she did not come to the meeting;
did you not observe when the roll was gone through that her name was missing?”
“I did not notice it,” answered Susan; “but what a scrape she will get into! How silly of her!”
“Well, please don’t tell anyone that I found the door locked when I returned,” said Leslie.
“Certainly not. Why should I? Can I do anything for you? Would you like to wait in my room until she comes back?”