“Did you know that the speaker at present in Room 18 has been torn open, probably during the night?”
“What!”
“Evidently the—er—visitor in Room 18 to-night thought what we thought and did not know that the original speaker in Room 18 had been removed. Or else——” He left his sentence uncompleted, turned abruptly and strode down the hall to Sonny’s room.
I followed him to the door. Sonny was awake.
“Good-morning,” said O’Leary kindly. “It is rather early in the morning for young fellows like you to be awake. Look here, Sonny, the other night Miss Keate brought in a loud-speaker for the radio attachment, just like this one in my hand. She left it here and took away the one that you already had on your table. Then last night, she came in and took away the speaker she had left with you. I want to know whether the loud speaker she took away last night was the very same speaker she brought in here.”
Sonny looked bewildered and O’Leary repeated his question patiently and clearly.
“Why, no,” said Sonny finally. “That speaker she brought in wouldn’t work.”
“What happened to it, then?”
“Why”—Sonny frowned—“Miss Day was in to see me and I told her the speaker wasn’t working so she took it away and brought me another. The one she brought in worked fine. But Miss Keate came and got it last night.” He looked reproachfully at me.
“Thank you, Sonny,” said O’Leary briefly.