“What right has any one to make such a disturbance?” he asked, irritably. “If your son is really missing, madam, then the proper way for us will be to summon a detective. I can get one here in ten minutes by the telephone.”
It is not probable that Madame Belotti wished for the services of a detective, even in view of the calamity which had befallen her, for she said hastily:
“I—I—can’t wait. We must go on the next train, because a friend who is dying in New York has telegraphed for us.”
There was a distinct murmur of surprise among the spectators, who must have thought madame quite unmotherly in spite of the great anxiety she had lately shown.
The halls grew very quiet, and Marion drew the bed away from the wall so that the air might reach the little sleeper, and, not daring to lift her to the bed for fear farther search might be made, sat down on the floor by her, happy to hold her little hand in hers, although not yet daring to believe she had really rescued her.
But she was not disturbed again, and when daylight stole in through the closed blinds there was such a profound stillness all over the house that the tired girl’s watchfulness relaxed and she willingly yielded to the sleepiness she had been resolutely fighting off, and, tenderly putting Elfie into the bed, she lay down beside her and slept till the sun was so bright that she was quite sure it must be after ten o’clock.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A DEEP SLEEP.
Late though it was, Elfie was still sleepy and looked in the bright daylight so worn and hollow-eyed that Marion longed to wake her, the sleep seemed so death-like. She was very much puzzled about what to do next. Sending a telegram to Mrs. Abbott was naturally of the first importance, but she would not leave Elfie long enough to do it. True, she might lock her in the room while she ran out to send a dispatch, but in that time the child might wake and cry out and be discovered at once. She thought Madame Belotti’s party had gone, but possibly some order had been left to send her the missing child when found, or one of the women might be waiting in the neighborhood.
A loud knocking at the door startled her out of her perplexed musings.