The cars from the Martin house party had been left at the Lodge in readiness and with perfunctory warmth of farewells the tired mountaineers were hastening either to the Lodge or the motors.
"Here's Johnny's car," he sung out. "He's probably inside——" and Bob swung hastily after Ruth and her mother.
He was up the steps beside them and opened the door into the wide hall where a group was lingering about the open fire.
A glance told them Johnny Byrd was not of the company. Bob and Ruth went to the door of the music room. It was deserted. Mrs. Blair went swiftly to the clerk's desk at the side entrance.
She came back, looking upset. Maria Angelina had not returned, to the clerk's knowledge. No one had telephoned any news.
"I'll go up and make sure," offered Ruth, and sped up the stairs only to return in a few minutes with a face of dawning excitement.
"They must be lost!" she announced in a voice that drew instant attention.
"Did you look to see if her things were there?" said her mother in an agitated undertone.
Bob Martin met her glance with swift intelligence.
"Johnny's car is out there," he told them. "It isn't that—they are simply lost, as Ruth says. Wait—I must tell them before they get away," and he hurried out into the increasing downpour.