“Why, hello, Penny!” he said, pausing in surprise. “I certainly do. I left my car at home today.”
Beside them, an unhooded Western Union teletype bell began to ring insistently.
“What’s that for?” Penny inquired curiously.
“An incoming telegram,” her father explained. “We have a direct wire with the Western Union office now. It saves sending so many messenger boys back and forth.”
The carriage of the machine began to move and the telegram was typed on the long roll of yellow copy paper.
“Why, it’s for you, Dad!” Penny said in surprise. “A wire from Chicago.”
“Chicago?” Mr. Parker repeated. “Guess we’d better wait and see whom it’s from. By the way, how did you and Mr. Ayling make out this afternoon at the monastery?”
“I haven’t seen him since yesterday, Dad. When I went to the hotel to meet him, he wasn’t there.”
“Busy with other matters perhaps.”
“I suppose so,” Penny agreed, “but he might have notified me. He missed a lot of excitement by not going along.”