The clerk went to consult with one of the proprietors, and then returned, saying they would give him a room in which to sleep that night, if he did not mind a little noise now and then, and by another day there would probably be better accommodations for him.
“I shall mind nothing, so that I can have a bed on which to rest,” the tired traveler said, much relieved by the intelligence.
“I shall have to give you one of a suite of rooms hired by a lady and her daughter. It is reserved for her son, who occasionally visits her and remains over night. He went away this morning, and, as he probably will not be here to-night, you can have that room,” explained the clerk.
“Will not the madam object?” Earle asked, instinctively recoiling from the idea of in any way incommoding a lady.
“Oh, no; we have done the same thing, with her consent, once or twice before, when the house has been full,” was the confident and reassuring reply.
“All right; I am ready to occupy it at once,” Earle said, rising, and anxious to be at rest.
The clerk hesitated before leading the way.
“I ought perhaps to tell you, sir,” he began, “that madam’s daughter is an invalid—she is a little cracked,” he added, touching his forehead significantly, “and sometimes takes on a little during the night. I thought you ought to be told this, so that if you were disturbed you might know the cause and not be alarmed.”
“The door between the rooms can be locked, of course?” Earle asked.
“Oh, yes; madam keeps it locked on her side, and there is also a bolt upon the other side. The young lady is perfectly harmless, only her brother informed me that when the spells come upon her she moans constantly, as if in distress, and they come on mostly in the night. She may not disturb you at all, however.”