"I don't know that anything has broken," replied Mrs. Passford, with a smile, after she had said good-morning to her son.
"You and Florry are not in the habit of setting the table, mother; and the first bell rang an hour later than usual," added Christy.
"We were all disturbed last night, and I did not wake till the cook knocked at my door. She told me she could not find Walsh, and breakfast had been ready half an hour. That is the reason why everything is late this morning," Mrs. Passford explained.
"But where is Walsh?" inquired Christy.
"I am sure I do not know. I called in the coachman, and he has been to his room and looked all over the place without finding him."
"That is very odd," mused the officer, wondering whether this sudden disappearance had anything to do with the principal event of the preceding night.
"Peach says he has taken his valise with him, which indicates that he has gone for good."
"Who is Peach?" asked Christy, who had been at home so little that he hardly knew the names of the servants.
"He is the coachman. I am not sorry that Walsh has gone, for he has saved me the trouble of discharging him. Wilder, who had been with us so many years, took it into his head to enlist in the army, and I was not willing to persuade him to shirk his duty. Walsh has not been here quite two weeks. He said he was born in the West Indies; but he was always prying into matters that did not concern him, and I have several times found him standing at the door when we were talking about family matters. I reproved him for it; but it did no good. Your father intended to discharge him as soon as he returned from Washington."
Christy went to the library, and busied himself in considering whether or not the sudden departure of Walsh had any connection with the mysterious midnight intruder. The two events had been near together in point of time; but he could establish no other relation between them. Then it flashed upon his mind that the man-servant had been the person who had opened or closed his door, and visited his room; but he was sure he had seen a man near the grand entrance of the estate. He had been all around the house, and Walsh could not have escaped his observation. He had answered the bell, and admitted him after his search. He concluded that the servant was not the person who had disturbed his slumbers.