CHAPTER V.
THE ALARM IN THE NIGHT.
It was about eleven o’clock of the forenoon when Captain Rudstone departed. I smoked a quiet pipe, and then sought out Baptiste; he had a little box of a room over the hotel kitchen. I found the rascal but half-sobered, so heavily had he liquored on the previous night, and I angrily bade him stay in bed for the rest of the day. Miss Hatherton did not come down to dinner, and I had for company in the coffee room Mr. Christopher Burley; there were no other guests in the house at the time.
Neither of us was in a talkative mood, and very brief speech passed between us. But shortly after the meal I met him again at the bar, where he was paying his account. He looked ready for a journey, having his hat on and a portmanteau in his hand.
“You are leaving, sir?” I asked politely.
“I return to Montreal to-day,” he replied, “and later I go West. You, I believe, are bound shortly for the North?”
I nodded assent.
“We may meet in the future,” he went on; “and meanwhile I trust you will remember that name—Osmund Maiden.”
“I will bear it in mind,” I promised, “and I wish you every success in your errand.”