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Page 46
I wondered if it would be any relief to her to have Mr. Steele
remain upon the premises. I had heard him come in about three
o'clock and go into the study, and when the time came for her
friends to take their leave, and their voices in merry chatter came
up to my ear from the open boudoir door, I stole down to ask her if
I could suggest it to him. But I was too late. Just as I reached
the head of the stairs on the second floor he came out of the study
below and passed, hat in hand, toward the front door.
"What a handsome man!" came in an audible whisper from one of the
ladies, who now stood in the lower hall.
"Who is he?" asked the other.
I thought he held the door open one minute longer than was
necessary to catch her reply. It was a very cold and
unenthusiastic one.
"That is Mr. Packard's secretary," said she. "He will join the
mayor just as soon as he has finished certain preparations
intrusted to him."
"Oh!" was their quiet rejoinder, but a note of disappointment rang
in both voices as the door shut behind him.
"One does not often see a perfectly handsome man."
I stepped down to meet her when she in turn had shut the door upon
them.
But I stopped half-way. She was standing with her head turned away
from me and the knob still in her hand. I saw that she was
thinking or was the prey of some rapidly growing resolve.
Suddenly she seized the key and turned it.
"The house is closed for the night," she announced as she looked up
and met my astonished gaze. "No one goes out or comes in here
again till morning. I have seen all the visitors I have strength
for."
And though she did not know I saw it, she withdrew the key and
slipped it into her pocket. "This is Nixon's night out," she
murmured, as she led the way to the library. "Ellen will wait on
us and we'll have the baby down and play games and be as merry as
ever we can be,--to keep the ghosts away," she cried in fresh,
defiant tones that had just the faintest suggestion of hysteria in
them. "We shall succeed; I don't mean to think of it again. I'm
right in that, am I not? You look as if you thought so. Ah, Mr.
Packard was kind to secure me such a companion. I must prove my
gratitude to him by keeping you close to me. It was a mistake to
have those light-headed women visit me to-day. They tired more
than they comforted me."
I smiled, and put the question which concerned me most nearly.
"Does Nixon stay late when he goes out?"
She threw herself into a chair and took up her embroidery.
"He will to-night," was her answer. "A little grandniece of his is
coming on a late train from Pittsburgh. I don't think the train is
due till midnight, and after that he's got to take her to his
daughter's on Carey Street. It will be one o'clock at least before
he can be back."
I hid my satisfaction. Fate was truly auspicious. I would make
good use of his absence. There was nobody else in the house whose
surveillance I feared.
"Pray send for the baby now," I exclaimed. "I am eager to begin
our merry evening."
She smiled and rang the bell for Letty, the nurse.
Late that night I left my room and stole softly down-stairs. Mrs.
Packard had ordered a bed made up for herself in the nursery and
had retired early. So had Ellen and Letty. The house was
therefore clear below stairs, and after I had passed the second
story I felt myself removed from all human presence as though I
were all alone in the house.
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