It had
not been tampered with so far as he could discover, and he returned it
to the pocket.
The mysterious visitor at the mansion, whoever or whatever he was, could
not be regarded as a burglar, or, if he was, he had strangely neglected
his opportunities, for he had failed to appropriate at least five
hundred dollars worth of watches and money, which he could hardly have
helped seeing. His object was not plunder, and there was nothing to
indicate the purpose of his visit. In retiring from the house the
intruder had left the front door ajar: and Christy thought it would
have been the most natural thing in the world to close it, in order to
conceal the way by which he had left the mansion. But he might have done
this to avoid the noise of shutting it, or had neglected it in his haste
to escape.
When he had completed his toilet Christy looked at his watch, and was
rather surprised to find that it was a full hour later than usual when
the call bell had been rung. He went down-stairs, and found his mother
and Florry very busy in the dining-room, setting the table. This was the
man's work, and the young officer was astonished to see his mother and
sister doing it.
"What has broken now, mother?" asked the lieutenant, glancing from one
to the other of the busy couple.
Pages:
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29