He had taken his pipe and tobacco pouch, but none of his clothing except what he wore. Some underwear had been sent there as he improved, as well as his razor and so on. It was all still in his room.

It was one o’clock in the morning when Tony got the message. The bedroom telephone bells were shut off so that they could not ring during the night, but one of the nurses, below on an errand, heard the one in the library ringing. She came up and told Tony, and as his room was not far from mine I heard her knocking at his door. It took some time to waken him, and the noise roused me also.

“The hospital is calling, Mr. Wainwright. Evans isn’t there,” she said, when he finally replied.

“What do you mean, isn’t there?”

“He’s gone. Disappeared.”

“Gone! Where could he go? All right. I’ll be down in a minute.”

I did not hear him on the telephone, but I was at the top of the stairs when he came up, yawning and only half awake.

“What about Evans?” I asked. “Is anything wrong?”

“Nothing much, I imagine. Old boy’s probably gone out to take a walk. He’s used to being up at night.”

I found myself shivering a little. Somehow I did not think he had merely taken a walk. “I hope that’s all,” I said weakly.

“Of course, that’s all. See here, Pat, don’t look like that. You are all eyes.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Go back to bed, girl. We didn’t bring you here to wear you down.”

He stooped and kissed me lightly; and, of course, Bessie, having heard the noise, chose that moment to open her door at the end of the wing. She did not speak for a moment. She stared at us, and I dare say we looked like a couple of bad children. Then she smiled unpleasantly. “I hate to spoil anything, Tony,” she said coldly, “but what’s all the fuss about?”

“Only old Evans out for a night walk. But the hospital is worried.”

I thought she looked startled. Certainly she was puzzled, as though she could not fit this piece into some mental jigsaw of her own. But she merely shrugged.

“Well, sorry to have butted in,” she said coolly, and closed her door, leaving both of us feeling rather ridiculous. Tony recovered first. He grinned down at me.

“You shouldn’t have looked like a scared little girl,” he said. “My fault anyhow. Excuse it, please.”

He must have dressed in a hurry, for soon I heard his car going out at its usual reckless speed. It was four in the morning when he came back. He tapped lightly at my door and I opened it.

“Evans hasn’t come back,” he said. “Don’t let Mother know. And don’t get any ideas in your head. He went of his own free will, by his window. But I’m off to see Conway. No use letting the poor old boy go wandering around alone at night. He can’t go far. He had only a dollar or two in his pockets.”