The White Alley

"I can't understand it," Miss Abby was saying. "Peters, at what time did you go to Mr. Arnold's room this morning?"

"Shortly after nine o'clock, ma'am."

"Why did you go?"

"Well, ma'am, you see, Mr. Arnold always rings for me promptly at eight-thirty. And this morning he didn't ring, and I waited and waited until after nine, and then I made bold to go and tap at his door. I knocked three times, and he didn't answer, so I ventured to try the door. It wasn't locked, and I went in. Mr. Arnold wasn't there, and his bed hadn't been slept in. The covers were folded just as I always turn them down for him every night. His clothes were not about, and there was no sign of anybody."

"But this is very strange," Miss Abby pursued, quite as if it were Peter's fault. "Why should Mr. Arnold sit up all night?"

"I don't know, ma'am. But if he did do that same, where is he now?"

"He must be somewhere about the place," Miss Abby said decidedly. "Of course there is an explanation. He may have gone for a walk late last night, and have fallen or met with some accident."

"Excuse me, ma'am," Driggs said, "but he couldn't get out of the house."

"Why couldn't he?" Mrs. Duncan inquired.

"Because," Driggs explained, "Mr. Arnold always turns on the burglar-alarm himself every night and I turn it off every morning. When I look at it in the morning, ma'am, the indicator would show if it had been tampered with during the night."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Crane asked, with interest.

"Yes, sir; and if a window or door had been opened during the night while that there alarm was set, there'd have been a ringing of electric bells all over this house, a-making such a din as nobody could have slept through. No, sir, that alarm wasn't touched from the time Mr. Arnold put it on last night, till I put it off this morning. And between them times, they wasn't no door nor window opened or shut in this whole house. Therefore, I says Mr. Arnold must be in the house, because he couldn't get out."

In his intense earnestness, Driggs had almost forgotten his servility of manner, and looking straight at Mr. Crane, spoke as man to man, in the face of a great mystery. Then he turned his gaze to Miss Abby, and though she also was mystified, she nodded her head in corroboration of Drigg's statements and his conclusion there from. 

"I can't understand it," Miss Abby was saying. "Peters, at what time did you go to Mr. Arnold's room this morning?"

"Shortly after nine o'clock, ma'am."

"Why did you go?"

"Well, ma'am, you see, Mr. Arnold always rings for me promptly at eight-thirty. And this morning he didn't ring, and I waited and waited until after nine, and then I made bold to go and tap at his door. I knocked three times, and he didn't answer, so I ventured to try the door. It wasn't locked, and I went in. Mr. Arnold wasn't there, and his bed hadn't been slept in. The covers were folded just as I always turn them down for him every night. His clothes were not about, and there was no sign of anybody."

"But this is very strange," Miss Abby pursued, quite as if it were Peter's fault. "Why should Mr. Arnold sit up all night?"

"I don't know, ma'am. But if he did do that same, where is he now?"

"He must be somewhere about the place," Miss Abby said decidedly. "Of course there is an explanation. He may have gone for a walk late last night, and have fallen or met with some accident."

"Excuse me, ma'am," Driggs said, "but he couldn't get out of the house."

"Why couldn't he?" Mrs. Duncan inquired.

"Because," Driggs explained, "Mr. Arnold always turns on the burglar-alarm himself every night and I turn it off every morning. When I look at it in the morning, ma'am, the indicator would show if it had been tampered with during the night."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Crane asked, with interest.

"Yes, sir; and if a window or door had been opened during the night while that there alarm was set, there'd have been a ringing of electric bells all over this house, a-making such a din as nobody could have slept through. No, sir, that alarm wasn't touched from the time Mr. Arnold put it on last night, till I put it off this morning. And between them times, they wasn't no door nor window opened or shut in this whole house. Therefore, I says Mr. Arnold must be in the house, because he couldn't get out."

In his intense earnestness, Driggs had almost forgotten his servility of manner, and looking straight at Mr. Crane, spoke as man to man, in the face of a great mystery. Then he turned his gaze to Miss Abby, and though she also was mystified, she nodded her head in corroboration of Drigg's statements and his conclusion there from.