going, my child," he said. "Sometimes I wish that some nice red-blooded
boy here at home--but I dare say it will turn out surprisingly well as
it is."

"Bishop, Bishop!" Mrs. Moody called. "How naughty of you, and with your
bridge hand waiting to be held!"

He carried his glass back to the table, stopping for a moment beside Mr.
Jennings.

"If Patty becomes any more beautiful," he said, "I shall be in favor of
having her wear a mask. How are we young men to protect ourselves?"

"Pretty is as pretty does!" declared Mr. Jennings from behind his
newspaper, and Miss Patty went out with her chin up.

Well, I knew Mr. Dick had been up to some mischief; I had suspected it
all along. But Miss Patty went to bed, and old Mrs. Hutchins, who's a
sort of lady's-maid-companion of hers, said she mustn't be disturbed. I
was pretty nearly sick myself. And when Mr. Sam came out at five o'clock
and said he'd been in the long-distance telephone booth for an hour
and had called everybody who had ever known Mr. Dick, and that he had
dropped right off the earth, I just about gave up. He had got some
detectives, he said, and there was some sort of a story about his having
kept right on the train to Salem, Ohio, but if he had they'd lost the
trail there, and anyhow, with the railroad service tied up by the storm
there wasn't much chance of his getting to Finleyville in time.

Luckily Mr. Stitt was in bed with a mustard leaf over his stomach and
ice on his head, and didn't know whether it was night or morning. But