"About me?"
"Yes."
"Is he really suffering?" Mary asked.
"I think so."
The girl considered very thoughtfully indeed.
"Maybe I"d better go out there and quiet him, poor little boy!" she said staggeringly. "He"ll believe me if I tell him the truth and----"
"I wouldn"t do that!" Anthony exploded. "He"s wildly excited now, and the truth might not appeal to him as reasonable."
Again Mary hesitated, causing his blood to congeal.
"Very well. Then get rid of him now!" she said sharply. "If he ever came down here and found me, all the explaining in the world would never help!"
"He will not," Anthony said impatiently. "Bob isn"t the sort to stray about one"s apartment and----"
And from the corridor came:
"She"s gone, Boller! Johnson, she"s gone!"
And steps came in their direction, too, and while Mary Dalton turned to flame, Anthony Fry turned to ice! He was coming and coming steadily, and the door was open fully two inches. He was abreast of them now and faithful Johnson Boller apparently was with him, for they heard--
"Well, I wouldn"t go wandering around like that, old man. Come back and sit down and we"ll talk it over."
"I"ll sit here on the window-seat!" Robert Vining panted.
"Don"t do that," Mr. Boller protested. "No, not there, Bobby! That"s weak and likely to go down in a heap with you!"
The steps ceased. Through ten terrible seconds Anthony Fry and lovely Mary stood listening to the panting of the afflicted youth. Then:
"My G.o.d, Johnson!" he cried wildly. "I--I want to look over the whole world at once for her! I want to look into every room in New York! I want to look into every room in this place and then tear out and look----"
"Yes, but you couldn"t do that," Johnson Boller a.s.sured him soothingly.
"Now, cut out the mad-house talk, old man, and come back. Have one of Anthony"s good, strong cigars and I"ll dig out that brandy he keeps for his best friends. Don"t go nosing around these rooms!" said Johnson Boller, and simultaneously they caught the shiver in his voice and saw the door move as Vining"s hand landed on the k.n.o.b. "Just control yourself and come back."
Robert Vining laughed hideously and helplessly.
"I suppose I"m making an a.s.s of myself!" said his weak voice. "I can"t help it! On my soul, I can"t help it. Give me a shot of the brandy, though, and maybe I"ll steady a bit!"
Something like one hundred years pa.s.sed; then the hand slid from the door and they could hear Johnson Boller leading the sufferer gently away from the shock of his whole lifetime. Mary, her eyes closed for a moment, gripped herself and spoke very softly:
"Mr. Fry, if--if you don"t get that boy out of here and then find a way of sending me home--if you don"t do it instantly, I"m going out there to Bob and tell him that you brought me here and kept me here all night against my will! After that, whatever happens, happens!"
Life returned to Anthony"s frozen legs.
"I will go!" he managed to say, and he went.
The brandy was already within Robert Vining, yet it seemed to have made small difference in his condition. The young man"s eyes were wild and rolling; they rested on Anthony for a moment as if they had seen him before but could not quite place him.
"You--you"ve been telephoning," he said.
"Not yet," said Anthony, "but if you"ll run along and do your share, I"ll think up ways of helping you."
"My share?" Vining echoed.
Mentally, he was not more than half himself. Anthony Fry, therefore, grew very firm and very stern, pleasantly certain that Robert was paying no heed to his pallor or the uncontrollable shake that had come to his hands.
"If the girl has really disappeared," he said steadily, "your part is not to be sitting here and whining for help, Robert. Why don"t you get out and hustle and see if you can"t get track of her? Have you gone to all her friends?"
"Eh? No!"
"Then go now!" said Anthony Fry. "You know her girl friends? Get after the most intimate at first--and get about it!"
Here he scowled, and Robert Vining, rising, shook himself together.
"You"re right, Anthony," he said. "I"m an a.s.s; I"ve lost my head completely this last hour. I--I caught it from her father, I think; the man"s going about like an infuriated bull, swearing to kill everybody in the world if Mary isn"t returned and--but you"re right, old chap. Thank you for steadying me." Robert concluded bravely. "Where"s my hat? I"ve been wearing it all this time, eh? Good-by, Anthony. Good-by, Johnson."
He tried to smile at them--and he fled. This time it was Johnson Boller who turned weak at his going. Mr. Boller, smiling at his old friend in a sickly, greenish way, dropped into a chair and mopped his forehead.
"Narrow squeak, Anthony!"
"Yes!" Anthony agreed, with some difficulty.
"I was never so scared as that in all my life!" Johnson Boller went on faintly. "I thought sure I"d have to watch it and--Anthony, it turned me so sick I could hardly stand on my feet!"
"What did?"
"The idea of seeing you shot down there," Mr. Boller said with a shudder. "Gad! I could picture the whole thing, Anthony! I could see him start and look at you both--I swear I could see him pull a gun from his pocket and shoot! I could see the blood spurting out of your forehead, Anthony, and hear the chicken screech, and it turned me so infernally sick----"
"Didn"t think of any of my sensations, did you?" Anthony asked caustically.
"As a matter of fact--no, I didn"t!" muttered Johnson Boller, with another great shiver. "What do your confounded sensations matter, anyway? This whole affair is your fault, not mine! You deserve whatever you get--I don"t! You"ve got n.o.body in the world to worry over you, but I"ve got a _wife_, Anthony!"
"You have mentioned it before."
"And I"m likely to mention it again!" said Mr. Boller savagely. "You know, Anthony, I"m about through with this thing! I"m a nervous man, and I can stand about so much suffering of my own, but I don"t see the idea of taking on yours as well. And what is more, this thing of introducing this girl as my wife is----"
"Well? What is it?" Mary herself asked very crisply, appearing in her disconcertingly and silent fashion.
Johnson Boller smiled feebly.
"It"s very flattering in some ways, Miss--Miss Dalton, but for a man like me, who loves his wife, you know, and all that sort of thing----"
His voice thinned out and died before the decidedly cold light in Mary"s eye. It seemed to Johnson Boller that she had a low opinion of himself; and when she looked at Anthony he noted that she had a low opinion of Anthony as well.
"Have you settled it yet!" she snapped.