"On guard, is it?" snorted Phelan. "On guard an" snorin" like a bazoo.
"Tis a fine night watchman ye"d make. But, say, hain"t ye seen nothin"
o" Mr. Gladwin since?"
"Now, I told you, Officer," returned Barnes severely, "that I would let you know just as soon as he returned. I have been keeping guard here, and no one could enter the house without my knowing it. You will kindly return to the kitchen and wait."
"An" you got no word from him?" asked Phelan, in manifest distress.
"No," with emphasis.
"Oh, my! oh, my!" complained Phelan bitterly. "Sure this is the worst muddle I ever got mesilf into! The sergeant will find him in that uniform, sure. It"ll cost me me job, that"s what it will! How late is it now?"
Barnes consulted his watch.
"Five minutes past ten."
"Howly Moses! If I ever get out of this sc.r.a.pe I pity the mon that offers me money fer the lind o" me uniform agin. I"ll grab him by the"----
A sharp ring at the doorbell cut him short and wrote another chapter of tragedy in his countenance.
"h.e.l.lo! there"s some one at the door," spoke up Barnes. "You"d better go and see who it is, Officer."
"Me!" gurgled Phelan. "Me! an" walk into the arms o" Sergeant McGinnis. Let "em stay out, whoever it is, or yez go yersilf."
"All right," said Barnes, "and in case it should be your friend McGinnis you better go and hide in the kitchen, like a brave officer.
I"ll let you know when it"s time to come out."
Phelan did not budge as Barnes left the room, but stood muttering to himself: "How the divvil did I iver let mesilf in fer this thing--I dunno! That"s what love does to yez--a plague on all women! If"----
"Helen, Helen, where are you?" cried a shrill feminine voice that seemed to clutch the very heart of Michael Phelan with a grip of ice.
"Howly murther! What"s that?" he breathed, backing away from the door.
"Help! Murder! Police!" was borne in on him in even more agonized tones, and before he could move another step Mrs. Elvira Burton burst into the room--flushed and wild-eyed--in the throes of one of her famous fits of hysterics.
Phelan took a backward leap as she came toward him, and she yelled:
"Stop! stop! Where"s my niece?"
With his eyes almost out on his cheeks Phelan managed to articulate:
"What, ma"am?"
"You know what I mean--don"t deny it!" Mrs. Burton shrilled.
"I don"t know what yez"re talkin" about," protested Phelan, backing toward the doorway that led to the kitchen.
The hysterical woman stopped, struggling for breath. When she could speak again she said fiercely:
"Who are you?"
"I--I"---- Phelan began.
"Tell me who you are or I"ll have you arrested--I"ll call the police."
"Oh, for the love of hiven, don"t call the police!" begged Phelan, still backing toward the door.
"Then tell me what you are doing here."
"I"ll answer no questions," cried Phelan. With a desperate backward leap he gained the narrow doorway behind and vanished. He pulled the door shut and clung to the k.n.o.b, hearing the m.u.f.fled demand hurled at him:
"Here! Come back here! Helen! Helen! I want my niece! Oh, Helen, come to auntie!"
Then Barnes and the other pretty ward of the distraught Mrs. Burton entered the room. The young man had stopped Sadie in the hallway to ask a few questions and endeavored to soothe the frightened girl. He had taken possession of her hand again and still held it as he led her to the door of the drawing room.
They did not attempt to enter until after the precipitate disappearance of Michael Phelan. As Mrs. Burton stood looking helplessly at the closed door, her ample bosom heaving and her breath coming in short hysterical gasps, Barnes was whispering to Sadie:
"Ah, Miss Sadie, I can"t tell you how overjoyed I am at seeing you again. And so that"s your auntie--fancy that chap refusing to meet her! Why"----
That was as far as he got. Auntie suddenly wheeled round and caught sight of him.
"Ah! Gladwin!" she screamed and made a rush for him.
With all his characteristic aplomb and insouciance Whitney Barnes was unable to face such a rush with any degree of calmness.
"No! no! a mistake!" he retorted and sought to sidestep.
Mrs. Burton was too quick for him and seized his arm in an iron grip.
"Where is Helen? What have you done with her?" she demanded in the same wild tones.
"I-I-I d-d-don"t know," stammered Barnes.
"You have hidden her somewhere and you must give her up," stormed the woman. "You"re a scoundrel--you"re a kidnapper--you"re a wretch."
She flung Barnes from her with all her strength and he slammed against the wall. She was about to charge upon him again when Sadie rushed between them.
"Oh, auntie," she cried. "This is not Mr. Gladwin."
"Of course he isn"t," chimed in Barnes, trying to shake himself together again. "He isn"t Mr. Gladwin at all."
"Then who are you?" cried Mrs. Burton.
"Oh, he"s some one else," Sadie a.s.sured her.
"Yes, you bet I am," continued Barnes, striving his best to appear his usual jaunty self. "I"m some one else entirely different--I-I"m not Gladwin in the least."
"What are you doing here?" shot out Mrs. Burton.