ne!" he called, as the maid passed the door. "Go up to Miss
Davila's room and tell her it's half-after-seven."

Then he continued with the story he was relating.

Presently, the maid returned; the Captain looked at her,
interrogatingly.

"Mis' Davila, she ain' deah, no seh," said the girl.

"She is probably in Miss Cavendish's room,--look, there, for her," the
Captain directed.

"No, seh! I looks dyar--she ain' no place up stairs, and neither is
Mis' Cav'dish, seh. Hit's all dark, in dey rooms, seh, all dark."

"Very singular," said the Captain. "Half-after-seven, and not here?"

"They were here, two hours ago," said Croyden. "We had tea with them."

"Find out from the other servants whether they left any word."

"Dey didn', seh! no, seh! I ax'd dem, seh!"

"Very singular, indeed! excuse me, sirs, I'll try to locate them."

He went to the telephone, and called up the Lashiels, the Tilghmans,
the Tayloes, and all their neighbors and intimates, only to receive the
same answer: "They were not there, and hadn't been there that
afternoon."

"This is amazing, sirs!" he exclaimed. "I will go up myself and see."

"We are at your service, Captain Carrington," said Macloud
instantly.--"At your service for anything we can do."

"They knew, of course, you were expected for dinner?" he asked, as he
led the way upstairs.--"I can't account for it."

The Captain inspected his granddaughter's and Miss Cavendish's rooms,
Macloud and Croyden, being discreet, the rooms on the other side of the
house. They discovered nothing which would explain.

"We will have dinner," said the Captain. "They will surely turn up
before we have finished."

The dinner ended, however, and the missing ones had not returned.

"Might they have gone for a drive?" Macloud suggested.

The Captain shook his head. "The keys of the stable are on my desk,
which shows that the horses are in for the night. I admit I am at a
loss--however, I reckon they will be in presently, with an explanation
and a good laugh at us for being anxious."

But when nine o'clock came, and then half-after-nine, and still they
did not appear, the men grew seriously alarmed.

The Captain had recourse to the telephone again, getting residence
after residence, without result. At last he hung up the receiver.

"I don't know what to make of it," he said, bewildered. "I've called
every place I can think of, and I can't locate them. What can have
happened?"

"Let us see how