But she did not hear the night train when it thundered
through the town; nor the gate as it swung back upon its hinges; nor the
swift step coming up the walk; nor the tap upon her window until it was
repeated, and Richard's voice called faintly, "Mother, mother, let
me in!"

Andy, who was as good as a watch-dog, was awake by this time, and with
his window open was looking down at the supposed burglar, while his hand
felt for some missile to hurl at the trespasser's head. With a start,
Mr. Markham awoke, and, springing up, listened till the voice said
again, "Mother, mother, it's I; let me in!"

The Japan candlestick Andy had secured was dropped in a trice, and
adjusting his trousers as he descended the stairs, he reached the door
simultaneously with his mother, and pulling Richard into the hall, asked
why he was there, and what had happened. Richard did not know for
certain that anything had happened. "Ethie was most probably with Mrs.
Amsden. She would be home to-morrow," and Andy felt how his brother
leaned against him and his hand pressed upon his shoulders as he went to
the stove, and crouched down before it just as he had done in Camden.
The candle was lighted, and its dim light fell upon that strange group
gathered there at midnight, and looking into each other's faces with a
wistful questioning as to what it all portended.

"It is very cold; make more fire," Richard said, shivering, as the sleet
came driving against the window; and in an instant all the morning
kindlings were thrust into the stove, which roared and crackled, and
hissed, and diffused a sense of warmth and comfort through the
shadowy room.

"What is it, Richard? What makes you so white and queer?" his mother
asked, trying to pull on her stockings, and in her trepidation jamming
her toes into the heel, and drawing her shoe over the bungle thus made
at the bottom of her foot.

"Ethie was not there, and has not been since the night I left. She sold
her piano, and took the money, and her trunk, and her clothes, and went
to visit Mrs. Amsden."

This was Richard's explanation, which Andy thought a mighty funny reason
for his brother's coming at midnight, and frightening them so terribly.
But his mother saw things differently. She knew there was something
underlying all this--something which would require all her skill and
energy to meet--and her face was almost as white as Richard's as she
asked, "Why do you think she has gone to Mrs. Amsden's?"