Part 73

"But I hide it pretty well--while she's here," he protested.

"If she's not here too long--and you can get away, in time."

When the two men left the Carrington place, darkness had fallen. As they approached Clarendon, the welcoming brightness of a well-lighted house sprang out to greet them. It was Croyden's one extravagance--to have plenty of illumination. He had always been accustomed to it, and the gloom, at night, of the village residence, bright only in library or living room--with, maybe, a timid taper in the hall--set his nerves on edge. He would have none of it. And Moses, with considerable wonder at, to his mind, the waste of gas, and much grumbling to himself and Josephine, obeyed.

They had finished dinner and were smoking their cigars in the library, when Croyden, suddenly bethinking himself of a matter which he had forgotten, arose and pulled the bell.

"Survent, seh!" said old Mose a moment later from the doorway.

"Moses, who is the best carpenter in town?" Croyden asked.

"Mistah Snyder, seh--he wuz heah dis arfternoon, yo knows, seh!"

"I didn't know it," said Croyden.

"Why yo sont 'im, seh."

"I sent him! I don't know the man."

"Dat's mons'us 'culiar, seh--he said yo sont 'im. He com'd 'torrectly arfter yo lef! Him an' a'nudder man, seh--I didn't know the nudder man, hows'ever."

"What did they want?" Croyden asked.

"Dey sed yo warn dem to look over all de place, seh, an' see what repairs wuz necessary, and fix dem. Dey wuz heah a'most two hours, I s'pose."

"This is most extraordinary!" Croyden exclaimed. "Do you mean they were in this house for two hours?"

"Yass, seh."

"What were they doing?"

"'Zaminin the furniture everywhere. I didn't stays wid em, seh--I knows Mistah Snyder well; he's bin heah off'n to wuk befo' yo cum, seh. But I seed dem gwine th'oo de drawers, an' poundin on the floohs, seh. Dey went down to de cellar, too, seh, an wuz dyar quite a while."

"Are you sure it was Snyder?" Croyden asked.

"Sut'n'y! seh, don't you t'inks I knows 'im? I knows 'im from de time he wuz so high."

Croyden nodded. "Go down and tell Snyder I want to see him, either to-night or in the morning."

The negro bowed, and departed.

Croyden got up and went to the escritoire: the drawers were in confusion. He glanced at the book-cases: the books were disarranged. He turned and looked, questioningly, at Macloud--and a smile slowly overspread his face.

"Well, the tall gentleman has visited us!" he said.

"I wondered how long you would be coming to it!" Macloud remarked. "It's the old ruse, in a slightly modified form. Instead of a telephone or gas inspector, it was a workman whom the servant knew; a little more trouble in disguising himself, but vastly more satisfactory in results."

"They are clever rogues," said Croyden--"and the disguise must have been pretty accurate to deceive Moses."

"Disguise is their business," Macloud replied, laconically. "If they're not proficient in it, they go to prison--sure."

"And if they are proficient, they go--sometimes."

"Certainly!--sometimes."