Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/166

 canny citizen; one who could put two and two together and get the correct answer in addition most of the time. If it occurred to Eddie that there was anything strange in his employer’s absence—and such a thought was bound to occur to Eddie, because Valentine Morley was not in the habit of staying out in this manner—why, then there might be something doing, Val thought.

And then there was Jessica Pomeroy! Where was she? He had gathered from Teck’s conversation that she had gone away somewhere. As he had seen her last night, he was rather under the impression that if she had indeed gone away in such haste, she had not done so of her own volition. That she knew anything of his present plight he indignantly rejected. Of course, the message he had received had purported to come from her, but he knew she was ignorant of the entire matter. He knew now that it was nothing but a ruse on the part of Teck—a simple ruse which he should have watched for, he told himself—it was so obvious.

And indeed, had anybody but Jessica Pomeroy been involved, he would have been on his guard, because Valentine Morley was not the guileless young man that this chronicle has perhaps led observers to believe. But where Jessica Pomeroy was concerned all ordinary rules went by the board. Val simply lost his head when he thought about her—and there had, to him, been nothing strange in the fact that she should send for him in the middle of the night. Why not? He had told her to send for him if she needed him—and if she needed him in the middle of the night why, that was the time to send for him. It was all simple enough.

But where would she go in such haste? That was the point to be decided, because by now he was firmly of the opinion that she needed him to protect her. If