Under ordinary circumstances he would have notified a policeman of what was going on. But he reflected that Pepper had done him many kindnesses in the past, and that it was barely possible the man was not doing as much of a wrong as he imagined.

 

"I'll wait a while and see what turns up," he soliloquized, and hid himself in a dark corner, where he could watch not only the library window, but also the side alleyway leading to the street in front of the mansion¹.

 

Slowly the minutes wore away until Nelson felt certain that Sam Pepper was going to remain inside all night.

 

"Perhaps something happened to him," he thought. "Maybe he got a fit, or somebody caught him."

 

He waited a while longer, then, impelled² by[Pg 78] curiosity, approached the balcony, climbed up, and tried to look into the window of the library.

 

As he did this the curtain was suddenly thrust aside, and in the dim light he found himself face to face with Gertrude Horton!

 

He was so astonished that, for the moment, he did not know what to say or do. Gertrude was equally amazed. She quickly raised the window.

 

"What brought you here?" she questioned. "Did you make the noise I heard a while ago?"

 

"No, miss. I—er—I just came," stammered³ our hero. He knew not what to say.

 

"But I heard a noise. It was that which brought me downstairs. What are you doing here?"

 

"I came to see if—if your home was safe."

 

"To see if it was safe?"

 

"Yes. I was on the street a while ago and a man sneaked⁴ in here. Is he around?"

 

"I saw nobody. But I heard a noise, as I said before. I guess I had better investigate. Did the man look like a thief?"

 

"He looked like lots of men," answered Nelson noncommittally.

 

It must be confessed that our hero's head was in a whirl. What had become of Sam Pepper? Was it possible that he had robbed the mansion and made his escape without discovery? And if[Pg 79] he was gone, should he expose the man who, good or bad, had cared for him so many years?

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