But where was the object of her quest? Surely, Virginia had not gone back home, else Ann would have met her on the way. Looking long and steadily at the house, Ann suddenly descried a dim light burning up-stairs in the front room on the left-hand side of the upper hall. Instinct told her that she ought to search there, and, going back to the house, the determined rescuer crossed the veranda, walked boldly through the open doorway, and tiptoed to the foot of the broad, winding stairway. Loud laughter, the clinking of glasses, and blatant voices raised in harsh college-songs burst upon her. The yawning space through which the stairs reached upward was dark, but with a steady hand on the smooth walnut balustrade, Ann mounted higher and higher with absolutely fearless tread. She had just gained the first landing, and stood there encompassed in darkness, when the door of the drawing-room was suddenly wrenched open and Langdon and Masters, in each other’s arms, playfully struggled into view. "You really must go now, boys," Chester was saying, in a persuasive voice. "I don’t want to be inhospitable, you know, but I have that important work to do, and it must be done to-night. It is a serious legal matter, and I promised to mail the papers to my father the first thing in the morning." "Papers nothing!" Masters cried, in a drink-muffled tone. "This is the first time I ever honored your old ancestral shack with my presence, and I won’t be sent off like a tramp from the door. Besides, you are not open and above-board—you never were so at college. That was your great forte, freezing your friends out of asking questions where your private devilment was concerned. That, and the reputation of your family for fighting duels, kept the whole school afraid of you. On my honor, Dick," he called out to the man in the drawing-room, "I tell you I’m sure I saw a woman with him on the steps of the veranda as we drove up. He had hold of her hand and was pulling her into the hall." "Ah, don’t be absurd," Ann heard Chester say, with a smooth, guarded laugh. "Get in your rig, boys, and drive back to the hotel. I’ll see you in the morning." "Get in the rig nothing!" Masters laughed. "We are going to spend the night here, aren’t we, Dick?" "You bet; that’s what I came for," a voice replied from within. "But let him go do his work, Fred. You and I can finish the game, and empty his decanter. You can’t walk off with my money and not give me a chance to win it back." "Yes, yes, that’s a bang-up idea," Masters laughed, and he pushed Chester by main force back into the light. "You go burn the midnight oil, old man, and I’ll make this tenderfoot telegraph his house for more expense money."