“Oh, no; we have done the same thing, with her consent, once or twice before, when the house has been full,” was the confident and reassuring reply. “All right; I am ready to occupy it at once,” Earle said, rising, and anxious to be at rest. The clerk hesitated before leading the way. “I ought perhaps to tell you, sir,” he began, “that madam’s daughter is an invalid—she is a little cracked,” he added, touching his forehead significantly, “and sometimes takes on a little during the night. I thought you ought to be told this, so that if you were disturbed you might know the cause and not be alarmed.” “The door between the rooms can be locked, of course?” Earle asked. “Oh, yes; madam keeps it locked on her side, and there is also a bolt upon the other side. The young lady is perfectly harmless, only her brother informed me that when the spells come upon her she moans constantly, as if in distress, and they come on mostly in the night. She may not disturb you at all, however.” “I shall not mind it, now that you have told me this; it might have disturbed me otherwise,” Earle answered, as he wearily turned to follow his guide. Taking the elevator, they were borne into the fourth story, and he was shown into a room at the top of the house. It was a long, rather narrow room, comfortably furnished, and having two doors to it, one leading into the hall, the other into the room adjoining. There was a transom over both doors, and through the one leading into the others of the suite Earle could see a dim light, but all was perfectly quiet within. He looked to see that the bolt was perfectly fast in its socket, and then, giving his neighbors no further thought, he hastily disrobed, and, wearied out, crept into bed. CHAPTER XXVIII EARLE WAYNE’S BOLD VENTURE He almost instantly fell into a profound and dreamless slumber. How long he slept thus he could not have told, but he was suddenly awakened during the night by a low, sobbing noise proceeding from the room on his right. Arousing so suddenly, and being consequently somewhat confused, it seemed to him at first as if some one had called his name. He sat erect in bed and listened. All was silence for a few moments, then he heard the tones of a man speaking as if in anger, and the same low sobbing instantly began again, while a sweet voice seemed pleading for something. Then he heard the man’s voice somewhat louder, and speaking impatiently, as if he had commanded some one to do something, and had not been obeyed. It was followed, as before, by the low sobbing, and a faint, heart-broken moaning that made Earle Wayne feel very strangely. “There is something wrong going on in there,” he muttered to himself. “The clerk said the man would not return here to-night; but it seems he has, and I don’t like the sound of things at all.” He arose and went softly to the door which led into the other apartment.