He didn’t tell her he hadn’t shut a door. The only thing on his mind was Judy’s door standing open. Old Digs mustn’t go in there and find that she was gone. So he told her he wouldn’t poke around any more, and, glad to be rid of her so easily, went back to the davenport. CHAPTER VI REWARD OF MERIT Punch told me he didn’t know when it happened; whether he dreamed it, or whether it broke over him as he was falling asleep or just in the moment of his waking up. He lay awake for ever so long after promising Miss Digby he wouldn’t go poking around any more, worrying because Judy didn’t come back; wondering what could be in the letter she was willing to risk so much to get; speculating over the mysterious errand of the man in the gray pajamas. But all these thoughts got him nowhere. His mind, so he described it, was just playing leap frog with itself. He saw the sky turn gray, and then pink. Finally, when it was broad day, he fell asleep. And the next thing he knew, Miss Digby was shaking him by the shoulder, telling him it was half past eight and he’d really better go up to his room and dress. His first thought was of Judy’s door, and his first glance showed him that it was shut. But this, he instantly perceived, didn’t mean anything. The servants must have been up for at least an hour. The chambermaid, seeing Judy’s room empty, would have assumed she’d gone for an early ride, made up her room and closed the door after her. However, it was good as far as it went. Judy might be in there, sound asleep in bed. Probably was. Miss Digby gave his shoulder another shake. “Punch, you’re still half asleep,” she insisted. “Get up.” Then he sat up, blinking at her, and realized all in an instant, or thought he did, that he knew the whole thing. The puzzle had worked. “Have you found them yet?” he asked. “Found what?” she demanded impatiently. He must still have looked to her like a sleepy little boy, for she added, “Wake up!” “I’m awake now, all right,” he told her. “Have you found the pearls--the necklace--in grandmother’s room?” “If you aren’t half asleep, you’re out of your head!” she told him sharply. “How should I find them? They were stolen. Have you forgotten? Last night before dinner.” “Sure, they were stolen,” he agreed. “They’ve been brought back. A man brought them back last night. That’s what you heard. Him shutting the door just as he was going out.” She went rather white at that and stood staring at him. It must have been, of course, to that respectable spinster, a perfectly horrifying idea that any man had invaded the room where she was sleeping, let alone a thief. “If you’re joking,” she went on, gathering herself together, “all I can say is that it’s extremely bad taste.” “I’m not joking,” he told her. “Listen. Don’t you remember coming out last night and telling me you’d heard a door shut. I hadn’t shut any door--but I’d seen the man.” “You’d seen a _man_! Going into that room?”