“Then Rex must have gone.  I am very sorry to have troubled you, Mrs. Harrington.”  Roy now made a little bow, and he hurried off.

“Then he wanted that three dollars from me to spend on the trip,” he was saying to himself.  “But that wouldn’t have been enough.  He must have used the money he said he was saving up for mother’s present.  Ah, Reggie, I didn’t think it of you!”

When he told the news at home there was a good deal of discussion concerning what ought to be done about it.

“Let him alone,” suggested Jess.  “He feels bad enough about it by this time.”

“But I don’t know when he will be back,” said Mrs. Pell.

Eva suggested that they write him a letter in care of young Harrington and request him to come home at once, but it was Sydney’s idea that was acted on.

A telegraphic dispatch was sent to Dudley Harrington, Yale, New Haven.

“Is Reginald Pell with you?” it ran.

The answer came duly, “No, he is not.”

The family looked at one another, consternation depicted in their faces.  Sydney tried to comfort them by explaining that doubtless Harrington was inclined to be very literal under the circumstances and that Rex was not with him because he had just started for home.

But Mrs. Pell was not content to rest under this uncertainty.  Another message was sent to New Haven reading thus: 

“Did Reginald Pell start away from Philadelphia with you?”

The response to this was one word, “Yes.”

The Pells were now really alarmed.  It was decided that Sydney should start the first thing:  Saturday morning for New Haven, but Friday night he was seized with another of his bad turns, which had been growing more and more frequent of late.  Roy offered to go in his place, and Mrs. Pell consented to the substitution.

So Roy set out and reached New Haven in the course of the afternoon.  He would have enjoyed the trip if his mind had not been so worried about Rex.  He found Harrington’s room with little trouble.

He heard the notes of the banjo issuing from inside.  He had to knock hard before he could make himself heard.

There were three fellows there, two of them in the luxuriously cushioned window seat.  Roy was a little dazzled by the unexpected splendor of the room.

He knew Harrington, of course, the fellow in the blue striped blazer.  He went up to the collegian at once.

“I guess you know me,” he said.  “I’m Roy Pell, Rex’s brother.  I came up to find out what you could tell me about him.”

The three fellows exchanged glances.

“Why, isn’t he home?” answered Harrington.

“No.  When did he leave New Haven?”

“He hasn’t been to New Haven,” replied Harrington slowly.

“Not been here!” exclaimed Roy.  “Where did you leave him, then?”

“In New York.”

“When?”

“Wednesday night”