“Patty—­Pat-ty!  Bill!  Where are you both?”

Mona’s voice rose high as she called, and it was joined by others calling the same two names.

“They’re calling, we must go!” exclaimed Patty.

“Go!  Nothing!” cried Big Bill, savagely.  He glanced round,—­he saw the dumb-waiter, built large and roomy in accordance with all the plans of “Red Chimneys.”

In about three seconds he had picked Patty up, and before she knew it, she found herself sitting on the top shelf of that big dumb-waiter, and, moreover, she found herself being lowered, at first slowly, and then rapidly.

She was about to scream when she heard Big Bill whisper softly, but commandingly, “Not a word!  Not a sound!  I’ll pull you up in a few minutes.”

She heard the doors above her close.  She was in total darkness.  She had no desire to scream, but she was consumed with laughter.

Farnsworth had hidden her!  Hidden her from Mona and the others, in the dumb-waiter!  What a man he was!  She had no idea what he intended to do next, but she was not afraid.  It was an escapade, and of all things Patty loved an escapade!

After closing the doors, Bill put out the light in the butler’s pantry, opened the door, slipped through the dimly lighted dining-room, and came around by a side hall to the group in the main hall.

“Calling me?” he said.  “I was just coming to say good-bye to you all.  Where’s Patty?”

“That’s what we want to know,” said Mona.  “We thought she was with you.”

“She isn’t,” said Bill, truthfully enough.

“Well, where can she be?  I’ve looked everywhere!  Even in the pantries.”

“Hasn’t one load already started?”

“Yes, Aunt Adelaide and the Kenerleys have gone.”

“Didn’t she go with them?”

“Why, she must have done so.  Well, good-bye, dear old Bill, come and see us again next summer, won’t you?”

“I will so!” and Bill shook Mona’s hand mightily, as an earnest of his words.

“And I’m sorry to go off and leave you, but you go to the station in a few minutes, don’t you?”

“Yes, and Barker will look after me.  Run along, Mona, I’ll write you in a day or two, and tell you how much I’ve enjoyed my visit here.”

Some further cordial good-byes were said, and then the car started off with Daisy, Mona, and Cromer to the Country Club.  Farnsworth flew back to the pantry.

“Hello,” he said, as he drew up the dumb-waiter, “you will evade me, will you, you little bunch of perversity?”

Patty, who was still laughing at his daring deed, said, “Have they all gone?” “They sure have!  You and I are here all alone.”

“Oh, Bill!” and Patty’s lip quivered a little.  “How could you do that?  What shall I do?”

“Now don’t get ruffled, little one; my train goes in twenty minutes.  You’re going to the station to see me off, and then Barker will take you on to the Country Club to join the rest of them.  You won’t be half an hour late!”