"I couldn't," snapped Dr. McPherson. "I didn't know whether you were talking _again_ or _still_."
Mrs. Batholommey was hurt, and she showed it in the reproachful look she cast at the doctor's unassailable, uninterested back.
"Oh, of course," she said, "all these little matters sound trivial to you. But men like you couldn't look after the workings of the _next_ world, if other people didn't attend to _this one_. _Somebody_ has to do it," she ended triumphantly.
"I fully appreciate the fact, Mistress Batholommey, that other people are making it possible for me to be _myself_----"
Here the conversation was interrupted by a couple of raps on the window pane.
"What's that?" cried Mrs. Batholommey, jumping up in alarm.
"Telegram for Frederik Grimm," came a voice from the darkness, and a form was silhouetted against the moonlight.
"Mr. Grimm's down at the hotel," said Mrs. Batholommey, hastily throwing up the window, "but I'll sign for it. Where do I sign?" she fluttered. "Oh, yes, I see, _here_!"
She wrote Frederik's name, then handed back the book to the telegraph boy, and closed the window. Just as she laid the telegram on the desk, Mr. Batholommey came into the room.
"Well, Doctor," he said with veiled sarcasm, "I would by all means suggest that we don't judge Frederik until the information Willem has _volunteered_ can be verified."
Then he got up and went to the telephone.
Mr. Batholommey betook himself to the vestibule and began to put on his rubbers with methodical care.
"However, I regret," (he went on as easily as if the doctor had not grunted) "that Frederik has left the house without offering some sort of explanation."
"Four--red?" pursued the doctor. "That you, Marget? I'm at Peter's. I mean--I'm at the Grimms'. No, don't wait up for me. Send me my bag here. I'll stay the night with Willem. Bye."
He put up the receiver and began to collect his scattered papers.
"Good-night, Doctor," said the clergyman. "Good-night, Rose."
He started toward the door, but the doctor called him back.
"Hold on, Mr. Batholommey!" he interposed. "I'm writing an account of all that's happened here to-night--from the very beginning. I've an idea it's going to make a stir. It's just the sort of thing the Society has been after----"