CHAPTER XXIX

A SLEEPLESS NIGHT

"Steady, my dear!" came the calm voice of Mrs. Brownley. "Don't go off now. It will be all right."

She put her arms about Sylvia, and the pressure, with the calming words, had an effect. With a shudder the girl held herself back from the brink of a faint.

"But where is Roy?" she faltered, moistening her dry lips with a tongue scarcely more wet. "What has happened to him?"

"That we do not know, my dear young lady," said Professor Russman, who had now ascended the steps of his bungalow, followed by his wife and the servants. "Will you not come in?" he asked, courteously--"you and your friends," and he included them all with a friendly gesture.

"We have been in," said Mrs. Brownley, thinking it best that she should make the explanation now. "We took the liberty of getting our supper. We arrived here--the place was deserted--we could not understand. So we helped ourselves while waiting."

"And you were perfectly welcome--all of you," their host went on. "It is a strange story. If you will come inside I will tell you. Ah, to think of finding you here when we come back from our unsuccessful search--you of all persons in the world!" exclaimed the professor, gazing at Sylvia.

"Your--your unsuccessful search," she repeated, wonderingly. "I do not understand."

"And no wonder," broke in Mrs. Russman. "We cannot understand it ourselves, Sylvia. It is like a dream--a nightmare."

"But is Roy--alive?" his sister faltered.

"Yes, or he was when he rushed out of here an hour or so ago," said the professor, gravely. "You may go on serving the meal," he added to the servants. "My wife will want something and so shall I. Adolph and Mr. Montray may return later."

"Oh, is Harry here too?" asked Sylvia.

"Yes, he was helping us in the search."

"What search?" Sylvia said. She was doing all the questioning, and the others deferred to her, as it was her right.

"Come inside and I will tell you everything," said the professor. "Will you not have a cup of tea?"

"We had plenty," Mrs. Brownley replied. "In fact, we made free to help ourselves."

"I am glad you did," was his friendly retort. "It is no time for ceremony."

Sylvia knew the scientist and his wife, though not as intimately as did Roy. But they welcomed her as an old friend, and her companions also. Soon they were all seated in the dining-room, and while the maids served the belated meal, explanations were made on both sides.

"But why did Roy go away if he was here?" Sylvia asked, when Professor Russman had only begun his remarks.

"I do not know," he answered, gravely. "Perhaps you can explain that. I shall tell you all I know. He came here----"

"And you don't know where he is now?" Sylvia asked. She really could not refrain from the interruption.

"He is out there--somewhere," said Professor Russman, solemnly, and he waved his hand toward the forest that enclosed the bungalow on three sides. In front was Saranac Lake.

"Out--out there?" faltered Sylvia.

"But my son Adolph and Roy's friend, Harry Montray, are searching for him," went on the scientist, with as cheerful a smile as he could summon in the emergency. "Never fear! They will find him and bring him back to us. It is but a temporary whim. Perhaps born of his trouble. Listen, now, and I will tell you."

He led the way into the living-room, while the servants cleared the table. Mrs. Russman, who had been made acquainted, as had her husband, with Mrs. Brownley and the others, had made them welcome most hospitably.

"Roy came to see me with his friend, Harry Montray, arriving yesterday," the scientist went on. "I was surprised to see him, as I did not know he was up here, thinking him with the chemical concern. I was greatly surprised when he told me that he had been ill, and had lost a most valuable chemical secret."

"Isn't it too bad!" exclaimed Sylvia. "We all feel so dreadfully about it; Roy losing his health and all that!"

"So his friend Harry quietly explained to me," the scientist resumed. "Roy wanted to consult with me about some formulas and I was only too glad to help him. He seemed perfectly rational and at times he surprised me by the grasp he had on the subject of coal-tar products. He has made a deep study of them."

"Perhaps too deep," murmured Sylvia. "That is what caused his breakdown."

"So I surmised, after I had talked with him a short time," said Mr. Russman. "Well, to make a long story short, we made him welcome here at the bungalow, and told him he and his companion could stay as long as they liked. I even arranged to go over with him some of the chemical combinations that might lead to his rediscovery of the lost formula. He was seemingly delighted with that."

Mr. Russman paused for breath. Then, almost for the first time, Sylvia and her friends noticed how exhausted and bedraggled were he and his wife, as well as the servants.

"Oh, what have you all been doing?" she asked. "It is unfair of me to keep you talking here when you need rest."

"No, it is all right. It is only that we are tired from having tried to trace Roy through the woods. I have only a little more to tell. Then we shall rest and resume the search."

Rose showed her suffering in her face, but she tried to hide it and even smiled wanly as she glanced at Sylvia.

"I could see that your brother was not in the best of health," went on Professor Russman, "though he had himself pretty well in hand. But the discussion of intricate chemical problems must have been too much for his brain, weakened by his illness.

"However, matters did not seem to be very bad, and I really had hopes that I might lead his memory along the paths from which it had unwittingly strayed.

"We were about to sit down to the dinner table, after a most pleasant afternoon, when your brother, I regret to say, Sylvia, was suddenly seized with a sort of delirium. He was not at all like himself, and, before any of us could stop him, he quickly rose from the table and rushed from the place, out into the woods."

"Without saying a word?" asked Sylvia, her heart beating fast.

"He merely exclaimed: 'I know where to find it! I know where to find it!' Then he rushed out, without his hat, arising so hastily that he overturned his chair.

"Out he rushed, and, for a few seconds, we did not know what to do. It was as though we had all been stricken. Then his friend, Harry, called to us to go after him--that Roy was out of his mind, did not know what he was doing, and might come to some harm.

"Then we, too, servants and all, stopping only to take some lanterns, rushed out after the unfortunate youth. We left everything as it stood, thinking we should soon return. And--well, here we are--we failed in our quest."

And that was the explanation of the deserted bungalow. It was natural enough when the cause was known.

"And you could not find Roy?" asked Sylvia.

"Not a trace of him," returned Mrs. Russman.

"But that is not to be wondered at, considering the darkness and the almost impenetrable forest," her husband added. "We were hampered in our search. We shall renew it under more favourable circumstances in the morning."

"If Roy does not return, by himself, in the meanwhile," said the professor's wife, hopefully.

"Oh, of course, yes," he agreed.

"You say your son, and Roy's friend, are still keeping up the search?" asked Mrs. Brownley.

"Yes," the professor answered. "They went to get some of the professional guides of this neighbourhood, and will institute a general search. They will probably be out all night. They arranged to get something to eat at the house of one of the guides. They both wanted to continue the search, but I felt I must come back to the bungalow. I could not tell what would happen here."

"It was well for us you did come back," Sylvia said. "We did not know what to think."

The girls told their story of having come to the Adirondacks, and of their trip, thus far, into the woods. Professor Russman then gave more details of Roy's strange running away.

"What do you think he meant when he said he knew where to find it?" asked Sylvia.

"I think he referred to the chemical formula. But he was in a delirium, of course," Mr. Russman said, "and was not responsible for what he said."

"Oh, I do hope he returns," his sister cried.

Then began a nerve-racking wait. Some of the girls went to bed, but Sylvia remained up all night, sleepless. Mrs. Brownley sat with her, in her room, and each one started at the slightest sound--listening hopefully.