He did not find the task easy.

It was many hours before the almost stilled pulses began beating again with a perceptible stroke, and the quiet chest to give signs of normal respiration.

Happily for the poor mother, thought and feeling were yet bound.
Long before this the police had been aroused and every effort made to discover a trace of the young man after he left the house of Mr.
Birtwell, but without effect.

The snow had continued falling until after five o'clock, when the storm ceased and the sky cleared, the wind blowing from the north and the temperature falling to within a few degrees of zero.
A faint hope lingered with Mr.Voss--the hope that Archie had gone home with some friend.

But as the morning wore on and he did not make his appearance this hope began to fade away, and died before many hours.
Nearly every male guest at Mrs.Birtwell's party was seen and questioned during the day, but not one of them had seen Archie after he left the house.