"John--" she said below her breath.
For answer, he moved towards her. His face was bereft of
color; there was a look of consternation in his eyes. "Come!"
he said. "Come at once! I must take you home." He spoke in
a shaken, uneven voice.
Eve, looking up at him, caught his hand. "Why? Why?" she
questioned. Her tone was low and scared.
Without replying, he drew her imperatively towards the stairs.
"Go very softly," he commanded. "No one must see you here."
In the first moment she obeyed him instinctively; then,
reaching the head of the stairs, she stopped. With one hand
still clasping his, the other clinging nervously to the
banister, she refused to descend. "John," she whispered, "I'm
not a child. What is it? What has happened? I must know."
For a moment Loder looked at her uncertainly; then, reading
the expression in her eyes, he yielded to her demand.
"He's dead," he said, in a very low voice. "Chilcote is
dead,"
XXXIV
To fully appreciate a great announcement we must have time at
our disposal.
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