"I was on the top of the cliff, on my own ground, watching
you."
Dead silence followed his answer--a silence through which the sound of
the sea half a mile away swelled terribly, like the roar of a monster
in torment.
Then at last Nick's eyes opened. He looked Grange straight in the
face. "What are you going to do?" he said.
Grange's hands dropped heavily from the chair-arms, and his whole
great frame drooped slowly forward. He made no further attempt at
evasion, realising the utter futility of such a course.
"Do!" he said wearily. "Nothing."
"Nothing?" said Nick swiftly.
"No, nothing," he repeated, staring with a dull intentness at the
ground between his feet. "It's an old story, and the less said about
it the better. I can't discuss it with you or any one. I think it was
a pity you took the trouble to watch me this afternoon."
He spoke with a certain dignity, albeit he refused to meet Nick's
eyes. He looked unutterably tired.
Nick lay quite motionless in his chair, inscrutably still, save for
the restless glitter behind his colourless eyelashes. At length, "Do
you remember a conversation we had in this room a few months ago?" he
asked.
Grange shook his head slightly, too engrossed with his miserable
thoughts to pay much attention.
"Well, think!" Nick said insistently.
Pages:
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325