“I meant to leave in any case,” she said uncertainly.
I said no more. She opened the front door for me. Just as I was passing out, she said suddenly in a low voice:—
“Excuse me, sir, is there any news of Captain Paton?”
I shook my head, looking at her inquiringly.
“He ought to come back,” she said. “Indeed—indeed he ought to come back.”
She was looking at me with appealing eyes.
“Does no one know where he is?” she asked.
“Do you?” I said sharply.
She shook her head.
“No, indeed. I know nothing. But any one who was a friend to him would tell him this: he ought to come back.”