"Tenney," said Raven, "I've got bad news for you."
"Yes," said Tenney blankly. "She's run away. You carried her off this mornin'. You don't need to tell me that."
"I didn't carry her off," said Raven, speaking slowly and clearly, for he had a feeling that Tenney was somehow deaf to him. "Tira went over to Mountain Brook yesterday. Nan knew she was going, and this morning she was worried, because she got thinking of Tira's crossing the stepping stones. She asked me to take her over there. We found her. She was drowned."
Tenney's eyes had shifted from Raven's face. The light had gone out of them, and they clung blankly to the tree spaces and the distance.
"Have it your own way," said Tenney, in as blank a tone. "Settle it amongst ye."
"We shall go over to-morrow," said Raven. "Will you go with us?"
"No," said Tenney.
"Drownded herself," he said, at length. "Well, that's where it led to. It's all led to that."
"She slipped," said Raven roughly. "Don't you understand? Anybody could, off those wet stones."
"You open that door," said Tenney, "an' gimme my gun."