There, it was happening again. Comstock averted his shocked eyes as Grundy put his hand on the girl's w...t and said, "You are to do nothing, my love. You'll stay here in safety. You know that Bowdler and I decided that this is a man's job, and it must stay that way. I'll take no chance of risking your lovely skin...."
Then he turned to Comstock and said decisively. "There's no use waiting any longer, taking chances, risking death the longer we wait. We'll eat, rest a bit, and then, we'll risk all!"
"You mean...." The girl let her voice fade away.
"Tonight, in half an hour," Grundy said, his face set and stern, "Comstock and I will go before the Board of Fathers and challenge The Grandfather!"
Some of his resolution faded and he said more quietly, "But how I wish Bowdler were with us. We three might have stood a better chance. But he had set the time as tonight, and I'll not be false to his trust."
Half an hour, Comstock thought dully. It wasn't long to live ... not long enough at all....
CHAPTER 6
In one way the half hour just vanished. In another, it lasted longer than all the rest of Comstock's life put together. While he stood in the doorway, his back to Grundy and the impassioned l..e scene that Helen and Grundy were enacting as what might be their last farewell, he wondered how thirty minutes which had seemed to go on so long, seemed to fly past so quickly.
He could hear Grundy almost moan, "'Helen thy beauty is to me as ...'", and then harsh and strident, drowning out all other sound, seeming like the sound that was the ultimate that human ears could ever bear to hear there came an enormously amplified voice.