“Yes, sit down,” said Allan, moved with pity at the other’s bedraggled and exhausted condition. He brought forward the box which served as washstand, and pressed Nevins gently down upon it.
The latter resisted for a moment; then, suddenly, he collapsed in a heap upon the box and buried his face in his hands, his whole body shaken by a dry, convulsive sobbing.
[CHAPTER XV]
LIGHT IN DARK PLACES
The paroxysm lasted only for a moment, then Nevins pulled himself together with a mighty effort, looking about him with a pitiful attempt at bravado. Mr. Schofield glanced at him, then turned his back, for Nevins’s countenance, not engaging at any time, was now positively hideous.
“Go ahead with your story, Welsh,” he said.
“Well, sir,” Jack began, “I waited fer Allan this evenin’ t’ tell him that Nolan had come back, an’ when he told me that Nolan had been out here—”
“Nolan out here?” interrupted the trainmaster, and Allan related the conversation of the night before.