Berry rose and walked to a window.
"Jill's face," he said slowly. "Jill's face." He swung round and flung out an arm. "She looked old!" he cried. "Jill—that baby looked old. She thought it was a wire to say he was on his way, and it hit her between the eyes like the kick of a horse."
Shrunk into a corner of her chair, my sister stared dully before her.
"He must be bad," said I. "Unless he was bad, he 'ld never have wired like that. If Piers could have done it, I'm sure he 'ld have tempered the wind."
"'Can you come?'" quoted Berry, and threw up his arms.
Daphne began to cry quietly….
A glance at the tea-things showed me that these were untouched. I rang the bell, and pleasantly fresh tea was brought. I made my sister drink, and poured some for Berry and me. The stimulant did us all good. By common consent, we thrust speculation aside and made what arrangements we could. That our plans for returning to England would now miscarry seemed highly probable.
At last my sister sighed and lay back in her chair.
"Why?" she said quietly. "Why? What has Jill done to earn this? Oh,
I know it's no good questioning Fate, but it's—it's rather hard."
I stepped to her side and took her hand in mine.