"All right," Jake said quietly. "I'm not leaving you till it's over."
The calm decision of his speech silenced all protest. Maud attempted none. Saltash shrugged his shoulders and flung round on his heel. Jake bent to offer a steady arm.
She accepted his support in silence. There was that about him that would not brook resistance just then. She was sure that Saltash was aware of it also, for after a very brief pause he began to whistle under his breath and in a very few moments more sauntered from the room.
Jake, very quiet and determined, led her to a settee.
"I won't lie down," she said restlessly. "I want to listen."
Jake was looking round for a chair. Failing to see one, he seated himself by her side. "I reckon this is the most respectable piece of furniture in the place," he observed. "Here is a cushion. Lean back and shut your eyes!"
"I wish you wouldn't wait here," she murmured uneasily.
"I've got to wait somewhere," said Jake.
And then his hand descended upon hers and held it.
She started at his touch, seeking instinctively to free herself, but in the end she yielded, lying back in a tense stillness in which she knew the beating of her heart to be clearly audible.