I sat down and quaffed a Doctor Funk, and then inquired idly:
“Where’s David?”
“David!” said Hallman. “For God’s sake! don’t dig into any graves!”
”’E’s a proper ghoul, ’e is,” Lying Bill said sarcastically. ”’E thinks you’re a mejum!”
They all stared at me as if I were crazy, and I felt myself in an atmosphere of mystery, in which I had broached a distasteful subject. I wondered what it could be, but determined to know at all hazards, reckoning on no fine feelings to hurt.
“What is the secret?” I asked. “I’ve been away a few months, and haven’t heard the news. Has David run off with Miri or Caroline?”
Was this what Lovaina was bursting with?
They all remained quiet, until McHenry, with an oath, blurted out:
“What the hell’s the good of all this bloody silence? He’s been away and don’t know.” Then turning to me, he slapped me on the shoulder and bawled:
“We’ll have a drink on you, O’Brien! David blew his brains out on Llewellyn’s doorstep just after we left for the Marquesas. Joseph, bring one all around!”