His voice was filled with imperious questioning, and Ann stifled her sobs.
"I know only what Everett has told me. When we got up the morning after you left, she was gone. I called Everett over, and he told me she went with her father of her own free will. The squatter told him so."
"He's a liar! And if he's inveigled that girl—"
Ann's loyalty to Everett forced her to say:
"Hush, Horace! You've no right to say anything against him until you are sure."
Shellington took several rapid strides around the room.
"If I'd only known it before!"
"I've tried to reach you," Ann broke in; "but my messages could not have been delivered."
"Oh, I'm not blaming you, Ann," he said in a lower tone. "But those men in some way have forced her to go. I'm sure of it! Fledra would never have gone with them willingly. Did she leave no message, no word? Have you searched my room? Have you looked every where?"
"No, I didn't look in your room—it didn't enter my mind. Why didn't I think of that before? Come, we'll look now."