They were cordial enough, but none alluded directly to his bereavement, and the same constraint was evident in their bearing that Millard had manifested. He continued to study them on the train from behind the shelter of his newspaper. Unmistakable relief had registered itself on their faces when the train came, and now a few of them were ostentatiously buried in the market reports; but for the most part, in groups of two and three, they were discussing their business affairs, and to the listener their tones seemed unnecessarily raised. Not one had ventured to take the vacant seat beside him.
Had the Brewsters spread broadcast the story of his emotional outburst in their presence, and could it have occasioned remark, started vague rumor and conjecture which might yet lead to the discovery of the truth? In vain he told himself that he was over-analytical, that these old friends shrank not from him but from dilating upon his tragic loss. To his apprehensive imagination their manner held a deeper significance than that of mere masculine inability to voice their sympathy, and with gnawing persistency the menacing possibilities rankled in his brain.
At the office, after the formal condolences of his associates, Storm slipped mechanically into the old, well-ordered routine; but here, too, he fancied that he was being eyed askance. He could at least avoid running the gauntlet of his clubs for a time without occasioning remark, but the thought of Greenlea itself and all that it held for him had become obnoxious, hideous! The return to that empty house day after day; could he endure it without going mad?
He caught the club car in a mood of surly defiance, but he had scarcely taken his accustomed place when Richard Brewster appeared and without waiting for an invitation seated himself beside him.
“Awfully glad to see you on the job again.” He spoke heartily, and his beaming face corroborated his words. “We were worried about you, you know, the other night; Julie wanted to stay and take care of you, but Holworthy wouldn’t hear of it. I hope you’ve forgiven us for intruding.”
Storm eyed him watchfully, but the guileless friendliness of the younger man was patent, and the other sighed in relief.
“I understand your motive, and I thank you both for coming,” he said after a moment’s pause. “Sorry I lost control of myself, but I’d been keeping up for so long——”
“It was only natural,” Brewster interrupted. “You’ll be leaving us, I suppose, for a time anyway, as soon as you’ve got the estate settled. We’ll miss you——”
“Leaving?” Storm stared.
“You’ll go away for a—a rest, won’t you? New scenes and all that sort of thing? It will be hard for you to go on here——” The younger man broke off and added hastily: “Julie was saying only this morning at breakfast that if you decided to keep the house open you would need a housekeeper, and she knows of a splendid woman, an elderly widow in reduced circumstances——”