The voice that answered for her was clear and steady and, downstairs, must have sounded untroubled:
"I'm coming. Just a minute."
* * * * *
Two hours ago, while Gloria had been watching the shadows creeping among the pines, Mark King had arrived. He had come down the ridge from the rear and thus to the outbuilding by the stable which housed the caretaker, old Jim Spalding.
"Hello, Mark," Jim had said, a trifle startled by King's sudden appearance. "Here you come again, like a Injun out'n the woods."
Jim was smoking his pipe on his bench. King paused, saying:
"Hello, Jim. Has Ben showed up yet?"
"No, he ain't showed, Mark. Expectin' him?"
"Yes. Who's in the house, then?"
"Why, some of 'em come on ahead. Ben's girl, for one, and that city guy, Gratton, for another. She didn't say anything about Ben comin'; she did say, though, the missis would be along pretty soon."