There was a rumbling murmur, and staccato exclamations of assent. Men in back seats moved to the door; others surged after them. Armitage and his proposals were forgotten.
CHAPTER XVII
When Michael got back to his hut he found Martha there.
"Oh, Michael," she said, "a dreadful thing has happened."
Michael stared at her, unable to understand what she said. It seemed to him all the terrible things that could happen had happened that evening.
"While you were away Arthur Henty came here to see Sophie," Martha said. "She hasn't been feeling well ... and I came up to have a look at her. She's been doing too much lately. Things haven't been too right between her and Potch, either, and that's her way of taking it out of herself. Arthur was here when I got here, Michael, and—you never heard anything like the way he went on...."
Michael had fallen wearily into his chair while she was talking.
Martha continued, knowing that the sooner she got rid of her story the better it would be for both of them.
"It's an old story, of course, this about Arthur Henty and Sophie.... When he was ill after the ball he talked a good bit about her.... He always has ... to me. I was with his mother when he was born ... and he's always called me Mother M'Cready like the rest of you. He told me long ago he'd always been fond of Sophie.... He didn't know at first, he said. He was a fool; he didn't like being teased about her.... Then she went away.... He doesn't seem to know why he got married except that his people wanted him to.