"Shall I come with you, my darling?" she said.
He shook his head. "No, mother. I'd rather discuss the matter with her alone, but I'll make her come over as early as I can. You know she said she would bring Alice to lunch to-day." And then, looking straight down into her troubled face, he asked: "Mother? What do you think has happened to Godfrey Pavely?"
It was the first time he had asked her the direct question.
"I don't know what to think! But I suppose the most probable thing is—that he's had an accident. After all, people do meet with bad accidents, especially in wintry, foggy weather, in the London streets. If so, he may be lying unconscious in one of the big hospitals. I can't think why the London police shouldn't have been told of his disappearance on Friday—that, as I told Laura yesterday, is the first thing I should have done myself."
"Both Mrs. Winslow and Laura seemed to think he would dislike that so very much," said Oliver slowly.
There was a defensive note in his voice, for he had made no effort to back up his mother when she had strongly counselled Laura to communicate with Scotland Yard.
"Has it ever occurred to you," he said suddenly, "that Pavely may be dead, mother?"
"No, Oliver. That I confess has not occurred to me. In fact, I regard it as extremely unlikely."
"Why that?" he asked in a hard voice. "People are often killed in street accidents." Then, after a minute's pause: "Do you think Laura would mind much?"
"I think it would give her a great shock!" She added, hesitatingly. "They have been getting on rather better than usual—at least so it has seemed to me."