“Ahem!” he began, clearing his husky throat. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard any news since you arrived?”
“News? Why, no! I didn’t suppose you ever had any news in such a quiet, graveyard sort of a place. What on earth induced father to come to this town and bury himself alive with all his money, I cannot conceive. I marvel that he hasn’t died of sheer lonesomeness.”
“Mr. Mackenzie, I ought not to detain you here.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“You should go straight to the house.”
“Go straight to the house? What are you driving at?”
“Your father leaves for New York on the four o’clock train. He must now be on the road to the depot.”
“Why, then, I’ll go back and surprise him at the train. I can go along and——”
“How can I tell you? Your father will make the journey in a coffin.”
“What! Merciful Heaven! Don’t tell me he is dead?”