Her cheeks flamed. Nothing annoys her so much as being told that she's excitable. Edith laid her hand upon my arm.
'Douglas, tell me; is it true?'
'I don't know.'
'Do you mean that you don't know, or that you won't say? Have you any reason to believe that he's alive; any tangible reason?'
'As I told Reggie, and as I presume he has told you, I shall be in a better position to answer that question next week.'
'But why not now? What is it you do know? Why keep us in suspense? Is it fair? Think of what it means to all of us; of what it means to me. It has come to this--that to me it is almost a question of life or death.'
I understood the allusion; it cut me to the heart.
'I tell you that I know nothing.'
'Then why did you say that last night to Reggie?'
'Because I supposed him to be possessed of a few grains of common sense.'