"Yes; he's at the factory," he said. "Or at any rate he's not at home. And they don't expect him back till late."
"Well?"
"There's something up. The girl's gone, too. (No; she's not at the factory.) And I think there's going to be trouble."
CHAPTER VI
(I)
The electric train slowed down and stopped at the Hammersmith terminus, and there was the usual rush for the doors.
"Come on, Gertie," said a young man, "here we are."
The girl remained perfectly still with her face hidden.
The crowd was enormous this Christmas Eve, and for the most part laden with parcels; the platforms surged with folk, and each bookstall, blazing with lights (for it was after seven o'clock), was a center of a kind of whirlpool. There was sensational news in the evening papers, and everyone was anxious to get at the full details of which the main facts were tantalizingly displayed on the posters. Everyone wanted to know exactly who were the people concerned and how it had all happened. It was a delightful tragedy for the Christmas festivities.