“You have come to see Mr. Ralph Torridon whom we have here?”
“Yes, sir—my son.”
Nicholas stepped forward, and the Lieutenant nodded at him.
“Yes, sir,” said the officer to him, “I could not admit you before—” he stopped, as if embarrassed, and turned to Beatrice.
“And this lady too?”
“Yes, Master Lieutenant,” said the old man.
“But—but—I do not understand—”
He looked at the radiant faces before him, and then dropped his eyes.
“I suppose—you have not heard then?”
Chris felt his heart leap, and then begin to throb furiously and insistently. What had happened? Why did the man look like that? Why did he not speak?