There was the sound of voices down the road. “Hello!” Montague shouted; and a moment later two men in automobile costume came running toward him. They stopped, staring in dismay at the sight which confronted them.
At Montague’s suggestion they made haste to find a log by means of which they lifted the auto sufficiently to drag out the body of the chauffeur. Montague saw that it was quite cold.
He went back to old Grimes. “Where do you wish to go?” he asked.
The other hesitated. “I was bound for the Harrisons’—” he said.
“The Leslie Harrisons?” asked Montague. (They were people he had met at the Devons’.)
The other noticed his look of recognition. “Do you know them?” he asked.
“I do,” said Montague.
“It isn’t far,” said the old man. “Perhaps I had best go there.”—And then he hesitated for a moment; and catching Montague by the arm, and pulling him toward him, whispered, “Tell me—you—you won’t tell—”
Montague, comprehending what he meant, answered, “It will be between us.” At the same time he felt a new thrill of revulsion for this most miserable old creature.
They lifted him into the car; and because they delayed long enough to lay a blanket over the body of the chauffeur, he asked peevishly why they did not start. During the ten or fifteen minutes’ trip he sat clinging to Montague, shuddering with fright every time they rounded a turn in the road.