"It was not an accident—" she cried with a sob. "Oh, don't mind what I am saying!" she added quickly, seeing the look of astonishment on the colonel's face.
"Mrs. Langham may come up if she wishes!" called Doctor Taylor, speaking from the head of the stairs.
Evelyn moved down the hall and paused.
"Does Marsh know?" she asked of the colonel.
"Yes, unfortunately we carried him into his father's room," explained Harbison.
Evelyn went slowly up the stairs. The horror of the situation was beyond words. As she entered the room where Marshall lay, Watt Harbison and the doctor silently withdrew into the hall, closing the door after them; but Langham gave no immediate sign that he was aware of his wife's presence.
"Marsh?" she said softly.
His palpable weakness and his cut and bruised face gave her an instinctive feeling of tenderness for him. At the sound of her voice Langham's heavy lids slid back and he gazed up at her.
"Have they told you?" he asked in an eager whisper.
"Yes," she said, and there was a little space of time when neither spoke.