"It's my housekeeper," he said. "She's worked here for twenty years. Certainly there's nothing wrong there."
"I wonder." Nora spoke softly. "Such people are clever enough to involve one's own family against one. She can't leave the house anyway. Suppose, Jim, we look upstairs."
While Alsop, angry and at a loss, went back to the library, Garth and Nora climbed to the upper hall. Garth supposed that Marvin would have made a light for them, but of all the doors that opened from the stair landing one alone was wide, and no light gleamed through that.
"Marvin!" he called, and again: "Marvin! Marvin!"
He was aware of Nora's shivering. He glanced at her. The color had left her cheeks.
"Something's wrong up here, Jim," she said. "I know it. I feel it. Don't you feel anything strange? You heard him come up, and after what Mr. Alsop said—where is he? Why doesn't he answer?"
Garth stepped forward. Nora reached out and grasped his arms. The quality of her voice startled him.
"Don't go in there without a light, Jim."
He shook off her hands. He entered the dark room, and immediately he knew she had been right, that he had advanced too precipitately. He stumbled against something soft and yielding, and went down, stretching out his hand to save himself. He knew what his fingers had found. He snatched them away with a little cry:
"Get back to the hall, Nora!"