"He will be down soon," Gifford answered in as casual a tone as he
could assume.
The girl seemed struck by the gravity of their faces as she glanced from
one to the other. "I hope nothing is wrong," she observed, with just a
shade of apprehension.
There was a momentary pause as each man, hesitating between a direct
falsehood, the truth, and a plausible excuse, rather waited for the
other to speak.
Gifford answered. "No, nothing that you need worry about, Miss Morriston.
Your brother will tell you later on."
But the hesitation seemed to have aroused the girl's suspicions. "Do tell
me now," she said, with just a tremor of anxiety underlying the
characteristic coldness of her tone. "Unless," she added, "it is
something not exactly proper for me to hear."
Kelson quickly availed himself of the loophole she gave him. "You had
better wait and hear it from Dick," he said, suggesting a move towards
the drawing-room. "In the meantime there is nothing you need be
alarmed about."
"It all sounds very mysterious," Miss Morriston returned, her
apprehension scarcely hidden by a forced smile. "I must go and ask
Dick--"
As she turned towards the passage leading to the tower Kelson sprang
forward and intercepted her.
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