Page:The little blue devil (IA littlebluedevil00mackiala).pdf/306

At that, the icy grip tightened on Tony’s heart, terror such as he had never known or imagined. All his careful plans, which had cost so much and succeeded so well, must crumble now at a word. He could have brazened it out; he could have withstood her pleading eyes and clinging fingers, but not this overwhelming fear which her last words had set loose.

“Are you in trouble?” he said, his voice harsh. He could not trust himself to say more; he could not control it to softness or everyday indifference. She nodded. His mind had leapt to a dozen conclusions in half as many seconds; his imagination was ranging through several hells, and drawing on a rich store-house of ugly memories to supplement them. Things seen and things heard———

They choked him. Without another word he turned and led her a few yards further on, to a sheltered nook beside a great rock. Here he signed to her to sit down on the grass and sat down himself opposite her, his eyes stern, his mouth unsmiling.

“Now tell me,” he said briefly.

Pamela, having won her point at a moment when everything seemed irrevocably lost, was now anxious above all things to pour out the whole story to Tony with none of the reservations which she would have made had he been any one of her other relations. Instinctively she knew he would understand everything, acquit her of all blame, condole with and comfort her. She smiled at him mistily, bravely trying to compose herself enough to speak. He did not smile in answer, but his set face did not repel her—in a sense it gave her confidence.

“I” she began, “I don’t remember———” She was obliged to stop then, her voice shook so. She must not break down, and besides it would be so stupid to cry now, since Tony was here to take care of her. She tried again, very faintly: “I think———” It was no use; she could not go