I noticed, too, that they looked strangely
at me at times; and I found my grandmother in tears more than once. It
hurt me that she should weep at her age.
Another thing I noticed was that they ceased to talk of Theobald; and
when his letters came they would read them without comment, or they
would take my news of him without an eager stretching forth of their
hands for the letter as of old. In those days mysteries seemed to gather
thick and fast about me. And I had my own trouble to bear as well. I
used to think that Captain Cardew would have made short work of it all.
He would have swept away the shadowy terrors. He would have lifted us
all into the daylight. But, alas, he was I knew not where; and his name
was never mentioned in the hearing of Lord and Lady St. Leger.
Then the blow fell. One afternoon Garret Dawson had been to see my
grandfather and talked with him alone; and at dinner my grandmother's
face bore traces of tears, and I noticed that my grandfather's hand
shook so that he spilt his wine. There was not a word spoken, and after
a time the silence got on my nerves, so that I began to dread I knew not
what, and could almost have burst into tears from the tension.
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