Page:Fletcher - The Mortover Grange Affair.pdf/290

 afternoon and had never come back. That's all."

"Have you sent over?" asked Wedgwood.

"In this storm? Impossible! The roads are blocked!" said the superintendent.

"I'm going!" said Wedgwood. "That's what I've come for!"

He lingered a few minutes, discussing matters, and then hurried back to the hotel. The boots had found a man, owner of a cab and two stout horses, who would do his best to get the party as far as he could along the road, but couldn't promise to reach Mortover. And presently Wedgwood and his companions set off, and for two hours floundered through the drifting snow. In the end they had to walk, half-buried at every step, and the evening was merging into night when at last Wedgwood discovered the gate of Mortover Grange and saw the old house against the sky, but all in darkness.