Page:Frank Packard - Greater Love Hath No Man.djvu/24

 money. Hurry, Varge! Get up and get your clothes on! Don't make a noise, not a sound!"

"What is this thing that you have done that I must take upon myself?" Varge's hands tightened imperatively on the other's shoulders. "What is this thing that you are afraid of?"

"Father," Merton mumbled. "Father. Father—and he is dead."

"Your father—dead!" Varge pulled the shaking form toward him, as though to search and read the other's features even in the darkness. "When did he die?"

"A—a few minutes—great God, a year ago"—the words were a chattering, fearsome whisper. "In the library. We had a quarrel. I—I struck him with the fender bar. I have killed my father."