Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/286

 little incredulously, a little amazed that she should do this just because of her interest in him. She did not answer, but from her expression he could see that he had hit upon the answer. She suddenly showed a great and absorbing interest in the fire.

“Where’s Elizabeth?” he asked her.

“She’s here,” replied Jessica. They turned and located Elizabeth standing about a dozen feet from them, stonily and determinedly intent on letting them have their tête-à-tête without interruption from her.

“I just came from the cottage,” announced Val. “I went out to see you⸺”

“So early,” she murmured.

“Yes,” he replied. “You see, it’s of very great importance. It’s about the missing money—I think I’ve located it.”

Her look of interest was good to see. “Really!” she said. He felt her hand tighten on his arm. It just occurred to both of them that she had not drawn her hand away. That she had left it there after touching his arm to draw his attention to her. The effect on Val was to make him absurdly happy. The effect on Jessica was to make her draw her hand away hastily—but not too hastily. There seemed a kind of reluctance in it.

“I think so,” he continued. “But this is no place to discuss it. I say, I’m awfully hungry—I could do with a little breakfast. How about you? There’s a nice little restaurant in Phœbus that I know—we could all go there. It’s still very early, and we could eat and get out to your place before Teck starts, I think.”

Phœbus is a little town immediately outside of Fortress Monroe and Old Point Comfort, inhabited mostly