Page:War's dark frame (IA warsdarkframe00camp).pdf/290

252 You cannot spend the night here," she repeated with her mechanical dulness.

But she didn't resist when they pushed past her. She only turned to stare after them with her pleasant, determined eyes.

There were, as they had guessed, two bedrooms, opening from opposite sides of the hall. They głanced in the one on the left which was clearly occupied by the woman as her clothes lay about in some confusion. They opened the door of the other, evidently a spare room, for the bed was larger and it had a canopy and curtains. They passed on to the kitchen. That, too, offered no signs of life. The fire in the stove was out.

They glanced back, startled, for the woman was at their heels, moving with the precise awkwardness of an automaton, while her strange eyes stared at them.

We're getting close," the pilot whispered.

“In a moment she'll break down."

He questioned her.

"You've had no dinner?'

She shook her head.

"If we light the fire you will prepare our dinner?”

Again she shook her head.

"You cannot eat in this house."

The pilot made a gesture of impatience.