That's all
I know about it, Miss. I'm real sorry, but what else could I do?"
Nellie made no reply when the man ceased. Words would not come. Her bosom
heaved, and she placed her hand to her forehead in an abstracted manner.
Her eyes were fixed full upon the constable's face, though she did not see
him. Her thoughts were away from that room, out through the storm and
darkness to an old grey-headed man battling somewhere with the tempest,
for the sake of others. What had happened? What would he think when he
reached home to find out what Farrington was doing?
The constable shifted uneasily from one foot to the other in an
embarrassed manner before those pathetic eyes. He clutched his cap more
firmly in his hands, and shuffled towards the door.
"Guess I'll go now, Miss," he stammered. "I'll step up the road to make a
call and come back again. Maybe your father will be home then."
Nellie hardly heard the door open and close as the constable passed out
into the night. She stood for awhile as if dazed, then sinking into a
nearby chair she buried her face in her hands. The wind howled and roared
outside, and the snow dashed and swirled against the window.
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