"What is it? Why are you here?" she cried tensely.
"To bring you trouble, Aline."
"Trouble!" Her hand went to her heart quickly.
"It is about--Mr. Harley."
She questioned him with wide, startled eyes, words hesitating on her
trembling lips and flying unvoiced.
"Child--little partner--the orders are to be brave." He came forward and
took her hands in his, looking down at her with eyes she thought full of
infinitely kind pity.
"Is it--have they--do you mean the verdict?"
"Yes, the verdict; but not the verdict of which you are thinking."
She turned a quivering face to his. "Tell me. I shall be brave."
He told her the brutal fact as gently as he could, while he watched the
blood ebb from her face. As she swayed he caught her in his arms and
carried her to the divan. When, presently, her eyes fluttered open, it was
to look into his pitiful ones. He was kneeling beside her, and her head was
pillowed on his arm.
"Say it isn't true," she murmured.
"It is true, dear."
She moved her head restlessly, and he took away his arm, rising to draw a
chair close to the lounge.
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