He paused, and then went on, in a brisker, more
cheerful tone:

"I telegraphed the very first thing to Mr. Allen -- that's
Major Guthrie's lawyer, ma'am. The Major
told me I was to do that, if anything awkward happened.
Then it just occurred to me that I would telephone
to the Deanery. The Dean was out here yesterday
afternoon, ma'am, and Mrs. Guthrie liked him
very much. Long ago, when she lived in London, she
used to know the parents of the young gentleman to
whom Miss Haworth is engaged to be married. They
had quite a long pleasant talk about it all. I had
meant, ma'am, if you'll excuse my telling you, to telephone
to you next, and then I heard as how you were
coming here. The Major did tell me the morning he
went away that if Mrs. Guthrie seemed really ailing, I
was to ask you to be kind enough to come and see her.
Of course I knew where he was going, and that he'd
be away for a long time, though he didn't say anything
to me about it. But he knew that I knew, right
enough!"

"Had Mrs. Guthrie no near relation at all -- no sister,
no nieces?" asked Mrs. Otway, in a low voice.
Again she felt she was living in a dreamland of secret,
poignant emotions shadowed by a great suspense and
fear.

"No. Nothing of the kind," said Howse confidently.
"And on Major Guthrie's side there was only
distant cousins. It's a peculiar kind of situation altogether,
ma'am, if I may say so. Quite a long time
may pass before we know whether the Major is alive
or dead. 'Wounded and missing'? We all knows as

[[194]]

p193 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p194w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p195

v?