CHAPTER VI
THE STRANGENESS OF MARJORIE
I
ON his return to The Grange, Smith immediately went in search of Willis, finally running him to earth in Alfred's bedroom.
As he entered, the old man turned, a trouser- stretcher in his hand.
"I've been looking for you everywhere, Willis." "I'm sorry, Mr. Alfred, if I wasn't"
"Oh ! it's all right," said Smith, sinking into a chair, striking a match and proceeding to light a cigarette. "What do the Little Bilsteadians mean by Bob Thir- kettle's mawther?"
With a crash the trouser-stretcher fell to the floor. At the sight of Willis' face, Smith sprang to his feet and went over to him. In a flash the butler seemed to have become ten years older. He was trembling vio- lently, the colour had gone from his face, and in his eyes there was fear. He appeared on the point of col- lapse, and Smith led him over to the chair which he himself had just vacated. Fetching a glass of water, he held it to Willis' grey lips.
"I'm awfully sorry," he said soothingly, as the butler swallowed a little of the water, gazing with wide-open eyes at Smith as he did so. "I didn't mean to upset you."
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