But despite the brave words, the seed of suspicion had taken root, and
Robert Morton knew that Willie's confidence in him had been shaken.
Still the little old man clung with dogged persistence to his sanguine
declaration:
"_I'll not believe it_!"
CHAPTER XVII
A GRIM HAND INTERVENES
The next morning saw a grave change in the household on the bluff.
Delight, with violet-circled eyes and cheeks whose rose tints had faded
to pallor, listened with dread for the sound of the Galbraith's motor.
What the day would bring forth she feared to speculate. Willie and Bob
also showed traces of a sleepless night. Although they had guarded
from the others the happenings of the previous evening, between them
loomed a barrier of mutual amazement and reproach. Beneath his
attempted optimism Willie was wounded and indignant that he should have
been deceived by those in whose kindness he had believed so
whole-heartedly. He fought the facts with loyalty, obstinately
trusting that some satisfactory explanation would be forthcoming, but
he did not understand, and the dumb question that spoke in his eyes
hurt Robert Morton more than any formulated reproach could have done.
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