I noted this and that, though my eyes were searching
for Major Brooks in the dark shadow under the pent of the
summer-house.
"Towards this I stepped; but in the dark I must have walked a few
feet wide of the straight line, for I remember brushing against a
low-growing branch of one of the apple-trees, and this must have
caught in my eyeglass-ribbon and torn it, for when I came to fumble
for them a few seconds later to help my sight, the glasses were gone.
"By this time I had reached the summer-house and come to a halt,
three paces, maybe, from the doorstep. 'Major Brooks!' I called
softly, and then again, but a thought louder, 'Major Brooks!'
"There was no answer, ladies, and I turned myself half about,
uncertain whether to go back up the lane and knock at the front door
or to seek my way to the house through the garden. Just then my boot
touched something soft, and I bent and saw the Major's body stretched
across the step close beside my ankles. I stooped lower and put down
a hand. It touched his shoulder, and then the ground beneath his
shoulder, and the ground was moist. I drew my hand back with a
shiver, and just at that moment, as I stared at my fingers, the heavy
cloud beyond the plantation lifted itself clear of the trees and let
the last of the daylight through--enough to show me a dark stain
running from my finger-tips and trickling towards the palm.
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