Читать книгу The House of Spies онлайн
13 страница из 49
She put the lantern down, and they regarded each other with great seriousness.
"I don't know. There's your arm! And it has been bleeding."
"Has it?"
"Sssh—it must hurt!"
"Well, I can't lie here in the road, can I?"
"No."
"I must get up—and home—somehow."
She looked at him as though considering what was best to do.
"I know. You ought to have your arm fastened to your side. I had my arm broken once. I'll go in and get a scarf."
She picked up the lantern and disappeared through the gate with beams of light swinging about her in the darkness. As for Jasper Benham, his head had cleared sufficiently to admit some measure of astonished curiosity. Who were the Durrells, and how had they come to Stonehanger House, and how was it he could not remember ever having heard the name?
"Nance Durrell—Nance Durrell."
He repeated it to himself as he lay under the shadow of the yew-tree, as though the uttering of the name might help him to realise that he was not dreaming in his bed at Rush Heath. No; the ground was solid, the yew bough above him was solid, the pain in his arm was very real. And the girl who called herself Nance Durrell? He found himself waiting impatiently for her return, and watching the foliage of the shrubs for the shine of her lantern.