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Page 274
comfortably, but who called Gertrude and told her you wanted to see her?"
"A steward. I checked, just to make sure that there wasn't any funny business going on that I didn't know about. She gave the fellow a pound to make the call. She didn't even think of trying to hide the trail. Poor Aunt Em."
That sounded much better to Linda. There was grief in his voice, but the agonized guilt that had choked him on the hill was gone. Linda looked at him tenderly as they came in the sitting room door. As horrible as the evening had been, it certainly portended a happy future for her. Peter really loved with all his heart and soul when he loved. Linda could not help smiling a little. Imagine feeling guilty because you hadn't let your aunt shoot you on a level spot.
She made him a drink and had one herself. Then they sat silently holding hands on a sofa until they heard a car on the gravel driveway. Peter started to get up, but Linda held him when she heard the clack of a woman's heels going to the door. After a few minutes, Mrs. Sotheby came in.
"That was the police with a doctor. They are going directly up the hill and will want to talk to us when they come back."
Peter said nothing but got to his feet and stared out the dark window.
"I've told Gertrude," Mrs. Sotheby continued in a lower voice to Linda, "but I don't know whether she took it in. I think Emmeline must have given her something to make her sleep

 
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