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Chapter 18 A Family Tragedy

I went over to the balcony. The door between the balcony and the carriage was closed; the balcony was empty. It looked down on to the angry river, hundreds of feet below in the canyon. Death was there - a quick death.

I went back into the carriage and closed the door.

'Sit down, sir,' I said, taking his arm. 'I'll tell the conductor. He'll know what to do.'

'We must go back.' He sat down heavily on the chair. 'He went out. . . and when I looked . . .'

'Will you be all right while I fetch the conductor?'

He nodded dully.

I hurried down to George's room, ignoring everyone in the dining-car, and knocked on the door. There was no reply. I knocked harder and called his name. There was a sound from inside. I opened the door and found him waking from a deep sleep.

I closed the door, sat on the edge of his bed and told him we'd lost a passenger.

'What? Who?'

'Sheridan Lorrimore.'

'When? Where?'

'About ten minutes ago, I should think, into the Fraser Canyon.'

He swore violently and stretched out a hand for the radio looking out of the window. 'It's no use going back, you know. Not if he went into the water from this high up. He'd have hit rocks on the way down and the water in the river is bitterly cold even if he was alive when he reached the bottom of the canyon.'

'His father will want to go back, though.'

'Of course.'

He started talking to a radioman in Vancouver. He explained that Mercer Lorrimore's son — yes, the Mercer Lorrimore -had fallen from the rear of the train into the Fraser Canyon. Lorrimore wanted the train stopped so that he could go back and try to find his son.

'I think I'd better go back to Mercer,' I said.

George nodded. 'Tell him I'll come to talk to him when I get instructions from my head office.'

As I passed through the dining-car, I paused by Nell's and Xanthe's table and whispered to Nell to bring Xanthe to the private carriage. Nell looked inquiringly into my face, but they got up and followed me.

As we entered the Lorrimores' car, Mercer came out of his and Bambi's bedroom. Bambi could be heard crying; Mercer's face was grey and hollow-eyed.

'Daddy!' Xanthe cried, pushing past me. 'What's the matter?'

He took her in his arms and quietly told her about Sheridan. We were unable to hear his words, but we heard her say, 'No! He couldn't have!'

'Who couldn't have done what?' Nell asked me.

'Sheridan went off the balcony into the canyon.'

'Do you mean . . . ? Is he dead?'

'I would think so.'

Mercer said, 'Why aren't we stopping? We have to go back.' But he no longer sounded as though he expected Sheridan to be alive.

'The conductor is on the radio now, sir,' I said, 'getting instructions.'

He nodded. He was a reasonable man. He only had to look out of the window to see that there was no hope of finding his son alive. He also knew that it was impossible for anyone to fall off that balcony by accident: Sheridan had jumped.

Mercer sat on the sofa, his arm around Xanthe. Xanthe wasn't crying: she looked serious and calm. The tragedy hadn't happened for her within that half hour, it had been happening all her life. Her brother had been lost to her even when he was alive.



 


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 570


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Chapter 17 Sheridan Is Missing | Chapter 19 Sheridan Is Dead
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