The situation seemed to grow more tense.
Rodney sat motionless on the sofa, declining further cigarettes that Nell offered.
Aunt Judy also relapsed into silence, and though Nell tried to keep up a run of gay chatter, it sounded hollow and inane when nobody answered or even heeded it.
And then, about eight o’clock, the search party returned.
“The girls here?” asked Jim Pennington, trying to speak lightly.
“No,” Nell told him, while Sayre just sat and brooded.
“Then I won’t come in,” Pennington said, “I’d better be over home. Maybe they’re there by now.”
“Telephone over and see,” Aunt Judy suggested, but Jim shook his head.
“She isn’t there,” he said gravely. “We passed the house on our way here, and there’s no light in the living room. That’s why I came on here. But I’ll go back, an
