CHAPTER 25If the men from Mars had dropped into that frozen and speechless room by the millions, utter and complete devastation could not have been more awful. Sitting there by the fire, quite breathless, Jerry’s hand gripping mine with a sudden convulsive tightness, I couldn’t bear to look at a single face. Then my eyes were drawn by some terrible fascination to Roger Doyle’s. He hadn’t moved a muscle; but I could see the cold perspiration standing in beads on his white forehead.
I heard Colonel Primrose’s quiet voice.
“Yes, I know you did, Miss Doyle,” he said, and there was a gentleness and pity in his tone that sent another colder chill to my heart. “You did it because…it was the only way you knew to save a man who meant more to you than your brother.”
“Than all the world,” said Mis
