CHAPTER XXXBeatrice, whose beauty was like a naked thing stripped of all expression, came quickly up the shallow steps into the hall and took Lady Margaret into the frozen stillness of her arms. Neither of them spoke; Lady Margaret stood stiffly for a moment in Beatrice's embrace and then withdrew herself, as if she had walked into an unknown room by mistake. Beatrice said: 'Can I see her?' and Lady Margaret made a queer helpless gesture towards Jean, and retreated into the drawing-room. Beatrice looked up at the stairs with the sightless eyes of a statue; they did not change as they met Jean's, but without a word she followed her.
Halfway up the stairs they both stopped suddenly because the sound of Char's heavy cardiac breathing reached them through the closed door.
When Jean opened th
