Chapter Five
I
There was an exclamation, then silence, as a tall, beautiful girl with flushed face and shining grey eyes came forward and stopped, followed by a man whom Percy knew at once from his pictures. A little whimpering sounded from the bed, and the priest lifted his hand instinctively to silence it.
"Why," said Mabel; and then stared at the man with the young face and the white hair.
Oliver opened his lips and closed them again. He, too, had a strange excitement in his face. Then he spoke.
"Who is this?" he said deliberately.
"Oliver," cried the girl, turning to him abruptly, "this is the priest I saw—"
"A priest!" said the other, and came forward a step. "Why, I thought—"
Percy drew a breath to steady that maddening vibration in his throat.
"Yes, I am a priest," he said.
