At any rate,
before anything could be done he lifted the gun and fired, at me, as I
think. The charge, however, passed my head and hit poor Johnson full in
the face, killing him dead. That is all the story."
"And quite enough, too," said Beatrice with a shudder. "What times we
live in! I feel quite sick."
Supper that night was a very melancholy affair. Old Mr. Granger was
altogether thrown off his balance; and even Elizabeth's iron nerves were
shaken.
"It could not be worse, it could not be worse," moaned the old man,
rising from the table and walking up and down the room.
"Nonsense, father," said Elizabeth the practical. "He might have been
shot before he had sold the hay, and then you would not have got your
tithe."
Geoffrey could not help smiling at this way of looking at things,
from which, however, Mr. Granger seemed to draw a little comfort. From
constantly thinking about it, and the daily pressure of necessity, money
had come to be more to the old man than anything else in the world.
Hardly was the meal done when three reporters arrived and took down
Geoffrey's statement of what had occurred, for publication in various
papers, while Beatrice went away to see about packing Effie's things.
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