"I suppose he is out somewhere in
the cane." Savina asked what they would do if he were away. He might be
in Santiago. The company had other estates. "Not now," Lee decided;
"what they call the grinding season has just begun, and every hour is
important. The least thing gone wrong might cost thousands of dollars."
The correctness of his assumption was upheld by an announcement
unintelligible except for the comforting fact that Daniel was below.
"Perhaps I had better see him first," Lee suggested diplomatically, and
Savina assented.
Daniel Randon was both tall and fat, a slow impressive bulk in white
linen with a smooth impassive face and considering brown eyes. "This,"
he said unremarkably, "is a surprise. But I am, of course, glad;
particularly since Venalez reported that Fanny was with you."
"She isn't," Lee replied tersely; there had been no cable from
Eastlake, he saw, and he must plunge boldly into what he had to say. "I
am sorry to tell you that she is at home. But I'm here, and not by
myself." A slight expression of annoyance twitched at his brother's
contained mouth. "No, you are making a mistake. I have left Fanny,
Daniel. I thought perhaps you would have heard."
"Our telegraph system is undependable," was all that the other, the
younger, Randon answered.
"You don't know, then. A Mrs. Grove is with me; but she is that only
until the divorces can be arranged; and I counted on you--"
"Divorces?" The single word was accompanied by a faint lifting of
Daniel's eyebrows.
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