CHAPTER XXIV

As Jim Trafford entered the hall at Shorehaven the musicians in the minstrel gallery were playing for the benefit of the dancers in the living-room. A baritone voice caught up the air and sang the refrain: The wistful sweetness of the man’s voice crumbled the barrier Trafford had set against his thoughts since he had fled the study, furious with heartache and anger. They swarmed back. Memories of his admiration of the unknown girl on the train, the evening in the cabin, the days in his house when Julie had been boy…