The incident seemed unreal. Whom did she know, on this
side of the world, who could hate her so bitterly? She was afraid, as of
eyes that she could not see, staring through the dark.
Nick called from the sitting-room: "How do you feel? Are you all right?"
And when she answered "Yes," tried to reassure her. It began to look as if
there were much to fear. Luckily he had come in time. Was she sure she
hadn't held the leaves near her face? No. Then she might hope that there
would be no trouble now. Already he had bundled the bunch of fire into a
newspaper and it had been taken out of the room to be destroyed, like a
wicked witch. Luckily there were people who could touch poison-oak and
suffer no harm. Nick told Angela he "felt in his bones" that no evil thing
could have power over her.
Soon, almost before she could have believed it possible, the messenger
arrived with a strange assortment of packets from the chemist. Nick
shouted that all was ready, and she went back to the sitting-room, her
hands dripping ammonia. Kate had been summoned, and having just appeared,
was about to empty a large flower bowl, which Nick had ordered her to
wash. The Irish girl was pale, and looked dazed. She knew nothing yet of
what had happened, but guessed at some mysterious accident to her
mistress.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312