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The Shuttle Chapter 46 - Listening · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

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Speaker 1: CHAPTER XLVI LISTENING On her way back to the court
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Speaker 1: her eyes saw only the white road before her feet
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Speaker 1: as she walked. She did not lift them until she
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Speaker 1: found herself passing the lich-gate at the entrance to the churchyard.
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Speaker 1: Then suddenly she looked up at the square grey stone
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Speaker 1: tower where the bells hung, and from which they called
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Speaker 1: the village to church or chimed for weddings. or gave
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Speaker 1: slowly forth to the silent air one heavy, regular stroke
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Speaker 1: after another. She looked and shuddered, and spoke aloud with
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Speaker 1: a curious, passionate imploring like a child's.' Oh, don't toll,
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Speaker 1: don't toll, you must not, you cannot!' Terror had sprung
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Speaker 1: upon her, and her heart was being torn in two
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Speaker 1: in her breast. That was surely what it seemed like,
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Speaker 1: this agonising ache of fear. Now from hour to hour
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Speaker 1: she would be waiting and listening to each sound borne
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Speaker 1: on the air. Her thought would be a possession she
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Speaker 1: could not escape. When she spoke or was spoken to
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Speaker 1: she would be listening. When she was silent every echo
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Speaker 1: would hold terror. When she slept, if sleep would come
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Speaker 1: to her, her hearing would be awake and she would
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Speaker 1: be listening, listening even then. It was not Betty Vanderpool
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Speaker 1: who was walking along the white road, but another creature,
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Speaker 1: a girl whose brain was full of abnormal thought, and
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Speaker 1: whose whole being made passionate outcry against the thing which
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Speaker 1: was slowly being forced upon her. If the bell tolled,
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Speaker 1: suddenly the whole world would be swept clean of life,
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Speaker 1: empty and clean. If the bell tolled. Before the entrance
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Speaker 1: of the court she saw, as she approached it, the
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Speaker 1: vicarage pony-carriage, standing as it had stood on the day
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Speaker 1: she had returned from her walk on the marshes. She
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Speaker 1: felt it quite natural that it should be there. Mrs.
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Speaker 1: Brent always seized upon any fragment of news, and having
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Speaker 1: seized on something now, she had not been able to
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Speaker 1: resist the excitement of bringing it to Lady Anstruthers and
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Speaker 1: her sister. She was in the drawing-room with Rosalie, and
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Speaker 1: was full of her subject and the emotion suitable to
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Speaker 1: the occasion. She had even attained a certain modified dampness
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Speaker 1: of handkerchief. Rosalie's handkerchief, however, was not damp. She had
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Speaker 1: not even attempted to use it, but sat still, her
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Speaker 1: eyes brimming with tears, which, when she saw Betty, brimmed
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Speaker 1: over and slipped helplessly down her cheeks.' Betty!' she exclaimed,
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Speaker 1: and got up and went towards her.' I believe you've heard.''
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Speaker 1: In the village I heard something, yes,' Betty answered, and
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Speaker 1: after giving greeting to Mrs. Brent, she led her sister
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Speaker 1: back to her chair and sat near her. This, the
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Speaker 1: thought leapt upon her, was the kind of situation she
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Speaker 1: must be prepared to be equal to. In the presence
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Speaker 1: of those who knew nothing, she must bear herself as
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Speaker 1: if there was nothing to be known. No one but
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Speaker 1: herself had the slightest knowledge of what the past months
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Speaker 1: had brought to her, no one in the world. If
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Speaker 1: the bell tolled, no one in the world but her
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Speaker 1: father ever would know. She had no excuse for emotion,
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Speaker 1: none had been given to her. The kind of thing
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Speaker 1: it was proper that she should say and do now
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Speaker 1: in the presence of Mrs. Brent, It would be proper
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Speaker 1: and decent that she should say and do in all
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Speaker 1: other cases. She must comport herself as Betty Vanderpool would
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Speaker 1: if she were moved only by ordinary human sympathy and regret.'
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Speaker 1: We must remember that we have only excited rumour to
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Speaker 1: depend upon,' she said.' Lord Mount Dunstan has kept his
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Speaker 1: village under almost military law. He has put it into quarantine.
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Speaker 1: No one is allowed to leave it, so there can
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Speaker 1: be no direct source of information.' One cannot be sure
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Speaker 1: of the entire truth of what one hears. Often it
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Speaker 1: is exaggerated cottage talk. The whole neighbourhood is wrought up
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Speaker 1: into a fever heat of excited sympathy, and villagers like
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Speaker 1: the drama of things. Mrs. Brent looked at her admiringly,
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Speaker 1: it being her fixed habit to admire Miss Vanderpool, and
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Speaker 1: all such as Providence had set above her.' Oh, how
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Speaker 1: wise you are, Miss Vanderpool!' she exclaimed, even devoutly. It
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Speaker 1: is so nice of you to be calm and logical
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Speaker 1: when everyone else is so upset. You're quite right about
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Speaker 1: villagers enjoying the dramatic side of troubles. They always do.
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Speaker 1: And perhaps things are not so bad as they say.
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Speaker 1: I ought not to have let myself believe the worst,
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Speaker 1: but I quite broke down under the ringers. I was
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Speaker 1: so touched.'' The ringers?' faltered Lady Anstruthers. The leader came
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Speaker 1: to the vicar to tell him they wanted permission to
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Speaker 1: toll if they heard tolling at Dunstan.' Weaver's family lives
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Speaker 1: within the hearing of Dunstan church bells, and one of
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Speaker 1: his boys is to run across the fields and bring
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Speaker 1: the news to Stornham. And it was most touching, Miss Vanderpool.
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Speaker 1: They feel in their rustic way that Lord Mount Dunstan
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Speaker 1: has not been treated fairly in the past, and now
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Speaker 1: he seems to them a hero and a martyr, or
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Speaker 1: like a great soldier who has died fighting.'' Who may
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Speaker 1: die fighting?' broke from Miss Vanderpool sharply.'' Who may?' Mrs.
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Speaker 1: Brent corrected herself.' Though heaven grant he will not.' But
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Speaker 1: it was the ringers who made me feel as if
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Speaker 1: all really was over.' Thank you, Miss Vanderpool.' Thank you
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Speaker 1: for being so practical and cool.'' It was touching,' said
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Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers, her eyes brimming over again.' And what the
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Speaker 1: villagers feel is true.' It goes to one's heart.' In
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Speaker 1: a little outburst, people have been unkind to him.'' and
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Speaker 1: he has been lonely in that great empty place, he
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Speaker 1: has been lonely,' and if he is dying to-day he
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Speaker 1: is lonely even as he dies, even as he dies.''
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Speaker 1: Betty drew a deep breath.' For one moment there seemed
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Speaker 1: to rise before her vision of a huge room' whose
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Speaker 1: stately size made its bareness a more desolate thing,' and Mr.
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Speaker 1: Penzance bent low over the bed.' She tore her thought
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Speaker 1: away from it.' No, no,' she cried out in low,
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Speaker 1: passionate protest. There will be love and yearning all about
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Speaker 1: him everywhere. The villagers who are waiting, the poor things
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Speaker 1: he has worked for, the very ringers themselves, are all
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Speaker 1: pouring forth the same thoughts. He will feel even ours,
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Speaker 1: ours too. His soul cannot be lonely. A few minutes
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Speaker 1: earlier Mrs. Brent had been saying to herself inwardly, She
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Speaker 1: is not much heart after all, you know. Now she
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Speaker 1: looked at her in amazement. The bluebells were under water
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Speaker 1: in truth, drenched and drowned. and yet as the girl
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Speaker 1: stood up before her she looked taller, more the magnificent
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Speaker 1: Miss Vanderpool than ever, though she expressed a new meaning.'
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Speaker 1: There is one thing the villagers can do for him,'
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Speaker 1: she said.' One thing we can all do. The bell
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Speaker 1: has not tolled yet. There is a service for those
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Speaker 1: who are in peril. If the vicar will call the
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Speaker 1: people to the church we can all kneel down there
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Speaker 1: and ask to be heard. The vicar will do that,
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Speaker 1: I am sure, and the people will join him with
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Speaker 1: all their hearts.' Mrs. Brent was overwhelmed.' Dear, dear, Miss Vanderpool!'
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Speaker 1: she exclaimed.' That is touching, indeed it is. And so
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Speaker 1: right and so proper. I will drive back to the
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Speaker 1: village at once. The vicar's distress is as great as mine.
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Speaker 1: You think of everything. The service for the sick and dying.
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Speaker 1: How right, how right!' With a sense of an increase
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Speaker 1: of value in herself, the vicar, and the vicarage, she
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Speaker 1: hastened back to the pony-carriage but in the hall she
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Speaker 1: seized betty's hand emotionally i cannot tell you how much
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Speaker 1: i am touched by this she murmured i did not
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Speaker 1: know you were were a religious girl my dear betty
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Speaker 1: answered with grave politeness in times of great pain and
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Speaker 1: terror she said i think almost everybody is religious a
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Speaker 1: little if that is the right word there was no
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Speaker 1: ringing of the ordinary call to service In less than
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Speaker 1: an hour's time people began to come out of their
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Speaker 1: cottages and wend their way toward the church. No one
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Speaker 1: had put on his or her Sunday clothes. The women
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Speaker 1: had hastily rolled down their sleeves, thrown off their aprons,
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Speaker 1: and donned everyday bonnets and shawls. The men were in
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Speaker 1: their corduroys as they had come in from the fields,
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Speaker 1: and the children wore their pinafores. As if by magic
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Speaker 1: the news had flown from house to house, and each
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Speaker 1: one who had heard it had left his or her
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Speaker 1: work without a moment's hesitation. They said but little as
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Speaker 1: they made their way to the church. Betty, walking with
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Speaker 1: her sister, was struck by the fact that there were
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Speaker 1: more of them than formed the usual Sunday morning congregation.
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Speaker 1: They were doing no perfunctory duty. The men's faces were
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Speaker 1: heavily moved, most of the women wiped their eyes at intervals,
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Speaker 1: and the children looked awed. There was a suggestion of
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Speaker 1: hurried movement in the step of each, as if no
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Speaker 1: time must be lost, as if they must begin their
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Speaker 1: appeal at once. Betty saw old Dobie tottering along stiffly
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Speaker 1: with his granddaughter and Mrs. Weldon on either side of him. Marlowe,
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Speaker 1: on his two sticks, was to be seen moving slowly
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Speaker 1: but steadily. Within the ancient stone wall stiff old knees
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Speaker 1: bent themselves with care, and faces were covered devoutly by
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Speaker 1: work-hardened hands. As she passed through the churchyard Betty knew
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Speaker 1: that eyes followed her affectionately, and that the touching of
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Speaker 1: foreheads and dropping of curtsies expressed a special sympathy. in
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Speaker 1: each mind she was connected with the man they came
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Speaker 1: to pray for with the work he had done with
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Speaker 1: the danger he was in it was vaguely felt that
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Speaker 1: if his life ended a bereavement would have fallen upon
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Speaker 1: her this the girl knew the vicar lifted his bowed
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Speaker 1: head and began his service every man woman and child
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Speaker 1: before him responded aloud and with a curious fervour not
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Speaker 1: in decorous fear of seeming to thrust themselves before the
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Speaker 1: throne making too much of their petitions in the presence
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Speaker 1: of the gentry here and there sobs were to be
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Speaker 1: heard lady anstruthers followed the service timorously and with tears
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Speaker 1: but betty kneeling at her side by the round table
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Speaker 1: in the centre of the great square stornham pew which
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Speaker 1: was like a room bowed her head upon her folded
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Speaker 1: arms and prayed her own intense insistent prayer god in
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Speaker 1: heaven was her inward cry god of all the worlds
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Speaker 1: do not let him die if ye ask anything in
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Speaker 1: my name that i will do christ said it in
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Speaker 1: the name of jesus of nazareth do not let him
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Speaker 1: die all the worlds are yours all the power Listen
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Speaker 1: to us, listen to us, Lord. I believe, help thou
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Speaker 1: my unbelief. If this terror robs me of faith and
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Speaker 1: I pray madly, forgive, forgive me. Do not count it
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Speaker 1: against me as sin. You made him. He has suffered
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Speaker 1: and been alone. It is not time, it is not
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Speaker 1: time yet for him to go. He has known no
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Speaker 1: joy and no bright thing. Do not let him go
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Speaker 1: out of the warm world like a blind man. Do
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Speaker 1: not let him die.' perhaps this is not prayer but
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Speaker 1: raging forgive forgive all power is gone from me god
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Speaker 1: of the worlds and the great winds and the myriad
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Speaker 1: stars do not let him die she knew her thoughts
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Speaker 1: were wild but their torrent bore her with them into
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Speaker 1: a strange great silence she did not hear the vicar's
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Speaker 1: words or the responses of the people she was not
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Speaker 1: within the grey stone walls she had been drawn away
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Speaker 1: as into the darkness and stillness of the night and
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Speaker 1: no soul but her own seemed near. Through the stillness
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Speaker 1: and the dark her praying seemed to call an echo,
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Speaker 1: clamouring again and again. It must reach something, it must
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Speaker 1: be heard, because she cried so loud, though to the
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Speaker 1: human beings about her she seemed kneeling in silence. She
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Speaker 1: went on and on, repeating her words, changing them, ending
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Speaker 1: and beginning again, pouring forth a flood of appeal. She
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Speaker 1: thought later that the flood must have been at its
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Speaker 1: highest tide, when singularly it was stemmed. Without warning a
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Speaker 1: wave of awe passed over her, which strangely silenced her,
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Speaker 1: and left her bowed and kneeling, but crying out no more.
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Speaker 1: The darkness had become still, even as it had not
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Speaker 1: been still before. Suddenly she cowered as she knelt and
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Speaker 1: held her breath. Something had drawn a little near. No thoughts,
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Speaker 1: no words, no cries were needed as the great stillness
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Speaker 1: grew and spread, and folded her being within it. She waited,
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Speaker 1: only waited. She did not know how long a time
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Speaker 1: passed before she felt herself drawn back from the silent
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Speaker 1: and shadowy places, awakening, as it were, to the sounds
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Speaker 1: in the church. Our Father, she began to say, as
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Speaker 1: simply as a child, Our Father, who art in heaven,
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Speaker 1: hallowed be thy name. There was a stirring among the
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Speaker 1: congregation and sounds of feet as the people began to
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Speaker 1: move down the aisle in reverent slowness. She caught again
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Speaker 1: the occasional sound of a subdued sob. Rosalie gently touched her,
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Speaker 1: and she rose, following her out of the big pew
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Speaker 1: and passing down the aisle after the villagers. Outside the
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Speaker 1: entrance the people waited as if they wanted to see
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Speaker 1: her again. Furrows were touched as before, and eyes followed her.
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Speaker 1: She was to the general mind the centre of the drama,
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Speaker 1: and the Almighty would do well to hear her. She
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Speaker 1: had been doing his work for him, same as his lordship.
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Speaker 1: They did not expect her to smile at such a
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Speaker 1: time when she returned their greetings, and she did not.
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Speaker 1: but they said afterwards in their cottages that trouble or
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Speaker 1: not she was a wonder for looks that she was
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Speaker 1: miss vanderpoel rosalie slipped a hand through her arm and
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Speaker 1: they walked home together very close to each other now
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Speaker 1: and then there was a questioning in rosy's look but
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Speaker 1: neither of them spoke once on an oak table in
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Speaker 1: the hall a letter from mr penzance was lying it
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Speaker 1: was brief hurried and anxious the rumour that mount dunstan
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Speaker 1: had been ailing was true and that they had felt
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Speaker 1: they must conceal the matter from the villagers, was true also.
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Speaker 1: For some baffling reason the fever had not absolutely declared itself,
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Speaker 1: but the young doctors were beset by grave forebodings. In
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Speaker 1: such cases the most serious symptoms might suddenly develop. One
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Speaker 1: never knew. Mr. Penzance was evidently torn by fears which
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Speaker 1: he desperately strove to suppress. But Betty could see the
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Speaker 1: anguish on his fine old face, and between the lines
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Speaker 1: she read dread and warning not put into words. She
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Speaker 1: believed that, fearing the worst, he felt he must prepare
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Speaker 1: her mind. He has lived under a great strain for months,
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Speaker 1: he ended. It began long before the outbreak of the fever.
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Speaker 1: I am not strong under my sense of the cruelty
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Speaker 1: of things, and I have never loved him as I
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Speaker 1: love him to-day. Betty took the letter to her room
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Speaker 1: and read it two or three times. Because she had
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Speaker 1: asked intelligent questions of the medical authorities she had consulted
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Speaker 1: on her visit to London, she knew something of the
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Speaker 1: fever and its habits. Even her unclerical knowledge was such
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Speaker 1: as it was not well to reflect upon. She refolded
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Speaker 1: the letter and laid it aside.' I must not think.
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Speaker 1: I must do something. It may prevent my listening,' she
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Speaker 1: said aloud to the silence of her room. She cast
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Speaker 1: her eyes about her as if in search. Upon her
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Speaker 1: desk lay a notebook. She took it up and opened it.
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Speaker 1: It contained lists of plants, of flower-seeds, of bulbs and shrubs.
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Speaker 1: Each list was headed with an explanatory note.'' Yes, this
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Speaker 1: will do,' she said.' I will go and talk to Kedgers.'
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Speaker 1: Kedgers and every man under him had been at the service,
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Speaker 1: but they had returned to their respective duties. Kedgers, giving
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Speaker 1: directions to some under-gardeners who were clearing flower-beds and preparing
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Speaker 1: them for their winter rest, turned to meet her as
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Speaker 1: she approached. To Kedgers the sight of her coming towards
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Speaker 1: him on a garden path was a joyful thing. He
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Speaker 1: had done wonders, it is true.' but if she had
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Speaker 1: not stood by his side with inspiration as well as
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Speaker 1: confidence he knew that things might have come out different
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Speaker 1: he was born a gardener miss born one he had
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Speaker 1: said months ago it was the time when flower-beds must
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Speaker 1: be planned for the coming year her notebook was filled
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Speaker 1: with memoranda of the things they must talk about it
15:48
Speaker 1: was good normal healthy work to do the scent of
15:52
Speaker 1: the rich damp upturned mould was a good thing to
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Speaker 1: inhale They walked from one end to another, stood before
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Speaker 1: clumps of shrubs and studied bits of wall. Here a
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Speaker 1: mass of blue might grow, here low things of white
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Speaker 1: and pale yellow. A quickly climbing rose would hang sheets
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Speaker 1: of bloom over this dead tree. This sheltered wall would
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Speaker 1: hold warmth for a marechal kneel. You must take care
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Speaker 1: of it all, even if I'm not here next year,
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Speaker 1: Miss Vanderpool said. Kedger's absorbed face changed. Not here, miss,
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Speaker 1: he exclaimed. You not here.' Things wouldn't grow, miss.'' He
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Speaker 1: checked himself, his weather tough and skin reddening,' because he
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Speaker 1: was afraid he had perhaps taken a liberty.' And then,
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Speaker 1: moving his hat uneasily on his head, he took another.'
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Speaker 1: But it's true enough, looking down on the gravel walk.'
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Speaker 1: We— we couldn't expect to keep you.'' She did not look
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Speaker 1: as if she had noticed the liberty,' but she did
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Speaker 1: not look quite like herself, Kedgers thought.' If she had
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Speaker 1: been another young lady—' and but for his established feeling
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Speaker 1: that she was somehow immune from all ills, he would
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Speaker 1: have thought she had a headache or was low in
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Speaker 1: her mind. She spent an hour or two with him,
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Speaker 1: and together they planned for the changing seasons of the
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Speaker 1: year to come, how she could keep her mind on
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Speaker 1: a thing, and what a head she had for planning,
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Speaker 1: and what an eye for colour. But yes, there was
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Speaker 1: something a bit wrong somehow. Now and then she would
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Speaker 1: stop and stand still for a moment, and suddenly it
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Speaker 1: struck Kedgers that she looked as if she were listening.
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Speaker 1: did you think you heard something miss he asked her
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Speaker 1: once when she paused and wore this look no she
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Speaker 1: answered no and then drew him on quickly almost as
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Speaker 1: if she did not want him to hear what she
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Speaker 1: had seemed listening for when she left him and went
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Speaker 1: back to the house all the loveliness of spring summer
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Speaker 1: and autumn had been thought out and provided for kedger
17:41
Speaker 1: stood on the path and looked after her until she
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Speaker 1: passed through the terrace door he chewed his lip uneasily
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Speaker 1: Then he remembered something and felt a bit relieved. It
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Speaker 1: was the service, he remembered.' Ah, that's what's upset her,
17:54
Speaker 1: and it's natural, seeing how she's helped him in Dunstan Village.
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Speaker 1: It's only natural.' He chewed his lip again and nodded
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Speaker 1: his head in odd reflection.' Aye, aye,' he summed her up.'
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Speaker 1: She' s a great lady, that. She's a great lady. Same
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Speaker 1: as if she'd been born in a civilised land.' During
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Speaker 1: the rest of the day the look of question in
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Speaker 1: Rosalie's eyes changed in its nature. When her sister was
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Speaker 1: near her she found herself glancing at her with a
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Speaker 1: new feeling. It was a growing feeling which gradually became anxiousness.
18:26
Speaker 1: Betty presented to her the aspect of one withdrawn into
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Speaker 1: some remote space. She was not living this day as
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Speaker 1: her days were usually lived. She did not sit still
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Speaker 1: or stroll about the gardens quietly. The consecutiveness of her
18:39
Speaker 1: action seemed broken. She did one thing after another as
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Speaker 1: if she must fill each moment. This was not her Betty.
18:47
Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers watched and thought, until in the end a
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Speaker 1: new pained fear began to creep slowly into her mind
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Speaker 1: and make her feel as if she were slightly trembling,
18:55
Speaker 1: though her hands did not shake. She did not dare
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Speaker 1: to allow herself to think the thing that she knew
19:00
Speaker 1: she was on the brink of thinking. She thrust it
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Speaker 1: away from her and tried not to think at all.
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Speaker 1: Her Betty, her splendid Betty, whom nothing could hurt, who
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Speaker 1: could not be touched by any awful thing, her dear
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Speaker 1: Betty— In the afternoon she saw her write notes steadily
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Speaker 1: for an hour, then she went out into the stables
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Speaker 1: and visited the horses, talked to the coachman and to
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Speaker 1: her own groom. She was very kind to a village
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Speaker 1: boy who had been recently taken on as an additional
19:27
Speaker 1: assistant in the stable, and who was rather frightened and shy.
19:31
Speaker 1: She knew his mother, who had a large family, and
19:34
Speaker 1: she had indeed given the boy his place that he
19:36
Speaker 1: might be trained under the great Mr. Buckham, who was
19:39
Speaker 1: coachman and head of the stables. She said encouraging things
19:42
Speaker 1: which quite cheered him, and she spoke privately to Mr.
19:45
Speaker 1: Buckham about him. Then she walked in the park a little,
19:49
Speaker 1: but not for long. When she came back, Rosalie was
19:52
Speaker 1: waiting for her.' I want to take a long drive,'
19:55
Speaker 1: she said.' I feel restless. Will you come with me, Betty?' Yes,
19:59
Speaker 1: she would go with her. So Buckham brought the Landor
20:01
Speaker 1: with his pair of big horses, and they rolled down
20:03
Speaker 1: the avenue and into the smooth white high road. He
20:07
Speaker 1: took them far, past the great marshes, between miles of
20:10
Speaker 1: bared hedges, past farms and scattered cottages. Sometimes they turned
20:15
Speaker 1: into lanes where the hedges were closer to each other,
20:17
Speaker 1: and where here and there they caught sight of new
20:20
Speaker 1: points of view between trees. Betty was glad to feel
20:23
Speaker 1: Rosie's slim body near her side, and she was conscious
20:26
Speaker 1: that it gradually seemed to draw closer and closer. Then
20:29
Speaker 1: Rosie's hand slipped into hers and held it softly on
20:32
Speaker 1: her lap. When they drove together in this way they
20:36
Speaker 1: were usually both of them rather silent and quiet, but
20:39
Speaker 1: now Rosalie spoke of many things, of Uhtred, of Nigel,
20:43
Speaker 1: of the Dunhams, of New York, and their father and mother.'
20:46
Speaker 1: I want to talk because I'm nervous, I think,' she
20:49
Speaker 1: said half apologetically.' I do not want to sit still
20:53
Speaker 1: and think too much of father's coming. You don't mind
20:56
Speaker 1: my talking, do you, Betty?'' No,' Betty answered.' It' s good
21:00
Speaker 1: for you and for me.' and she met the pressure
21:03
Speaker 1: of Rosie's hand halfway. But Rosie was talking not because
21:07
Speaker 1: she did not want to sit still and think, but
21:09
Speaker 1: because she did not want Betty to do so, and
21:12
Speaker 1: all the time she was trying to thrust away the
21:14
Speaker 1: thought growing in her mind. They spent the evening together
21:18
Speaker 1: in the library, and Betty read aloud. She read a
21:21
Speaker 1: long time until quite late. She wished to tire herself
21:24
Speaker 1: as well as to force herself to stop listening. When
21:28
Speaker 1: they said good-night to each other, Rosie clung to her
21:30
Speaker 1: as desperately as she had clung on the night after
21:32
Speaker 1: her arrival. She kissed her again and again, and then
21:36
Speaker 1: hung her head and excused herself.' Forgive me for being nervous.
21:41
Speaker 1: I'm ashamed of myself,' she said.' Perhaps in time I
21:44
Speaker 1: shall get over being a coward.' But she said nothing
21:48
Speaker 1: of the fact that she was not a coward for herself.
21:50
Speaker 1: but through a slowly formulating and struggled against fear, which
21:54
Speaker 1: chilled her very heart, and which she could best cover
21:57
Speaker 1: by a pretense of being a poltroon. She could not
22:00
Speaker 1: sleep when she went to bed, the night seemed crowded
22:03
Speaker 1: with strange, terrified thoughts. They were all of Betty, though
22:07
Speaker 1: sometimes she thought of her father's coming, of her mother
22:10
Speaker 1: in New York, and of Betty's steady working throughout the day.
22:14
Speaker 1: Sometimes she cried, twisting her hands together, and sometimes she
22:18
Speaker 1: dropped into a feverish sleep and dreamt that she was
22:20
Speaker 1: watching Betty's face, yet was afraid to look at it.
22:24
Speaker 1: She awakened suddenly from one of these dreams and sat
22:27
Speaker 1: upright in bed to find the dawn breaking. She rose
22:30
Speaker 1: and threw on a dressing-gown and went to her sister's
22:33
Speaker 1: room because she could not bear to stay away. The
22:37
Speaker 1: door was not locked and she pushed it open gently.
22:40
Speaker 1: One of the windows had its blind drawn up and
22:42
Speaker 1: looked like a patch of dull grey. Betty was standing
22:46
Speaker 1: upright near it. She was in her nightgown and a
22:49
Speaker 1: long black plait of hair hung over one shoulder heavily.
22:52
Speaker 1: She looked all black and white in strong contrast. The
22:56
Speaker 1: grey light set her forth as a tall ghost. Lady
23:00
Speaker 1: Anstruthers slid forward, feeling a tightness in her chest.' The
23:04
Speaker 1: dawn wakened me too,' she said.' I have been waiting
23:08
Speaker 1: to see it come,' answered Betty.' It' s going to be
23:11
Speaker 1: a dull, dreary day.' End of Chapter 46