Well, that was quite enough to account for
it. I had grown very curious, and I resolved when our lessons were over to
join her and make another attempt to discover the mystery.
As I sat over my books, I fancied I heard a movement outside the door. I
suspected that Madame was listening. I waited for a time, expecting to see
the door open, but she did not come; so I opened it suddenly myself, but
Madame was not on the threshold nor on the lobby. I heard a rustling,
however, and on the staircase over the banister I saw the folds of her silk
dress as she descended.
She is going, I thought, to seek an interview with Lady Knollys. She
intends to propitiate that dangerous lady; so I amused some eight or ten
minutes in watching Cousin Monica's quick march and right-about face upon
the parade-ground of the terrace. But no one joined her.
'She is certainly talking to papa,' was my next and more probable
conjecture. Having the profoundest distrust of Madame, I was naturally
extremely jealous of the confidential interviews in which deceit and malice
might make their representations plausibly and without answer.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132