It was Doctor Bryerly's countenance and manner in alluding to a particular
provision in my father's will that instinctively awed me. I have seen faces
in a nightmare that haunted me with an indescribable horror, and yet I
could not say wherein lay the fascination. And so it was with his--an omen,
a menace, lurked in its sallow and dismal glance.
'You must not be so frightened, darling,' said Cousin Monica. 'It is
foolish; it _is, really_; they can't cut off your head, you know: they
can't really harm you in any essential way. If it involved a risk of a
little money, you would not mind it; but men are such odd creatures--they
measure all sacrifices by money. Doctor Bryerly would look just as you
describe, if you were doomed to lose 500_l_., and yet it would not kill
you.'
A companion like Lady Knollys is reassuring; but I could not take her
comfort altogether to heart, for I felt that she had no great confidence in
it herself.
There was a little French clock over the mantelpiece in the school-room,
which I consulted nearly every minute. It wanted now but ten minutes of
one.
'Shall we go down to the drawing-room, dear?' said Cousin Knollys, who was
growing restless like me.
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