She pressed her hands closer against her aching temples. What was the secret of this extraordinary house? Was it all unreal? Had it never happened at all? Was it supernatural--a fevered vision of the brain--an apparition haunting the scenes of the past? Impossible!
And the woman? She at all events had been tangible and real. Why had she looked at her with eyes that held hatred--nothing more nor less than hatred, bitter and undisguised?
Who could she ask? whom could she turn to? For a moment she had a wild impulse to peal the bell and call for--whom? Somebody--anybody--to speak--to tell her she was awake--alive. Marion? but Marion was not here. Marion had gone with the big soldier husband whose mere presence in the house would, the girl felt, have been an assurance of security, of sanity. Violets! What had Marion said? "There is a sad story attached to violets at Bessacre." But she had not told her what it was. Why had she left her? And then she remembered the earlier events of the evening--Dickie--his illness--the telegram. It all seemed so distant. Marion had been in trouble and had left her. Then gradually the thought of her friend's anxiety had the result of restoring her to a more normal condition of mind.
She rose to her feet and prepared herself mechanically for her bed. When she laid her head at last upon the cool whiteness of her pillow, and closed her weary eyes, sleep was far from her. She saw only one face, heard only one voice. "Such love as mine must--calling--calling--draw you to me at the last. My sweet! my sweet!" Oh, the pity of it! the pity of it!
Was it a few minutes, or ages later--she could not tell--that suddenly she heard a door bang violently--once--twice? She heard a hurried step on the gravel below her window, and then a shout, and the sound of a horse galloping faster and faster into the distance. Then even the echo died away, and silence as of the dead remained. She strained her ears, shivering with nervousness and fatigue, but could hear no more, and after a while she sank into a troubled sleep.