FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   103   104   105   106   107   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   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   >>   >|  
e's door, but burst in upon him headlong. The room was in total darkness, but he awoke instantly. "Hullo! What is it? That you, Muriel?" "Oh, Blake!" she gasped. "The child's ill. We want the doctor." He was up in a moment. She heard him groping for matches, but he only succeeded in knocking something over. "Can't you find them?" she asked. "Wait! I'll get you a light." She ran back to her own room and fetched a candle. Her hands were shaking so that she could scarcely light it. Returning, she found Grange putting on his clothes in the darkness. He was fully as flurried as she. As she set down the candle there arose a sudden awful sound in Daisy's room. Muriel stood still. "Oh, what is that?" Grange paused in the act of dragging on his coat. "It's that damned _ayah_," he said savagely. And in a second Muriel understood. Daisy's _ayah_ was wailing for the dead. She put her hands over her ears. The dreadful cry seemed to pierce right through to her very soul. Then she remembered Daisy, and turned to go to her. Out in the passage she met the white-faced English servants huddling together and whispering. One of them was sobbing hysterically. She passed them swiftly by. Back in Daisy's room she found the _ayah_ crouched on the floor, and rocking herself to and fro while she beat her breast and wailed. The door that led into the nursery was closed. Muriel advanced fiercely upon the woman. She almost felt as if she could have choked her. She seized her by the shoulders without ceremony. The _ayah_ ceased her wailing for a moment, then recommenced in a lower key. Muriel pulled her to her feet, half-dragged, half-led her to her own room, thrust her within, and locked the door upon her. Then she returned to Daisy. She found her sunk in a rocking-chair before the waning fire, softly swaying to and fro with the baby on her breast. She looked at Muriel entering, with a set, still face. "Has Blake gone?" she asked, still in that dry, powerless whisper. Muriel moved to her side, and knelt down. "He is just going," she began to say, but the words froze on her lips. She remained motionless for a long second, gazing at the tiny, waxen face on Daisy's breast. And for that second her heart stood still; for she knew that the baby was dead. From the closed room across the passage came the muffled sound of the _ayah's_ wailing. Daisy made a slight impatient movement. "Stir the fire," she whispered.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   103   104   105   106   107   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   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Muriel
 

wailing

 

breast

 
darkness
 
Grange
 
rocking
 

candle

 

moment

 

closed

 

passage


dragged
 
recommenced
 

pulled

 

wailed

 

nursery

 

advanced

 

crouched

 

fiercely

 

shoulders

 

ceremony


ceased
 

seized

 

choked

 
thrust
 

entering

 
gazing
 
motionless
 

remained

 

impatient

 

movement


whispered

 

slight

 
muffled
 
waning
 

softly

 
swaying
 

looked

 

locked

 

returned

 

powerless


whisper

 

knocking

 
scarcely
 

Returning

 
putting
 
clothes
 

shaking

 

fetched

 
succeeded
 

instantly