ake such mistakes.
Please, my lady--oh! might mother be allowed to step in a minute to
speak to you?"

Emily's colour came, back gradually. When Jane went to her mother, Mrs.
Cupp almost boxed her ears.

"That's just the way with girls," she said. "No more sense than a pack
of cats. If you can't keep quiet you'd better just give up. Of course
she'd think you meant they was to be sent for because we was certain she
was a dying woman. Oh my! Jane Cupp, get away!"

She enjoyed her little interview with Lady Walderhurst greatly. A woman
whose opinion was of value at such a time had the soundest reasons for
enjoying herself. When she returned to her room, she sat and fanned
herself with a pocket handkerchief and dealt judicially with Jane.

"What we've got to do," she said, "is to think, and think we will. Tell
her things outright we must not, until we've got something sure and
proved. Then we can call on them that's got the power in their hands. We
can't call on them till we can show them a thing no one can't deny. As
to that bridge, it's old enough to be easy managed, and look accidental
if it broke. You say she ain't going there to-day. Well, this very
night, as soon as it's dark enough, you and me will go down and have a
look at it. And what's more, we'll take a man with us. Judd could be
trusted. Worst comes to worst, we're only taking the liberty of making
sure it's safe, because we know it _is_ old and we're over careful."

As Jane had gathered from her, by careful and apparently incidental
inquiry, Emily had had no intention of visiting her retreat. In the
morning she had, in fact, not felt quite well enough. Her nightmare had
shaken her far more on its second occurring. The stealthy hand had
seemed not merely to touch, but to grip at her side, and she had been
physically unable to rise for some minutes after her awakening. This
experience had its physical and mental effects on her.

She did not see Hester until luncheon, and after luncheon she found her
to be in one of her strange humours. She was often in these strange
humours at this time. She wore a nervous and strained look, and
frequently seemed to have been crying. She had new lines on her forehead
between the eyebrows. Emily had tried in vain to rouse and cheer her
with sympathetic feminine talk. There were days when she felt that for
some reason Hester did not care to see her.

She felt it this afternoon, and not being herself at the high-water mark