"I know I ought to be happy," she said quietly.
Then I noticed again a shrinking gesture, and I found her to be suffering from a fit of acute neuralgia.
"It didn't matter," she said gently. She "supposed it had been coming on all day, and crying always made the pain worse. So that was all her own fault, and nobody would think anything of it."
I could not see any "fault" under the circumstances; for Elfie's distress really seemed to me natural, if perhaps a little excessive.
I made her talk more about her mother, thinking anything better than the smothering down all feeling, and I was glad to find that she could respond calmly. One or two facts dropped from her, with which I was not yet acquainted. Mrs. Romilly has evidently been in a state of great nervousness and over-strain for months past. Sometimes for days together she could scarcely endure a voice or a footfall. Nobody has known what was the matter with her. I could not help suspecting from one or two of Elfie's expressions that she has also shown constant irritation.
"It was so difficult to get on," Elfie observed. "And you know I am always the one that teases mother so, not like Maggie."
The pain grew worse, and Elfie seemed hardly able to bear it. She did not complain, and there were no signs of an inclination to cry; but she walked up and down the room, and could not be still an instant. I persuaded her to go to bed, and accompanied her upstairs. Nona presently appeared, and we tried two or three remedies without much success.
"Nothing would do any good, except going to sleep," Nona averred.
I had to endure one of Mr. Romilly's little speeches, later in the evening, when only Maggie was present, beside our two selves; the Hepburns having departed.
"A sensitive girl, Elfie!" he said. "But it is not our way—er—to make much stir about Elfie's little crying fits, Miss Conway. I think—if you will excuse my making the suggestion—er—that it might perhaps be wise on the whole, another time to consult—er—Maggie, or—er—Miss Millington. My dear wife is very particular—er—very particular indeed—about Elfie's hysterical tendencies receiving—er—no encouragement."