"I won't answer it in a hurry; that's certain. And when I do, I'll say—oh, perhaps I'll say that I've been ever so much too busy to miss anybody, except of course my home-people. I should think that will about finish him."
It flashed into her mind that she had never gone to see Mrs. Brutt after breakfast, as desired.
She glanced at her watch, found the time to be not far from eleven, and wondered what that lady would say. Without delay she set off at a brisk pace through the wet grass, with its leaping grasshoppers, down the path and into the road, finding the distance less than she had thought.
Once more she had to pass the newly-built châlet, occupied by the English couple; and again she paused for a moment's interested gaze. A book still lay on the bench, and nobody was visible.
But as she stopped, a girl ran out of the front door, quite a girl in age, hardly more than a child in look, round-faced and fair, bare-headed, pale, and distraught. The blue eyes were widely opened, as if in fear, and she wrung her hands together with a despairing gesture.
"Oh, what shall I do? O God, what shall I do?"
[CHAPTER XVII]
A Great Effort
DORIS threw open the little gate and ran in. "Is anything the matter?" she asked. "Can I be any help?"
The girl seized her hands, with an exclamation. "Are you English? Oh, tell me what to do. My husband is so ill. I don't know what to do."