"But I do; and I give up, she's out-generalled me. I'll never pretend to crow over her again; but it's awful, oh! it's awful!"
She shuddered all over, and crouched closer together, winding both arms tightly around her knees.
"Tell me all about it, Lottie. I must know, in order to judge how to act."
She moved on the window-seat, that I might sit closer to her; then drawing my head down with her arm, whispered,—
"I knew that she was doing something, and that Mrs. Lee was suffering by it; but what? that was the question. I tried to keep awake at nights, but it was of no use; no log ever slept as I did. Last night, you remember, I drank that strong tea. It wasn't because I liked it; but I was determined to keep awake. I wanted you to be on hand as well, and gave you a powerful dose; and wasn't you wide awake as a night-hawk when I came into your room?
"Well, I went to bed just as I always do, and lay down with my eyes shut, waiting. Babylon had gone to her room; but Cora was floating about in the passages a good while; finally she went in, and everything was still. It seemed to me as if I kept growing sharper and wider awake every minute; but I never heard that woman's step till she stood over me, and her shadow fell clear across the bed; I bit my lips to keep from screaming, but lay still and waited.
"She called my name two or three times, whispering louder each time; but I drew my breath even and deep, waiting for her. All at once that strange smell that was in the room when you came almost strangled me; but as I bit my lips harder, down came a wet cloth over my face. It almost smothered me, for she pressed it close with her hand till I felt a strange falling away, as if she had forced me over a rock, and I was myself sinking. One minute more, and I should have been nowhere; but some noise in the entry took her away.
"I snatched the cloth from my face and crept softly out of bed. The whirl and weight made me so dizzy, I could not walk, but crept on my hands and knees through the door which she had left open. Here the fresh air blew over me, and I felt steady enough to run to your room.
"You know how we found her, and how she put us down. I thought we had her, safe and sure; but here we are worse off than ever. I believe she would kill that blessed angel before his face, and no one would believe it."
I sat in silence, wondering what course it was best for me to pursue. That this woman was undermining Mrs. Lee's feeble life, by repeated applications of chloroform, I could not doubt; but how convince the family of this? It was an act so hideous in itself, that the very charge, if unbelieved, would be considered a crime. I was sure that, with the help of her maid, she had changed the bottle which contained the chloroform while struggling with me at the door; but how was I to prove this? Lottie—alas! this woman had so fascinated those who held power in the family, that her story would be of no avail without some indisputable proof to sustain it.