Elizabeth dared not speak. She was wondering if she could not escape, since her cousin had nothing to say, beyond the old jealous complaint. But suddenly Amanda turned to her.
"I've something I want to tell you," she said, speaking feebly and with difficulty. "Sister made me promise that I—would; she said that if there was any—any way in which I'd injured you, it would ease my mind to—tell you. But first you must promise"—she looked about her suspiciously—"you must swear to me on your oath that you won't repeat—anything I tell you."
She raised herself up on her pillows, her breath came in convulsive gasps, she fixed her eyes intently upon Elizabeth. "Promise," she said, in her weak, hoarse voice, "swear to me on your oath that you won't—repeat what I tell you now."
Elizabeth trembled, her brain felt dazed. Those strained, eager eyes held her with a terrible insistence. "I—I promise," she repeated, hardly knowing what she said, conscious only of a wish to have them withdrawn.
Amanda sank back as if relieved, on the pillows, but still she questioned, with a look of doubt. "You won't break your word. You are sure?"
"Quite sure," said Elizabeth. Her brain still seemed dazed, her lips moved mechanically.
Amanda seemed satisfied. Still, she did not speak, she lay quiet, with half-closed eyes. At last, with a painful effort, she raised herself up, and fixed her eyes again intently upon Elizabeth. "I sent the poison," she said. The words came in a hoarse whisper.
Elizabeth stared at her without moving; only a slight shudder passed through her. The words echoed in her ear, beat upon her brain. The odd part of it was that they did not surprise her. She seemed somehow to have heard, or thought them, before.
"Yes," Amanda repeated, after a moment, "I sent the poison. It was after I had left the sanitarium—no one knew that I had left it. I dressed as like you as I could, I copied your handwriting, I knew they would think it was you. But I didn't"—a slight undertone of contempt made itself felt in her voice—"I didn't know how easy it would be, for I didn't suppose you'd do all those stupid things that made them suspect you."
She was silent. Elizabeth still stared at her motionless, aghast. "But why—why," she faltered, "what object, Amanda, could you have?"