Julia, the maid, was astonished and shocked to see her mistress look so pale.
"Are you ill, my lady?" asked she. "Shall I go for Dr. Letemdy?"
"No! Hold your tongue! Mind your own business!" said Lady Rety. "Give me a glass of water, and be off!"
Julia obeyed. Lady Rety locked the door after her.
It is easier to defeat the sympathy of mankind than to baffle their curiosity. Lady's maids in particular are always most eager to mind other people's business when they are told to go about their own. Julia had left the room, but she returned to the door and listened.
What she heard served still more to excite her curiosity. Lady Rety walked up and down. She sat down, arranged her papers and wrote. Again she got up, and tore some papers. Again she paced the room. She opened a drawer. Again she sat down, and Julia overheard a deep, deep sigh. Then again there was a sound as of something being stirred in a glass.
"She is ill!" thought Julia. "She's taking her medicine! I ought to call the doctor!"
She listened again, and heard the rattling of the glass as it was violently put down upon the table. This, it struck her, was a sign that her mistress was fearfully ill-tempered. She thought it more prudent not to go for the doctor. After a short time she heard deep groans. She knocked at the door, but she received no answer. This circumstance, and the moaning inside, which became more violent every moment, caused her to forget Lady Rety's ill-temper, and to hasten to the sheriff, whom she found closeted with Vandory.
Julia told them all she had heard when listening at her mistress's door.
"She has done the worst!" cried Vandory. "Let us make haste. Perhaps there is time to save her!"