“Nonsense!” cried Lady Lucy. “Is that all? Why, there’s not a bit of danger. We’ll go on the safest ship afloat.”
“It isn’t that, my lady; I fear not shipwrecks, but sharks!”
When Millicent put on her deep tragic tones and gazed intently at her hearer, she was very impressive; and the Lady Lucy began to feel a trifle scared.
“Sharks! What trash!” she said; but she was fascinated by Millicent’s eyes.
“Nay, my lady; ’tis true. A strange fatality follows all my family. My great-uncle fell overboard and was eaten by a shark; my second cousin was caught by a shark while swimming; and my aunt’s grandmother”—here her voice fell to a thrilling whisper—“went out for a walk in her garden, and a shark came right up out of the brook and bit off her left foot. Oh, no, my lady; never would I dare the terrors of the briny deep. ’Tis a curse—a fatal curse!”
By this time Millicent was stalking up and down the room, waving her arms about tragically and groaning deeply.
“Ah, my lady, tempt me not to a dire fate! Urge me not on an errand which would but lead me to my fearful doom! Fain would I serve so fair a mistress; but, alas! it is not mine to choose my lot. I am forever beneath a ban—a ban—a ban!”
At this point Mrs. Lennox entered, and Millicent at once assumed her ordinary manner, though Lady Lucy was quite unstrung.
This could not be explained, as she had no intention of telling her hostess how she had tried to lure away one of her servants, and so Mrs. Lennox came to the conclusion that her old friend’s daughter was a very hysterical, weak-minded young woman.
The morning wore away, and soon after luncheon the visitors prepared to depart.