"Phew! Isn't he the Job's comforter!" exclaimed Mrs. Parkes. Looking suddenly at Paula, she said:
"Lord sakes, child, how pale you are!"
Paula was visibly distressed. The man certainly had frightened her, for she was all trembling. Going to the door, she first locked it, and then, turning to Mrs. Parkes, she said, in an agitated voice:
"Don't let him come here again—please! He has such a depressing effect on me. Somehow or other I'm afraid of him—afraid of him. I don't know why—but I am."
Suddenly she stopped, and, approaching the landlady, said, in a shuddering whisper:
"Mrs. Parkes, if anything happens to me——"
"Gracious! What could happen?" cried the old lady.
"I don't know," replied the young girl gloomily. "My uncle is desperate for money. If anything happened to me—he's the next of kin—he'd get the estate." She stopped, as if unwilling to tell what was on her mind. Then, with an effort, she continued: "Supposing he——"
"Supposing he what?" demanded the other.
"I don't know—I have such strange thoughts—I never know what they're going to do next. Mr. Ricaby doesn't know, either. There's this strange, inexplicable silence, these strange visits of Dr. Zacharie. It is as if they were waiting for—for— It's the uncertainty that gets on my nerves so."