Prudence never knew till that moment when her heart sank heavy as lead, how hope had buoyed her up.
“Where has she gone to?” she asked feebly. “Will she return?”
“She’s gone to Paris,” said the maid, “an’ I don’t think she’s a-coming back.”
“Can you give me her address in Paris?”
“She wrote something out for missus, as to where letters was to be sent for her. If you’ll step in an’ wait a bit, mum, I’ll see if I can get it for you. I can’t read them furrin names.”
Prudence stepped into the stuffy hall and waited.
Presently the maid returned with a halfsheet of note-paper, on which only the words “Poste Restante, Paris,” were written. Bitterly disappointed the younger Miss Semaphore turned away.
“Even if I write to her,” she said to herself, “it will mean a couple of days delay at the very least, and great Heaven! what should I do if anyone saw Augusta in the meantime? I must see to some place for her at once, and get her out of that house.”
The very weakest women, when forced into a position of danger and responsibility, will act with a certain energy, and will display a resourcefulness that surprises no one more than it surprises themselves. Necessity is a hard taskmaster, who makes people capable of feats hitherto undreamt of by them.
Miss Semaphore’s first move, therefore, was to find a small stationer’s shop, where she obtained permission to write a letter. The letter was to Mrs. Geldheraus, marked “Urgent and Private.” In it she detailed the horrible accident that had happened to her sister, and implored the explorer’s widow to write or wire particulars of an antidote, if there was one, and in all cases to let her know exactly how the Water of Youth worked, and how long its effects were likely to last in such a case. She said, “You can imagine the dreadful position in which I am placed. My sister is altered out of knowledge; though she still seems, so far as I can judge, to preserve her memory and understanding, she cannot speak. You have left England, and the story sounds so improbable, that I cannot hope any of our friends would believe me if I told them the truth. I live in terror of my sister being discovered under her present aspect, so implore you to lose no time in relieving my suspense.”