"OH, Juliet? How could you do it?" said Salome.
Juliet shrank back speechless. Had Salome spoken sharply, she might have found a reply; but Salome's gentle, sorrowful utterance was as different as possible from her usual mode of administering reproof, and it made Juliet feel how much more grave was this escapade than anything of which she had before been guilty.
"How could you be so cruel to poor mother?" continued Salome. "I should have thought you would have considered her; for I fancied you had some love for her, if for no one else. You have well-nigh broken her heart. I don't know that she will ever recover from the shock."
"Oh, Salome! She is not ill!" exclaimed Juliet, her voice rising almost to a scream.
"She is very ill," said Salome gravely. "We had to call in Dr. Gardner on Thursday night. She just went from one fainting fit into another."
Juliet stood like one stunned, every particle of colour fading from her face. She had to clutch at the table to keep herself from falling.
"Oh, mother!" she cried. "What have I done?" Then, forgetting all the thoughts that had gone before, she added quickly, "I must go to her, Salome. I must go at once."
"I must beg you not to think of that," said Salome, her manner unconsciously growing severe, though her heart had been touched by the sight of Juliet's altered, miserable looks. "Hannah's last words to me were—'Tell Juliet that the only thing she can do for us now is to keep away.' You do not realise, perhaps, how you have disgraced us. There was an article in our local paper yesterday, giving a full account of Algernon Chalcombe's arrest in Paris, and mentioning your name as that of the young lady who had travelled with him. Hannah was terribly upset when she saw it at breakfast time. She declared that she could not go to the high school and face the girls, knowing that they would all be talking about it; but afterwards she compelled herself to go, for she said she had no excuse for shirking her duty, and no one had any right to blame her for your going wrong."
"Oh, don't, Salome, don't! I cannot bear it!" cried Juliet wildly, as she threw herself on the couch and buried her face amongst the pillows.
Salome said nothing, but her expression softened. She looked ready to cry herself, but controlled her feelings, laid aside her cloak, looked around the room, and began instinctively to set things in order.