“A head! Whose?”
“Hi Kitchell’s. He must have seen us running and followed.”
“The inquisitive little imp! A pretty sight the three of you must have made. Never have I heard such goings on in the house of Simeon Pace. Let me pass, Ann. I must look into this matter.”
Annie Laurie never yet had disobeyed when her aunt spoke in that manner, and she stood aside, lifting her eyebrows with annoyance at the “Ann” which was the sign of Miss Adnah’s displeasure. She began to grow a little calmer, but at the same time the feeling of heaviness at her heart increased. It actually seemed as if it had turned into a stone and was dragging her down. And worse still, there was a hand of iron at her throat. That sharp despair of the young was upon her—that foolish despair, which sees no way out of hard circumstance.
Meantime Miss Adnah had gone on into the hall. She had meant to make her way at once into that grim parlor upon which her best efforts at cleanliness were so rigorously expended, but the sound of voices made her pause. She heard a girl’s excited voice broken by tears.
“Oh, you’re Annie Laurie’s aunt, aren’t you?” said the voice. “Which aunt, please? Her aunt Zillah? Oh, yes. She has told me about you. Oh, Miss Pace, it’s so dreadful! We’ve broken Annie Laurie’s heart, that’s what we’ve done. We didn’t intend it, you know. It came about because—may I tell you everything?”
“Yes, tell me everything,” answered Miss Zillah.
“Of course Zillah will be soft with her,” thought Miss Adnah. “She’s soft with everybody. I’d like to go in and shake her—upsetting Annie Laurie like that.”
There were long panes of glass running down beside the front hall door, and at this moment the ferret face of Hi Kitchell, seamed with anxiety, peered in one of them. This was really too much for Miss Adnah. She rushed to the door and threw it open, sending Hi off backward into the althea bush. It was no trick at all for Miss Adnah to stoop and pick him up as if he were a slug.
“What do you mean, you unmannerly, prying boy?” she demanded. “Peeking in folk’s windows, like you were a wild Indian!”