As she crossed the lawn at Jordan's Journey, Uncle Abednego, the butler, appeared at the back door, and detained her with an excited wave of the hand.
"Lawd A'mighty, dar's bad times yer, Miss Sary!" he cried, "Miss Angela she's been mos' dead fur goin' on two hours, en we all's done sont Cephus on de bay horse arter Marse Jonathan!"
CHAPTER XV
SHOWS THE TYRANNY OF WEAKNESS
Three days later the bay horse returned at a gallop with Jonathan Gay in the saddle. At the head of the steps Kesiah was standing, and she answered the young man's anxious questions with a manner which she tried to make as sympathetic as the occasion required. This effort to adjust her features into harmony with her feelings had brought her brows together in a forbidding scowl and exaggerated the harsh lines between mouth and chin.
"Am I in time?" he asked in a trembling voice, and his hand reached out to her for support.
"The immediate danger is over, Jonathan," she answered, while she led him into the library and closed the door softly behind them. "For hours we despaired of her recovery, but the doctors say now that if there is no other shock, she may live on for months."
"I got your note last night in Washington," he returned. "It was forwarded by mail from Applegate. Is the doctor still with her?"
"No, he has just gone. The rector is there now. She finds him a great comfort."
"It was so sudden, Aunt Kesiah—she appeared well when I left her. What caused the attack?"