“At last—at last! I have been here too long,” she gasped.
I thought that the effect on her nervous temperament of making her leave the room against her will would outweigh any physical good the change might do her. The wild look was coming into her eyes which I had seen there twice before, and I was afraid of her being seized with a paroxysm while I stood there on the other side of the barred window, powerless to help her; so I said gently—
“Of course Mr. Rayner would not wish you to go if you did not wish it.”
But she shook her head, and, putting her face between the bars to be closer to me, she said, in a low broken voice—
“Do you know what his wishes mean when Sarah carries them out?”
I stood looking up at her, appalled. Her terror was so real that it infected me, and for the moment I almost shared the poor lady’s mad belief that there was a conspiracy against her. But her next words restored me to my senses.
“Are you against me too?” she asked piteously. “I always thought you were; but then you were kind to my child—and I don’t know, I don’t know whom to trust!”
“You may trust me, dear Mrs. Rayner, indeed,” said I earnestly. “I would not have suggested your leaving your room if I had thought it would cause you so much pain. Indeed, I did not know you were so much attached to it.”
She shuddered. There was a pause, during which she stared at me steadily and searchingly. But I had no cause to fear her poor mad eyes, so I returned her gaze, and she grew gradually calmer.
“Miss Christie,” said she at last, in a whisper, “you have influence in this house. That night when Haidee was ill you made Sarah obey you. If I may trust you, give me this proof—get me one day’s respite. Let me stay in my own room till—to-morrow.”