"Oh, I'm so glad you know, at last, Chester. I'm so glad that it will be easier to tell you." She put her hand on my arm and looked up at me in tenderest confidence. "Now you know why I called myself the 'White Cat.'"
"Yes, I see. Don't be alarmed. I'll help you. You must calm yourself and we'll find out a way. I know her, you know."
"Yes, I know you do. You must tell me all about her, sometime. How you must have hated me!"
"Perhaps I can manage her, but no matter about her, now. We must think it all out, and decide calmly what to do. I'm not afraid. Trust me, and I'll see you through. It will all come out right, I'm sure."
I went on so, purposely iterating such phrases to lull her, and key down the intense strain which wrought upon her. Her eyes kept on me, and I saw my influence work—my suggestion, I might say, since it was purposely hypnotic. Her hysteria made her abnormally sensitive to the treatment. She relaxed her attitude slightly, sighed, and dropped back among the silken pillows behind her.
"Oh, you're so good!" she breathed. "You will help me, I'm sure. You have helped me already! You're so strong—it's such a comfort to have you here!" She reached her hand out shyly and put it in mine, where it lay, small and cold. It was the first time she had done so, except under the direct stress of an earnestness strong enough to rob the act of any personal suggestion. It was a distinct caress, fearless and genuine.
"Now," I said, "begin at the beginning, and tell me all about what has happened."
She took it up again with a new courage. "As I've said, I don't know when Leah left. I only know that when I rang for her yesterday morning she didn't come. I went into her room and she wasn't there. She wasn't down-stairs. King didn't know anything about it."
"Nor Uncle Jerdon?"
"Uncle Jerdon has been away for three days, visiting his nephew, who's ill. You see, she—the other one—was here for two days running. It hasn't happened so for years. So whether it happened, whatever did happen, on Monday or Tuesday, I can't tell. Leah might have left either day."