"No," Evelyn answered; and trying to conceal her astonishment, she said, "I'm sure there's no one there."
"Ah, he knows it would be useless." She glanced again at her frock. "You see my blue skirt, that has perhaps frightened him away."
"But who has gone away?"
"Oh, the devil is always about."
"But you don't think he would hurt you?"
Miss Dingle looked suspiciously at Evelyn, and some dim thought whether Evelyn was the devil in disguise must have crossed her mind. But whatever the thought was, it was but a flitting thought; it passed in a moment, and Miss Dingle said—"But the devil is always trying to hurt us. That is what he comes for."
"So that is why you surrounded yourself with pious pictures—to keep him away?"
Miss Dingle nodded.
"What a nice dress you have on. I suppose you like blue. I always notice you wear it."
"I wear blue, as much blue as I can, for blue is the colour of the Virgin Mary, and he dare not attack me while I have it on. But I wear sometimes only a handkerchief, sometimes only a skirt, but now that he is about so frequently, I have to dress entirely in blue."