"I only meant that you are an angel, mamma dear. And of course you are so enchanting and beautiful papa has always toed the mark. But Maria is good without being any too fascinating—"
"Sally is right," interrupted Mrs. McLane. "I am not sure that her plan will succeed. But no one has thought of a better. If Madeleine has a deeper necessity for stupefying her brain than shattered nerves, I doubt if any one could save her. But at least Sally can try. We'd be brutes if we left her to drown without throwing her a plank."
"Just what I said," remarked Mrs. Abbott complacently. "Was I not justified in telling you? And when you get her over there, Sally, and her mind is quite clear, warn her that while she may do what she chooses in private, if she elects to die that way, just let her once be seen in public in a state unbecoming a lady, and that is the end of her as far as we are concerned."
"Yes," said Mrs. McLane with a sigh. "We should have no choice. Poor
Madeleine!"
XXXII
Madeleine awoke from a heavy drugged sleep and reached out her hand automatically for the drawer of her commode. It fumbled in the air for a moment and then she raised herself on her elbow. She glanced about the room. It was not her own.
She sprang out of bed. A key turned and Sally Abbott entered.
"What does this mean?" cried Madeleine. "What are you doing here,
Sally? Why did Howard move me into another room?"
"He didn't. You are over at my house. He thought the country would be good for you for a while and I was simply dying to have you—"
"Where are my clothes? I am going back to the city at once."