When she recovered consciousness she was lying upon the old horsehair sofa in the library. Ivy had gone on an errand, but Cynthia stood over her and the girl's face shocked the reviving woman into alertness. Familiarity had dulled her in the past, but now she saw the expression and outline of Theodore Starr's features bending near her.
"Oh!" she moaned shudderingly. "Oh! oh!"
"Aunt Ann, it is little Cyn! The tree by the smoke-house was struck, but we-all are safe."
"I must be alone!" Then gropingly and tremblingly Ann Walden got upon her feet.
"The letter," she panted, "the letter."
"Here it is—I found it on the floor where you fell."
At the time Cynthia was too distressed to attach any importance to the matter, but she recalled the incident later.
"Yes, yes!" Ann Walden gripped the closely written sheets; "and now I—I want to be alone!"