Amy’s face beamed with pleasure. “Is you-all goin’ speak to her ’bout Go’ge?”
“Not at once—I must have time to think about that, and you must be quiet, too.”
“Don’ you fret; I ain’ goin’ say anything ef you-all doan’.”
At the door she turned again and looked at Ruth as if she would like to ask a question, but Ruth pretended not to see, and she went out without speaking.
What Ruth had seen could not be ignored, yet she could not go to Gloria and tell her that she had deliberately peeked through keyholes, especially as there was no way of proving that she had seen what she had seen. George did not practise his rites every night or Amy would have long since fled in terror. The only thing to do was to try and persuade Gloria to discharge George for some other cause, or failing that, to watch an opportunity to show Gloria what she had seen. But perhaps Gloria already knew. That did not seem exactly probable, but Gloria was a strange woman and she said that George had been in her service a long time—before her marriage to Professor Pendragon. Perhaps Professor Pendragon—
Her thoughts lost themselves in trying to unravel the tangled skein of Professor Pendragon, Gloria and her marriages, George and his evident connection with everything. She remembered George’s warning whisper of the night before. Pendragon might be able to explain everything to her, but she could not ask him about George without also giving him information of Gloria, a thing she had promised not to do. The night before she had thought that she might go direct to Gloria with her story about George, but in the light of morning it sounded both fantastic and unreal—as foolish as the fears of the superstitious Amy had seemed before she, herself, had investigated her wild story.
She would be late to class this morning, for she had waked late and had dressed slowly with her thoughts. On her way downstairs she passed Gloria’s room. The door was open and Gloria was sitting up in bed surrounded by innumerable papers.
“Are you in a hurry?” she called.
“No, not much,” which was true, for being already late, Ruth was wondering whether it would be worth while to try and attend her first class.
“Perhaps you can help me out—can’t make anything of all this,” said Gloria.