“Anna Miller! Do you mean to tell me that I—that I frightened that baby by my looks?” cried the invalid yet more fiercely.
“You don’t happen to look like anyone he’s happened to see so far, nor—dress like ’em,” Anna murmured deprecatingly.
“You’d hardly expect him ever to see anyone who had suffered as I have all these years and lost everyone they ever cared for!”
“There’s Mr. Langley,” Anna reminded her.
“Of course. But he isn’t like one’s own child. Anna, will you go out and send Bell in to me. Then please wait until she comes for you.”
Too sore and shocked to protest, Anna complied silently. She guessed that Mrs. Langley was about to consult a mirror. If she hadn’t seen herself since—since the little lamb had been placed in the cemetery, she would—but Anna’s imagination refused to compass the situation. She waited with mingled dread and terror for—she knew not what.
CHAPTER XV
BIG BELL’S voice was actually soft as she bade Anna return to her mistress, and the girl stole fearfully in. However, nothing dire had happened. Except that she was strangely subdued, Mrs. Langley was her usual self. But Anna’s heart ached sadly.
She chattered lightly about the snow-fall and the interrupted skating. Mrs. Langley, who hadn’t listened, presently broke in.
“Anna, what can I do to make—so that the baby won’t be afraid of me?” she asked at once meekly and fiercely so that Anna shuddered. There was no answer to that riddle, but she plucked up a bit of spirit.