“Ha! ha! you are frightened, my pretty little dear. That good husband of yours is away from home and he won’t give you his address. Ha! ha! he says he will come back again unexpectedly, does he not? Ha! ha! ha! Well, so he will. Now you ask him a question when he returns—ask him what goes on in the Queen Anne wing at night—in the cellars, I mean. There are big cellars under that part of the house—ask him what they are used for. Ask him, too, why his mad sister is not put into an asylum; why she is used as a—ha! ha!—a blind—ha! ha!”
“Now, madam, what nonsense this is. Come home this minute. You shall suffer for this conduct.”
A strong voice rose on the air, firm steps were heard approaching. The poor mad lady glanced round with a wild expression; suddenly she clung close to Nance.
“Save me, save me!” she gasped; “that is Leah’s voice. At times she is awfully cruel to me. Sometimes she beats me. Oh, save me!”
The poor creature’s voice rang out on the air with a wild scream.
CHAPTER XVII.
CROSSLEY.
The woman whom Nance had seen the night before came forward with quick strides.
“None of this folly, Mrs. Cameron,” she said in a powerful voice. “Leave that young lady alone this minute, or you know perfectly well what will happen. Now take my arm. You have disobeyed me and you know you must be punished.”
The miserable creature seemed to shrink and collapse into herself. She gave Nance a piteous look.
Nance’s kind heart was immediately touched.