Part 2, Chapter XI.
Consequences.
The next day I did not see Comtesse Riki at all. My cold was rather worse; but the day after I was able to sit up in my room, and she came to me with two or three other girls in the evening. She was shy, however, and had none of her old warm manner. Baroness Elfreda made herself more agreeable on that occasion, and a plump little German girl of the name of Fräulein Schott took my fancy by her blunt, good-humoured, pleasant manner. There were also some Dutch girls and a French girl, who all crowded into our sitting-room to congratulate me, to chatter to one another, to flock to the window and gaze longingly at the balcony.
“You are what is called of the lucky,” said Elfreda presently.
“But why?” I asked. “I don’t think I am specially lucky; I have been two whole days in my room with this horrid cold.”
“I make no thought for the cold,” said Elfreda. “I do consider that you are of the lucky type because your room looks upon this so gay street.”
On further questioning, I found that both she and the Comtesse had rooms at the back of the house. After a time Hermione came in and chased my visitors away. When they were gone she sat down near me. She looked very grave.
“Did you,” she said, “notice anything special about Riki?”
“No,” I answered; “except, perhaps, that she was more silent than usual.”