“How perfectly sensible,” he contradicted. “I wish you had not awakened. I should have had a great joke to tell your Girl Scouts,” he teased.
Nora laughed lightly. She was on the ground and anxious to get into the cottage. Why she felt so timid was not clear even to herself, but somewhere within her dread lurked, and when Ted proposed lemonade and crackers Nora excused herself on the grounds of being deliciously sleepy. For once she accepted Vita’s offer to light her lights and make the window right for the night.
“You go quick asleep?” Vita remarked, turning down the soft summer covering from the little bed.
“Oh, yes. I fell asleep in the car,” returned Nora, yawning.
“That’s good. Then you hear no storm——”
“But there is no sign of a storm, Vita.”
“Oh, but maybe. Or maybe, yes, some big birds fly and make screech——”
“Vita!” exclaimed Nora sharply. “What ever are you talking about? Are you trying to—scare me?”
“Oh, no. No get scared at—any t’ing.” mumbled Vita while her own excited manner seemed real cause for alarm. “I just like to know when my little girl sleep very good, like baby.”
Truth to tell Nora was too sleepy to argue, otherwise she might have demanded an explanation. Vita was plainly excited, and this fact coupled with that of her strange actions earlier in the evening was unquestionably enough to cause suspicion; but rest to a girl afflicted with “nerves” is a precious thing, and when it came to Nora she had no idea of risking its loss by any sort of argument.