“Go and tell your mistress that I am very tired, and have gone to my own room.”
Annie, her maid, had fallen asleep, in an easy-chair. She sent her away. She would undress herself. She let herself sink on a couch, she was oppressed with delicious emotion.
The door of her room opened, it was Mrs. Scott.
“You are not well, Bettina?”
“Oh, Susie, is it you, my Susie? how nice of you to come. Sit here, close to me, quite close to me.”
She hid herself like a child in the arms of her sister, caressing with her burning brow Susie’s fresh shoulders. Then she suddenly burst into sobs, great sobs, which stifled, suffocated her.
“Bettina, my darling, what is the matter?”
“Nothing, nothing! it is nothing, it is joy—joy!”
“Joy?”
“Yes, yes, wait—let me cry a little, it will do me so much good. But do not be frightened, do not be frightened.”