“The letter fluttered to the ground and I sprang
to her side. She had fainted.”
The Tower Rooms] [Page 201
CHAPTER XVI
I FIND A LUCKY SIXPENCE
AS soon as I was in dry things I slipped into Mrs. McNab’s room, my heart thumping. All through our voyage I had pictured her waking up and needing me: perhaps alarming the household, perhaps thrown into anxiety by reading my note. There were a dozen unpleasant possibilities, and I had explored them all.
But luck had held for me throughout that evening. She lay just as I had left her hours before, breathing deeply and regularly: the tray was untouched beside her, the note in its original fold. I pocketed it thankfully and went to bed—to wake with a start in the early dawn.
I threw on a dressing-gown and went across to Mrs. McNab’s room. She was lying awake and greeted me with a smile.
“You should not be up so early,” she said. “No, I am quite comfortable and better, and I have taken some jelly. And I feel cheerful, though I do not know why. I went to sleep so miserable, but a comforting dream came to me: a dream in which I saw Ronald, safe and happy and good. Is it not curious that I should have such a happy dream, just when all our plans for him are ruined!”
“I don’t know,” I said, and smiled at her “I think it was a sensible dream, sent as a warning.”
“I would like to think so,” she said wistfully. “But everything is so dark and uncertain now, and I do not know how to plan.”
I suppose I grinned idiotically, for suddenly her face changed. She looked at me keenly, rising on her elbow.