“Remember, Margery, nobody is to come up here.”
“No, mother, nobody. You are safer than the old bishop in his castle on the Rhine, for the rats did reach him there, and not so much as a mouse shall harm you here, so au revoir,” and with a kiss—the last—the very last, she would ever give as she gave that, she ran down stairs just as a carriage stopped at the gate and Reinette came rapidly up the walk.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
REINETTE’S INTERVIEW WITH MARGERY.
Reinette did not ring, but entered unannounced, like one who had but one thought, one purpose, and was resolved to carry it out with as little ceremony as possible. It was fortunate for all parties that this was Margery’s dull season, and there were no girls there with prying eyes and curious ears to listen, for Reinette was greatly excited now that the moment drew near when she could confront Christine, and she plunged at once into business by saying to Margery, “Where is your mother? I have come to see her.”
“Mother is sick,” Margery replied; “she is very nervous and cannot see any one. I am sorry, but you will have to wait. Maybe I can do as well,” she continued, looking wonderingly at Queenie, who, utterly disregarding what she said, had started for the stairs.
“No, you will not do as well. I must see her; it is very important and I cannot wait,” Queenie said, still advancing toward the stairs, while Margery put herself between them and her friend, whose strange conduct surprised her so much.
“But you cannot see her. I promised no one should disturb her,” she said again, and now she laid her hand on Queenie’s shoulder to detain her, for Queenie’s foot was on the first stair and she looked resolute enough to storm a fortress as she persisted in her determination to go up.
But not less resolute than her own was the face which confronted her as Margery roused up and said in a voice Queenie had never heard from her before: “Miss Hetherton! You astonish me. I tell you mother is sick and cannot be disturbed. You must not go up.”
“And I tell you I must. I have important news from Mentone, which concerns your mother and me, and I must see her.”