Well, that was true enough. There would be a Riot if I went home, and I knew it.
“I’ll see the Stuard and get you a cup of tea,” Hannah said. “Tea sets me up like anything when I’m nervous. Now please be a good girl, Miss Barbara, and don’t run off, or do anything foolish.”
She wanted me to promise, but I would not, although I could not have run anywhere. My legs were entirely numb.
In a half hour at the utmost I knew all would be known, and very likely I would be a homless wanderer on the earth. For I felt that never, never could I return to my Dear Ones, when my terrable actions became known.
Jane came in while I was sipping the tea and she stood off and eyed me with sympathy.
“I don’t wonder, Bab!” she said. “The idea of your Familey acting so outragously! And look here——” She bent over me and whispered it. “Don’t trust Carter too much. He is perfectly infatuated with Leila, and he will play into the hands of the enemy. Be careful.”
“Loathesome creature!” was my response. “As for trusting him, I trust no one, these days.”
“I don’t wonder your Faith is gone,” she observed. But she was talking with one eye on a mirror.
“Pink makes me pale,” she said. “I’ll bet the maid has a drawer full of rouge. I’m going to see. How about a touch for you? You look gastly.”
“I don’t care how I look,” I said, recklessly. “I think I’ll sprain my ankle and go home. Anyhow I am not allowed to use rouge.”