The brief conversation with Penny through the closet peephole encouraged her to believe that almost at once help would come.
Penny is proving to be one of the best friends I ever had and I hardly know her, she thought. I wish now I had told her everything, especially about the sapphire.
With regret the girl recalled how she had rebuffed Penny and Louise on the occasion when they had offered her a ride into Riverview.
But at that time she had considered them strangers who only meant to pry into her affairs. If I had told everything then, Grandmother and I might have been spared much suffering, she reflected. I should have asked them to take me to the police. The worst mistake of my life was coming back to this horrible place.
Restlessly, Rhoda tramped about the chapel room. The air was very stuffy and the absence of windows distressed her. She felt oppressed, as if the four walls were pressing in upon her.
The room was scantily furnished with only the huge canopied bed, an old fashioned dresser, and a table. There were no chairs.
Groping on the dresser, the girl found a stub of a candle in a holder. At first she could discover no matches. However, after examining all the dresser drawers, she came upon one.
Shielding it carefully from draughts, she managed to light it and ignite the wick of the candle.
“It won’t burn longer than twenty minutes,” she estimated. “But by that time, perhaps Penny will be back here with help.”
The dim light depressed rather than cheered the girl. Cold currents of air coming from the chinks of the walls caused the flame to flicker weirdly, and almost go out.