Mrs. Carroll bowed, her lips moving continually in a vain and yearning effort after words.
"And then you lay down upon the lounge to snatch a few minutes of repose?" asserted Xenie.
Again she received an affirmative reply.
"Mamma, did you sleep long?" was the next question.
Mrs. Carroll shook her head with great energy.
"Oh! no, of course you did not!" exclaimed Xenie, quickly, "for it was midnight when I left you, and if Lora was wakeful and restless it must have been several hours before either one fell asleep. And it is not daylight yet, so you must have slept a very little while. Were you awakened by any noise, mamma?"
The question was instantly negatived.
"You were nervous and ill at ease, then, and simply awoke of yourself?" continued Mrs. St. John, anxiously.
Mrs. Carroll's earnest, dark eyes said yes almost as plainly as her bowed head.
"And when you woke, Lora and the babe were gone, mamma, and the front door stood wide open—is that the way of it, mamma?" continued Xenie, anxiously watching her mother's face for the confirmation of her question.