“I am not mad, uncle, but I shall be soon if you do not take away that ghost! Oh, that face, that voice! They have been drowned almost three years, and now they rise to haunt me from their watery grave!”
She began to scream with actual terror, bringing the housekeeper and several servants to the scene. Her uncle caught her in his arms and carried her into the parlor, saying to Pansy over his shoulder:
“Keep out of sight a few moments, dear, and I will bring her to her senses. She has evidently been startled by your likeness to some one she has known.”
Pansy sat down just inside the parlor door, which she carefully closed, thus shutting out the gaping servants. Colonel Falconer set himself to the task of quieting his hysterical niece.
Believing herself alone with him, she soon grew calmer, and asked:
“Oh, uncle, where did you find that girl? I thought she was dead!”
“Of whom does she remind you, dear?” he asked soothingly.
Shivering with terror, she replied:
“Of Pansy Laurens, the girl who made all the trouble between Norman and myself. You know, it was thought she drowned herself, but now I can no longer believe it, for surely this is no other than Pansy Laurens!”
Pansy sat motionless, and heard her husband saying sternly: