“Yes, Pedro! Yes! It is quite true! I was laughing! It is a long time since you have heard such a sound from my lips. No wonder you are startled. It is this young lady who has wrought the miracle.”
The dark eyes rested on Nan’s face with a glow of gratitude which made the girl’s heart beat fast with pleasure. The eloquent Southern glance conveyed many meanings, but he said simply, “The signorina is welcome! I hope the signorina comes again!” and left the room in the same quiet, unobtrusive manner in which he had entered.
Chapter Sixteen.
The Curtained Pictures.
When Mrs Rendell returned home and heard of Nan’s latest escapade, she was breathless with horror and consternation.
“I don’t know what I am to do with you, child,” she cried. “Every time I go away there is a fresh outbreak, and you seem to grow worse instead of better. It is useless to warn you!”
“Oh, mummy dear!” Nan’s voice was full of protest, and she stared with reproachful eyes in her mother’s face. “It’s not fair to say that! I always do as you tell me. I never do what you have forbidden. You can’t think of a single instance where I have played a trick the second time, when you have cautioned me against it!”
“But what is the good of that, when you immediately hit on something even worse?” queried her mother despairingly. “What sane woman would ever dream of forbidding a girl of eighteen to walk about the streets in disguise, and go begging for subscriptions at strange houses? It takes away my breath, even to think of it! All sorts of things might have happened!”