* * * * *
The first thing I saw, as we went back, was Letty’s face at the window of the conservatory. It was only a look, for she rose immediately and shifted her seat, but that look I shall never efface from my memory. She was no coward. Indeed, I have never known any woman with more of the reckless, devil-may-care attitude towards danger, but that vital hour, when she sat there and wondered, must have tried her soul.
When we entered she was consummately at ease. She did not appear to notice our coming, but once I caught her glancing furtively in the mirror, watching Ben.
I went on upstairs and there, in the old playroom, the tension I had been under snapped and my nerves went bad and, as I was doubled up, shivering and shaking, Molly found me. It must have frightened her out of her wits, to come upon me without warning, for by the time the spell was over, she was in my arms, weeping her heart out.
“Oh, Davy, you aren’t going back, like that!”
“Nonsense! It’s almost over—only, once in a while—when something excites me.”
“You’ve been talking to Ben,” she said, straightening up. “Davy, I don’t like her! And, what’s more, Ben isn’t happy!”
What could I say? I couldn’t look into my dear little sister’s clean eyes and counsel her to accept Letty with an open heart.
* * * * *