As for Mr. Ried, his face lighted, as it always did, at the mention of his sister's name.
“Sometimes I almost think that it is Ester still at work, and that He lets her work through this woman.”
It was what he said to Gracie Dennis in an aside. Mrs. Roberts had already gone to see in person to the comfort of her guest.
CHAPTER XXVI. — “O LORD, TAKE DIRK, TOO!”
She found her standing before the mirror. By reason of the fact that she understood no pretty trick of braid or curl, her long yellow hair hung just as Nature had made it, with no waves or ripples save those which had grown with its growth. It fell about her now like a sunset cloud. She had taken from the vase near at hand a rose, which she had pushed in among the masses of hair, with no knowledge as to how it should be arranged, or, indeed, thought; yet the effect was something which made Mrs. Roberts give an involuntary start of admiration.
Still it was evident that, though apparently gazing at herself, she was thinking away beyond herself. It is doubtful if at that moment she saw the flower, or her own reflection, or knew that she was looking. Her eyes had the faraway expression which one sometimes sees in great power on faces like hers. She turned as Mrs. Roberts, having softly knocked and received no answer, softly entered, and her first words indicated the intensity of her thought, whatever it was:—
“Dirk has got to go there!”
“Go where?” asked Mrs. Roberts, startled out of the words she meant to speak; startled by the hint of power in the voice and manner.