She had seated herself on the bed's edge, leaning over the girl where she lay on her pillows.
"Answer me," she insisted. "Of what use am I to you?"
For a full minute the girl lay there looking up at her without stirring. Then a smile glimmered in her eyes; she lifted both arms and laid them on the older woman's shoulders.
"You are useful—this way," she said; and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
The effect on Aunt Hannah was abrupt; she caught the girl to her breast and held her there fiercely and in silence for a moment; then, releasing her, tucked her in with mute violence, turned off the light and marched out without a word.
Day after day Desboro's guests continued to turn the house inside out, ransacking it from garret to cellar.
"We don't intend to do anything in this house that anybody has ever done here, or at any house party," explained Reggie Ledyard to Jacqueline. "So if any lady cares to walk down stairs on her head the incident will be quite in order."
"Can she slide down the banisters instead?" asked Helsa Steyr.