The child made no answer.
Still the woman’s hand was on her head, and restlessly moving among the sunny curls. Twice had Agnes pushed it away with a firm effort; but it returned again persistently. She had a strange, bewildered feeling, and an impulse to catch Madeline in her arms and flee away, as from impending danger.
“Ah! Peep-bo!” Madeline had stolen another look, and the woman, watchful as a serpent, had caught the glance; and now her eye held that of the child, who did not again turn her face away, but continued to gaze upon that of Mrs. Jeckyl.
“You are a little darling!” said Mrs. Jeckyl, now bending close to Madeline, and smiling upon her in her most winning manner. “The sweetest pet in all the world! Here, sit on my lap.” And she made an attempt to lift Madeline from the arm of her sister; but Agnes resisted, saying, coldly,—
“If you please, madam, let her remain where she is.”
But the woman was bent on having her own way. Not seeming even to hear the words of Agnes, she applied her strength, and drew the child upon her lap. A deep fluttering sigh came up from the heart of Madeline, and light spasms quivered over her face. There was a brief, feeble resistance; then strength and will were subdued, and, passive as a babe, she shrunk against the woman, laying her head down upon her bosom.
Roused by fear and indignation, Agnes started to her feet, and, grasping her sister by the arms, said, as she exerted her strength in the effort to remove her,—
“Let her go, Mrs. Jeckyl!”
“Don’t fret yourself, my dear,” said the woman, fixing her glittering eyes into those of Agnes, with a look meant to subdue her also. But the effort to hold her passive by the strength of a powerful will failed wholly.
“Release my sister!” she added, sternly.