Part 34 (2/2)
Esther, wrung with pity and remorse, stroked the grey hair in silence.
She expected an outbreak of childish tears, but it did not come. Rather, the s.h.i.+vering grew less and presently Aunt Amy raised her head.
”It was she--Mary--who took it?” she asked in a whisper.
”Yes. But remember I have promised to get it back.”
Aunt Amy looked at her blankly. She did not seem to hear.
”I never guessed it was Mary. Never! But now I know. I'll never be fooled again.”
”Know what?” asked Esther uneasily. There was a look in Aunt Amy's eyes which she disliked, a sly, cool look--more nearly mad than any look she had ever surprised there. ”Tell me what it is that you know,” she repeated coaxingly.
But Aunt Amy would not tell. It was just as well, she thought, that Esther should not know that at last, after many years, she had found out the agent employed by ”they” for her undoing. Ah, if she had only found out sooner. The ruby ring might still be s.h.i.+ning in its box. But of course ”they” knew that she would never suspect Mary, her own niece.
They were so clever! But now she could be as clever as they--oh, very, very clever!
”What did she mean about my screaming?” she asked, looking at Esther cunningly.
”Nothing, nothing at all! Don't think of it.”
”But she did. I know what she meant. She meant that if I get--troublesome--she will shut me up!”
”Nonsense!” declared Esther, thrilled to the heart with pity. ”You must never think such a thought, dear. You shall never live anywhere but here with us. Why, you are our good angel, Auntie. We could never get on without you--you know that.”
Aunt Amy nodded, stroking the girl's soft hand with her work-worn one.
”You are good and kind, Esther. I know you will take care of me, if you can. And I'm not afraid just now. It will be all right if I am clever. I must not be troublesome. If I am, she will put me away with the mad people. The people that make faces and scream. I never scream. Until to-day I haven't screamed for a long time. And I'll be more careful. Oh, I can be very careful, now that I know!”
Again the strange mad look. It flitted across her lifted eyes like a dark shadow behind a window shade. And again Esther tried gently to question her, but Aunt Amy was ”clever.” She didn't intend that Esther should find out.
The girl left her at last feeling both troubled and sad, but Mary Coombe laughed at her fears. She was in one of her most difficult moods.
”It was all a tempest in a tea cup, as usual,” she declared pettishly.
”I do wish, Esther, that you would not be so disagreeable. She will have forgotten all about the ring by to-morrow. All she needs is a little plain speaking, and firmness.”
”Firmness! Cruelty, you mean. You terrified her.”
”Well, it had a good effect. She quieted down at once.”
”She is too quiet. It's that which troubles me. Surely you can see the damage that has been done? All her new cheerfulness is gone. She is back to where she was before the doctor helped her.”
”I never believed that any real improvement was possible. Insane people never recover.”
”She is not insane! How can you say so? But how shall we explain the change in her to Dr. Callandar? We can't tell him that--that you--”
”Oh, don't mind me!” flippantly.
”Anyway, the ring will soon be back, thank heaven! I have written to Mrs. Bremner.”
”You wrote to Jessica?”
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