"
"You dear!--but why should you!" said Diana, in amazement.
"Let me."
"If you like! But I can't have Fanny making you look like this. Please,
please go to bed."
* * * * *
An hour later Mrs. Colwood, in her room, was still up and dressed,
hanging motionless, and deep in thought, over the dying fire. And before
she went to sleep--far in the small hours--her pillow was wet
with crying.
CHAPTER VIII
"I thought I'd perhaps better let you know--I'm--well, I'm going to have
a talk with Diana this morning!"
The voice was determined. Muriel Colwood--startled and
dismayed--surveyed the speaker. She had been waylaid on the threshold of
her room. The morning was half-way through. Visitors, including Mr. Fred
Birch, were expected to lunch, and Miss Merton, who had been lately
invisible, had already, she saw, changed her dress. At breakfast, it
seemed to Mrs. Colwood, she had been barely presentable: untidy hair, a
dress with various hooks missing, and ruffles much in need of washing.
Muriel could only suppose that the carelessness of her attire was meant
to mark the completeness of her conquest of Beechcote.
Pages:
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221