And that she richly deserved it--and knew it--made
its smart not a whit the less.
* * * * *
Fanny did not appear at dinner. Mrs. Colwood and Diana dined
alone--Diana very white and silent. After dinner, Diana began slowly to
climb the shallow old staircase. Mrs. Colwood followed her.
"Where are you going?" she said, trying to hold her back.
Diana looked at her. In the girl's eyes there was a sudden and tragic
indignation.
"Do you all know?" she said, under her breath--"all--all of you?" And
again she began to mount, with a resolute step.
Mrs. Colwood dared not follow her any farther. Diana went quickly up and
along the gallery; she knocked at Fanny's door. After a moment Mrs.
Colwood heard it opened, and a parley of voices--Fanny's short and
sullen, Diana's very low. Then the door closed, and Mrs. Colwood knew
that the cousins were together.
How the next twenty minutes passed, Mrs. Colwood could never remember.
At the end of them she heard steps slowly coming down the stairs, and a
cry--her own name--not in Diana's voice. She ran out into the hall.
At the top of the stairs, stood Fanny Merton, not daring to move
farther.
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