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CHAPTER 32
Je
She heard eleven strike, and then the quarter, and the half hour. Sometimes the church clock sounded quite loud, sometimes you couldn’t hear at it at all. It just depended on which way the wind was blowing. When there hadn’t been sounds from Rosamond’s room for quite a long time, she got up and put on her warm blue dressing gown. She had grown so much that it was nearly up to her knees, but it still met across the chest. She tied the cord round her waist and began to put all her manuscripts together in the top long drawer. There oughtn’t to have been room for them there, but there was, because Rosamond had taken such a lot of things out.
When she had got all the papers together she started on the right-hand drawer at the top. It had her pencils in it, and some peppermint creams which gave the whole drawer a lovely smell, a pair of gloves with a hole which she had forgotten to mend, a compass, a ruler, a fountain pen, a bottle of ink, a brown hair ribbon, a warm scarf, a Chinese box, and a lot of odds and ends of the kind which other people have a most unfair way of describing as rubbish. Je
She didn’t want to look at it, but her eyes became fixed. She hadn’t forgotten about it, but she had locked it away. Now it was there in front of her with the gold and silver flakes catching the light. She put out a finger and touched it. There it was, quite solid and real. Why hadn’t she left it lying on the grass verge in Vicarage Lane? Why hadn’t she thrown it away in the fields, or on the road? Why had she brought it home? She had a dreadful feeling that none of these things could be escaped from. There was something about the bead that fascinated her. Slowly, reluctantly she picked it up and set it on the palm of her hand. As she turned to get the light upon it she saw that the door was open, and that Lydia Crewe stood on the threshold looking in.
There hadn’t been any sound at all. The door had been shut, and now it was open. There hadn’t been anyone there. Now there was Lydia Crewe, all tall and black, with a black scarf over her head and a cloak that came down to her feet. It was a quite dreadful moment, like something out of the worst kind of dream. Je
“What do you want?”
Lydia Crewe came into the room and shut the door.
“What are you doing out of bed like this?”
“I got up.”
“So I see.” Lydia ’s tone was cold and measured. The look was dark. “Where did you get that bead?”
“I found it.”
“Where?”
Je
“I just found it.”
“And I asked you where.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Why do you not want to tell me? Shall I tell you? Because you have been getting out of the house at night and ru
Je
“You must be quite aware that this sort of thing can’t continue. I don’t intend it to continue. I have made all the arrangements, and you will have to go to school. Rosamond will take you there immediately.”
“I don’t believe it!”
Miss Crewe said coldly,
“Rosamond should have told you. But of course she thinks she knows best. I advise you to be sensible and to make the most of the advantages I shall be giving you. Since you will have your living to earn, it is very important to make up for all the time you have lost. And now give me that bead!”
As the dark figure advanced, Je
But there was no thunder. That formidable will could hold it back, and did. There was a terrible silence. Je
CHAPTER 33
Lucy Cu
There are always some to whom the morning does not come. She could almost have thought that someone had said that aloud-here in the room with her. There wasn’t anyone of course. It was only her own frightened mind playing tricks. She got up and began to move about. It was a mistake to sit and listen to the silence. The church clock struck eleven… and then the quarter… and the half hour-