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No one who had seen that could possibly think anything except that Je
Mrs. Forbes took command. She said all the right things, and there wasn’t the least bit of reality in what she said. Not to Je
It was Je
“We can’t talk in here- Oh, we can’t. She doesn’t hear us, but-” She left it at that and walked out of the door. They heard her step go down the crooked stair.
“She’s upset,” said Mrs. Forbes. “I suppose it’s natural. I’ll take her back with me, and you can get on with what has to be done here.”
“And never a word to ask me whether I minded staying!” said Miss Adamson to herself.
Chapter III
Je
“Your toothbrush, Je
“My face-cloth,” said Je
“That’s right-put them in. Do you use a hot-water bottle?”
Je
The voice went on. It was Mrs. Forbes’ voice. It said things like “You’ll need your bedroom slippers, and your dressing-gown, and your night things. That dress you’ve got on will do to wear again tomorrow. Now your brush and comb-and that, I think, is all.”
Je
When they were walking up the drive together Mrs. Forbes asked her whether she had had anything to eat. She had to stop and think about that before she answered. Everything seemed so long ago and so far away, but when she got down to it she remembered that she and Miss Adamson had had tea at five o’clock, and that Miss Adamson had made her eat an egg. It felt like a long time ago-a long, long time. Garsty was alive then. It felt as if she had come a long way from the kettle boiling and Miss Adamson speaking cheerfully. It was a long, long way, and there was a gap in the middle of it which she could never cross over.
Mrs. Forbes asked her question again, “When did you have anything to eat?” and this time Je
“At five. We had tea. Miss Adamson boiled me an egg.”
“Then you had better get straight to bed,” said Mrs. Forbes briskly. “Carter can bring you up a cup of hot milk.”
They came into the lighted hall. There was neither sight nor sound of the little girls, only Carter stout and flurried.
“I’ve brought Je
The words went with Je
“Now, Je
Je
“Oh, Je
The kindness came in amongst Je
In the end she went into the warm bed, the clothes were tucked round her, the window thrown open, and the curtain drawn back. Did Carter actually say, “God bless you, my child?” or was it an echo of something she felt-and knew…
The light was gone. There was a little moonlight outside. Je
She came back gradually to morning light and her strange bed. Those were the first of her thoughts. The light had the hushed look which means the early morning. She waked and remembered, but even as the memory flowed into her mind there was a whispering sound on either side of her.
“You’re awake at last.”
“We thought you would never wake up.”
“We’ve been sitting here as quiet as mice.”
“We promised ourselves we would.”
“But you’re awake now, aren’t you?”
“Oh, darling, do be awake!”
Je
“We were frozen, but we waited till you were awake,” said Meg on the right.
“Oh, yes-we promised ourselves we wouldn’t wake you up. And we didn’t, did we?” said Joyce. She wiggled her cold toes into a warm chink as she spoke.
Je
“Nearly half past six,” said Meg. “At six we came in, and you weren’t awake, so we waited very patiently.”
“We didn’t make a single sound,” said Joyce “-not a single one.”
“And what we want to know is, have you come to stay-are you here for good? Because we want you-don’t we, Joyce?”
“We want you dreadfully,” said Joyce.
“And we’ve got it all fixed up,” said Meg on her other side. “Joyce isn’t supposed to go to school, or to do very much in the way of lessons -not since she was ill, you know. And first of all Mother had the horrid idea of sending me to school and keeping Joyce here with a governess. And you were to be the governess-lucky Joyce! But then she thought again. And this time she thought of having Joyce like a drip round her neck all the time, and she decided not to do it.”
“Oh, Meg!”
“Well, you know what you are without me to brisk you up and keep you in order.”
“Oh, Meg!”
“It was all arranged,” said Meg, nodding.
Je
“Nonsense!”