"Do just as you like about dressing," she said. "I expect you're
tired."
She could bear it no more. She went out without another word, passed
steadily across the length of the landing to her own room, locked the
door, and threw herself on her knees.
III
She was roused by a tap on the door--how much later she did not
know. But the agony was passed for the present--the repulsion and the
horror of what she had seen. Perhaps it was that she did not yet
understand the whole truth. But at least her will was dominant; she
was as a man who has fought with fear alone, and walks, white and
trembling, yet perfectly himself, to the operating table.
She opened the door; and Susan stood there with a candle in one hand
and a scrap of white in the other.
"For you, miss," said the maid.
Maggie took it without a word, and read the name and the penciled
message twice.
"Just light the lamp out here," she said. "Oh ... and, by the way,
send Charlotte to Mrs. Baxter at once."
"Yes, miss..."
The maid still paused, eyeing her, as if with an unspoken
question. There was terror too in her eyes.
"Mr. Laurie is not very well," said Maggie steadily. "Please take no
notice of anything.
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