Leo returned the blow. When she saw that, Lady Holme passed the two men
and went quickly out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Holding
her hands over her ears, she hurried upstairs to her bedroom. It was in
darkness. She felt about on the wall for the button that turned on the
electric light, but could not find it. Her hands, usually deft and
certain in their movements, seemed to have lost the sense of touch. It
was as if they had abruptly been deprived of their minds. She felt and
felt. She knew the button was there. Suddenly the room was full of light.
Without being aware of it she had found the button and turned it. In the
light she looked down at her hands and saw that they were trembling
violently. She went to the door and shut it. Then she sat down on the
sofa at the foot of the bed. She clasped her hands together in her lap,
but they went on trembling. Pulses were beating in her eyelids. She felt
utterly degraded, like a scrupulously clean person who has been rolled in
the dirt. And she fancied she heard a faint and mysterious sound,
pathetic and terrible, but very far away--the white angel in her weeping.
And the believers in the angel--were they weeping too?
She found herself wondering as a sleeper wonders in a dream.
Presently she got up. She could not sit there and see her hands
trembling. She did not walk about the room, but went over to the
dressing-table and stood by it, resting her hands upon it and leaning
forward.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228