The Princess sent for the doctor next day--they arrived late at night
at the Ard?cheff house.
"Your friend has got a chill, and seems to have had a severe shock,"
he said when he came from Tamara's room. "Make her rest in bed today,
and then distract her with cheerful society."
And the Princess pondered as she sat in the blue salon alone. A
shock--what had happened? Could fear of the storm have caused a shock?
She felt very worried.
And poor Tamara lay limp in her bed; but every now and then she would
clench her hands in anguish as some fresh aspect of things struck her.
The most ghastly moment of all came when she remembered the eventual
fate of Mary Gibson.
What if she also should have--
"No! Oh, no!" she unconsciously screamed aloud; and her godmother,
coming into the room, was really alarmed.
From this moment onward the horror of this thought took root in her
brain, and she knew no peace. But her will and her breeding came to her
rescue. She would not lie there like an invalid; she would get up and
dress and go down to tea. She would chaff with the others who would all
swarm to see her. No one should pity or speculate about her. And she
made Johnson garb her in her loveliest teagown, and then she went to
the blue salon.
And amidst the laughter and fun they had talking of their adventure, no
one but Stephen Strong remarked the feverish unrest in her eyes, or the
bright, hectic flush in her cheeks.
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