The Wind in the Rose-Bush | Page 8

Slocum said Agnes didn't have time to
come over and ask me before the train went, but she took it on herself
to say it would be all right, and--"
"Why hadn't she been over to tell you?" Rebecca was angry, though not
suspicious. She even saw no reason for her anger.
"Oh, she was putting up grapes. She was coming over just as soon as
she got the black off her hands. She heard I had company, and her
hands were a sight. She was holding them over sulphur matches."
"You say she's going to stay a few days?" repeated Rebecca dazedly.

"Yes; till Thursday, Mrs. Slocum said."
"How far is Lincoln from here?"
"About fifty miles. It'll be a real treat to her. Mrs. Slocum's sister is a
real nice woman."
"It is goin' to make it pretty late about my goin' home."
"If you don't feel as if you could wait, I'll get her ready and send her on
just as soon as I can," Mrs. Dent said sweetly.
"I'm going to wait," said Rebecca grimly.
The two women sat down again, and Mrs. Dent took up her
embroidery.
"Is there any sewing I can do for her?" Rebecca asked finally in a
desperate way. "If I can get her sewing along some--"
Mrs. Dent arose with alacrity and fetched a mass of white from the
closet. "Here," she said, "if you want to sew the lace on this nightgown.
I was going to put her to it, but she'll be glad enough to get rid of it. She
ought to have this and one more before she goes. I don't like to send her
away without some good underclothing."
Rebecca snatched at the little white garment and sewed feverishly.
That night she wakened from a deep sleep a little after midnight and lay
a minute trying to collect her faculties and explain to herself what she
was listening to. At last she discovered that it was the then popular
strains of "The Maiden's Prayer" floating up through the floor from the
piano in the sitting-room below. She jumped up, threw a shawl over her
nightgown, and hurried downstairs trembling. There was nobody in the
sitting-room; the piano was silent. She ran to Mrs. Dent's bedroom and
called hysterically:
"Emeline! Emeline!"

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Dent's voice from the bed. The voice was stern,
but had a note of consciousness in it.
"Who--who was that playing 'The Maiden's Prayer' in the sitting- room,
on the piano?"
"I didn't hear anybody."
"There was some one."
"I didn't hear anything."
"I tell you there was some one. But--THERE AIN'T ANYBODY
THERE."
"I didn't hear anything."
"I did--somebody playing 'The Maiden's Prayer' on the piano. Has
Agnes got home? I WANT TO KNOW."
"Of course Agnes hasn't got home," answered Mrs. Dent with rising
inflection. "Be you gone crazy over that girl? The last boat from
Porter's Falls was in before we went to bed. Of course she ain't come."
"I heard--"
"You were dreaming."
"I wasn't; I was broad awake."
Rebecca went back to her chamber and kept her lamp burning all night.
The next morning her eyes upon Mrs. Dent were wary and blazing with
suppressed excitement. She kept opening her mouth as if to speak, then
frowning, and setting her lips hard. After breakfast she went upstairs,
and came down presently with her coat and bonnet.
"Now, Emeline," she said, "I want to know where the Slocums live."

Mrs. Dent gave a strange, long, half-lidded glance at her. She was
finishing her coffee.
"Why?" she asked.
"I'm going over there and find out if they have heard anything from her
daughter and Agnes since they went away. I don't like what I heard last
night."
"You must have been dreaming."
"It don't make any odds whether I was or not. Does she play 'The
Maiden's Prayer' on the piano? I want to know."
"What if she does? She plays it a little, I believe. I don't know. She
don't half play it, anyhow; she ain't got an ear."
"That wasn't half played last night. I don't like such things happening. I
ain't superstitious, but I don't like it. I'm going. Where do the Slocum's
live?"
"You go down the road over the bridge past the old grist mill, then you
turn to the left; it's the only house for half a mile. You can t miss it. It
has a barn with a ship in full sail on the cupola."
"Well, I'm going. I don't feel easy."
About two hours later Rebecca returned. There were red spots on her
cheeks. She looked wild. "I've been there," she said, and there isn't a
soul at home. Something HAS happened."
"What has happened?"
"I don't know. Something. I had a warning