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Page 53
A light hurried step and the rustle of a dress were heard over the lawn.
All was so still, and her nerves were in such a state of tension, that
Madeleine could hear one of the French windows carefully opened and
closed again. The step came upstairs, and as it passed her door she
heard Morten's voice say, "I am sure you never thought that I should
come out this evening;" and Fanny's answer, "Oh, one feels that sort of
thing instinctively!"
Madeleine breathed again. It was indeed Fanny's voice, in its most
insinuating and deceitful tones.
A short time afterwards she got up and closed her window, and
withdrawing into the farthest corner of the room, she hastily undressed
and crept into bed. Her tears flowed the whole time, but she was utterly
crushed, and soon fell into a heavy slumber.
A good hour after Madeleine had gone to sleep, her door opened
noiselessly, and a tall shadowy form glided into the chamber. The form
placed a water-bottle upon the table. The moon had reached the point at
which it shone obliquely into the window, and down upon the bed where
Madeleine was sleeping. The apparition drew the curtains more closely,
and the while a beam of moonlight passed over its features. They were
furrowed with innumerable small wrinkles, and a night-cap with starched
strings was knotted tightly under the chin.
Noiselessly as it had entered, the apparition glided out again, and the
door closed.
CHAPTER XIII.
The next day it rained in torrents. Morten drove into the town
immediately after breakfast. Madeleine lay in bed with a fever. Rachel
went in to see her, but she found her in such a curious state that she
wished to send for the doctor. Miss Cordsen, however, was of opinion
that it would be better to let her have perfect rest, and that with time
she would soon come round. Rachel would all the same have sent for the
doctor, if she had not forgotten it almost before she got downstairs;
she was so taken up with her own thoughts. Would another day pass
without his coming?
A carriage drove up to the door. Mrs. Garman, who had just finished a
little private breakfast in her own room, put down her paper and said,
"Is it possible? Can it be visitors in this weather?"
Rachel felt that she was blushing. She had recognized his voice in the
hall, and to conceal her emotion, she sat down at the piano and
aimlessly struck a few chords.
The door opened and in came Dean Sparre, followed by Mr. Johnsen. Rachel
turned round on the music-stool, bringing her hand down with a crash on
some of the bass notes of the piano. Her eye never wandered from
Johnsen, as if she expected every moment that he would begin to speak,
and give some explanation as to why he came in such company.
Dean Sparre gave a cordial greeting to the ladies, at the same time
mildly reproaching Rachel for not having paid them a visit at the
deanery. He had a great many messages for her from his "little girls."
Mrs. Garman became reconciled as soon as she saw who were the visitors.
There was nothing she enjoyed more than a gossip with clergymen.
The conversation first turned upon the disagreeable weather, but
Rachel's eyes never once moved from the inspector. He did not look in
her direction; his face was pale, and his lips closely pressed together.
"We particularly wished, my young friend and I," at last began the dean,
"to pay this visit at your house together. There are many things that
can be explained, and many misunderstandings which can be avoided, if
one only has an opportunity of talking a matter thoroughly over."
The dean paused and looked at Mr. Johnsen, who made a momentary effort
to speak, in which he signally failed.
"It would be most unfortunate," continued the dean, "if a few
ill-considered remarks should leave an impression on our congregation
that there was any want of agreement, or rather, I should say,
difference of opinion, among those who have to work together in the
service of the Church."
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