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Page 11
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 Slocums live?"
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