V

Nurse came in from her afternoon. She had heard nothing of the recent
catastrophe, and, as she saw Angelina sitting quietly in front of the
fire she thought that she had had her tea, and was now "dreaming" as she
so often did. Once, however, as she was busy in another part of the
room, she caught half the face in the light of the fire. To any one of a
more perceptive nature that glimpse must have seemed one of the most
tragic things in the world. But this was a woman of "a sensible, hearty"
nature; moreover, her "afternoon" had left her with happy reminiscences
of her own charms and their effect on the opposite sex.

She had, however, her moment.... She had left the room to fetch
something. Returning she noticed that the dusk had fallen, and was about
to switch on the light when, in the rise and fall of the firelight,
something that she saw made her pause. She stood motionless by the door.

Angelina had turned in her chair; her eyes were gazing, with rapt
attention, toward the purple dusk by the window. She was listening.
Nurse, as she had often assured her friends, "was not cursed with
imagination," but now fear held her so that she could not stir nor move
save that her hand trembled against the wall paper. The chatter of the
fire, the shouts of some boys in the Square, the ringing of the bell of
St. Matthew's for evensong, all these things came into the room.
Angelina, still listening, at last smiled; then, with a little sigh, sat
back in her chair.

"Heavens! Miss 'Lina! What were you doing there? How you frightened me!"
Angelina left her chair, and went across to the window. "Auntie Emily,"
she said, "put Wosie into the fire, she did. But Wosie's saved.... He's