And when there came no answer she thrust her arms swiftly into the
sleeves of the crimson kimono, and running across the room flung open
the door, and finding the corridor empty passed hurriedly on, leaving
the door wide so that the shadows skipped freakishly about the room in
tune to the rhythmical whisperings which the sea bore from the distant
corners of the earth.




CHAPTER XI

"Thy brother Death came, and cried,
'Wouldst thou me?'
And I replied,
'No, not thee!'"--_Shelley_.


The electric lights gave out a kind of fictitious radiance against the
dull grey of the hall windows through which the dawn was struggling.

The place was packed with girls. Some clustered near the baize door,
standing nervously on tip-toe and with the intent of retiring
precipitately if there should be any sign of the Principal; others hung
over the stair or gallery banisters; the domestic staff stood round their
own particular door, their white faces shining dully like Chinese
lanterns; no one spoke or moved. In fact they might have been posing for
a photographer until those above suddenly swayed and bent this way and
that, and those in the hall parted to give way to Leonie.