The Wind in the rose-bush and other stories of the supernatural by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
page 22 of 171 (12%)
page 22 of 171 (12%)
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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." |
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