I'll be glad when that gardener comes, she thought to herself.
He'll make a MAN in the house at any rate.

When Lizzie at last came in with the lemonade she found her mistress
shaking her head.

"Cornelia, Cornelia," she was murmuring to herself, "you should have
taken to pistol practice when you were younger; it just shows how
children waste their opportunities."



CHAPTER FOUR

THE STORM GATHERS

The long summer afternoon wore away, sunset came, red and angry,
a sunset presaging storm. A chill crept into the air with the
twilight. When night fell, it was not a night of silver patterns
enskied, but a dark and cloudy cloak where a few stars glittered
fitfully. Miss Cornelia, at dinner, saw a bat swoop past the
window of the dining room in its scurrying flight, and narrowly
escaped oversetting her glass of water with a nervous start. The
tension of waiting--waiting--for some vague menace which might
not materialize after all--had begun to prey on her nerves. She
saw Dale off to the country club with relief--the girl looked a
little better after her nap but she was still not her normal self.
When Dale was gone, she wandered restlessly for some time between
living-room and library, now giving an unnecessary dusting to a