"No, I'd rather you didn't trouble, please."

"Very well; if you're sure you know the way. You go down the broad
stairs, then turn to the right, then to the left. Good-by. I must rush
off, or I shall be late."

Nancy shut the door behind her. She did it gently, although she did
not feel gentle, for she had a distinct sensation of being irritated.

Meanwhile Priscilla, clasping her hands together behind the closed
door, looked yearningly in the direction where the bright face and
trim, neat girlish figure had stood. She was trembling slightly and
her eyes slowly filled with tears.

"I feel sick and lonely and horrid," she said under her breath. "Talk
of nerves; oh, if Aunt Raby could see me now! Why, I'm positively
shaking, I can scarcely speak, I can scarcely think properly. What
would the children say if they saw their Prissie now? And I'm the girl
who is to fight the world, and kill the dragon, and make a home for
the nestlings. Don't I feel like it! Don't I look like it! Don't I
just loathe myself! How hideously I do my hair, and what a frightful
dress I have on. Oh, I wish I weren't shaking so much. I know I shall
get red all over at dinner. I wish I weren't going to dinner. I wish,
oh, I wish I were at home again."

Crash! bang! pealed the great gong through the house. Doors were
opened all along the corridor; light steps passed Priscilla's room.
She heard the rustle of silk and the sweet, high tinkle of girlish
laughter.