CHAPTER XLVI.

LOTTIE OWNS HERSELF BEATEN.

When the woman was gone, I went in and spoke to Lottie, who had curled herself up in the window-seat, with her knees drawn up, and both hands locked over them.

"Don't speak to me; don't anybody dare to speak to me!" she said, motioning me off with her head. "I ain't worth noticing. I'd give something to any decent person that'd whip me within an inch of my life, or bite me--I don't care which--so long as it hurt."

"Lottie," I whispered, pressing my hand on her shoulder to enforce what I said, "do not speak a word of this till I have seen you. Come up to my room."

"I won't. Nothing on earth shall take me out of her sight again. There'll be murder if I do."

"Hush! Lottie, I do not understand all this."

"But _I_ do; and I give up, she's out-generalled me. I'll never pretend to crow over her again; but it's awful, oh! it's awful!"

She shuddered all over, and crouched closer together, winding both arms tightly around her knees.

"Tell me all about it, Lottie. I must know, in order to judge how to act."

She moved on the window-seat, that I might sit closer to her; then drawing my head down with her arm, whispered,--

"I knew that she was doing something, and that Mrs. Lee was suffering by it; but what? that was the question. I tried to keep awake at nights, but it was of no use; no log ever slept as I did. Last night, you remember, I drank that strong tea. It wasn't because I liked it; but I was determined to keep awake. I wanted you to be on hand as well, and gave you a powerful dose; and wasn't you wide awake as a night-hawk when I came into your room?

"Well, I went to bed just as I always do, and lay down with my eyes shut, waiting. Babylon had gone to her room; but Cora was floating about in the passages a good while; finally she went in, and everything was still. It seemed to me as if I kept growing sharper and wider awake every minute; but I never heard that woman's step till she stood over me, and her shadow fell clear across the bed; I bit my lips to keep from screaming, but lay still and waited.

"She called my name two or three times, whispering louder each time; but I drew my breath even and deep, waiting for her. All at once that strange smell that was in the room when you came almost strangled me; but as I bit my lips harder, down came a wet cloth over my face. It almost smothered me, for she pressed it close with her hand till I felt a strange falling away, as if she had forced me over a rock, and I was myself sinking. One minute more, and I should have been nowhere; but some noise in the entry took her away.

"I snatched the cloth from my face and crept softly out of bed. The whirl and weight made me so dizzy, I could not walk, but crept on my hands and knees through the door which she had left open. Here the fresh air blew over me, and I felt steady enough to run to your room.

"You know how we found her, and how she put us down. I thought we had her, safe and sure; but here we are worse off than ever. I believe she would kill that blessed angel before his face, and no one would believe it."

I sat in silence, wondering what course it was best for me to pursue. That this woman was undermining Mrs. Lee's feeble life, by repeated applications of chloroform, I could not doubt; but how convince the family of this? It was an act so hideous in itself, that the very charge, if unbelieved, would be considered a crime. I was sure that, with the help of her maid, she had changed the bottle which contained the chloroform while struggling with me at the door; but how was I to prove this? Lottie--alas! this woman had so fascinated those who held power in the family, that her story would be of no avail without some indisputable proof to sustain it.

Jessie would believe us, I was sure; but the belief, without power to remedy a state of things so terrible that it made my heart sink, would only produce pain. What could I do? Helplessly I asked the question. Yet a terrible necessity required all my energies.

The dejection of poor Lottie had a numbing effect upon me. She, usually so full of resources, so ardent in her courage, sat on the window-seat, crestfallen and beaten like myself. One thing was certain, Lottie would keep strict guard now. Whatever the woman's motives were, the events of that night would never be repeated, so long as that faithful creature kept her place in the household. But how long would she keep that place? How long should I be left under the same roof with her?