CHAPTER XLIX.

LOTTIE SEEMS TREACHEROUS.

Lottie came into the room while we were talking, and, after closing the door, Jessie began to question her about the events of that night. To my astonishment, Lottie looked blankly in her face, and protested that she could not understand what we were thinking of. Mrs. Lee had fainted, and Miss Hyde had been called, of course, and that raised a fuss, as such things generally did. This was all she knew about it.

Jessie looked at her steadily a moment and turned away.

I was astonished and grieved. What could the girl mean?

After Jessie went out, the creature came up to my bed, and, doubling up her fist, shook it in my face, thus mocking my indignant weakness.

"You're a pretty Miss Hyde to trust a secret with, you are! What possessed you to tell that? How many cooks do you mean to have in one mess of soup? She can't keep it more than you could; and the next thing will be, you and I'll be swept out of this house like a nest of wasps. Not that I'd go, but there'd be a tussel, such as never was seen here before. Of course, you'd give in, and curl up like a caterpillar on a dry leaf; but I'll never do it while she lives and wants me. But all that don't mean that I'm going to fly in the face of Providence, and give Babylon a chance to turn me out, for it mightn't be convenient for me to get sick--not that I think your sickness isn't the genuine article, mind; I know it is, more shame to 'em, but I'm bound to be on hand with a sharp eye and close tongue. Trust Miss Jessie, indeed! Well, crazy folks will be crazy folks, any way you can fix it."

I was so weary that all this scarcely made an impression on my poor brain. But I had a vague feeling that the girl was right, and that I had acted very rashly. Indeed, I was not sure that Lottie's stout denial of that woman's work might not shake even Jessie's confidence in me. The distress and excitement of these thoughts shook my poor, quivering nerves, till I fell back into the old delirium, and after that no talking was allowed in my room for a long time.

No wonder Mr. Lee started as if he had seen a ghost, when I crept by him in the passage leading to his wife's chamber, the first time that I was permitted to move from my room. The color mounted to his face. He paused, turned back and gave me his hand, striving to smile.

I could not touch his hand, or even attempt to smile. He had wounded me too deeply for that.

"My dear Miss Hyde," he said, dropping the hand which I had no strength to touch, "no one can be more rejoiced than I am at your recovery. Pray forget everything that might make you think otherwise; it was all a misunderstanding."

I did not speak, but tears swelled into my eyes, and I turned away wounded a second time by his confused explanation.

Mrs. Lee was so overjoyed to have me with her again. She looked much better, and seemed more cheerful than I had seen her since Mrs. Dennison's advent in the family.

Mrs. Dennison came into the chamber while I was there. She recognized me with careless politeness, called my attention to the improvement in Mrs. Lee, and, in a thousand adroit ways, triumphed in showing me how completely I was crowded out from my place in the household--even in that sick-chamber, where my chief usefulness lay.

I was feeble and unduly sensitive, or this conduct would not have wounded me so keenly as it did. Spite of myself, the pain of this interview would make itself visible; so I arose and went into Lottie's room, for my strength availed no farther than that.

The young girl sat quietly in her little domicile close by the door, sewing upon some second-hand finery, but with every stitch she cast a vigilant glance into Mrs. Lee's chamber, as if such watchfulness had become a habit, of which she was herself unconscious.

Lottie was always exceedingly repugnant to permitting any one into her room; but when she saw me come toward her, looking so miserably feeble, the frown left her face, and, starting up, she arranged the pillows on her little white bed, and, sweeping back the curtains, motioned me to lie down. I fell helplessly on the pretty couch, and she drew the curtains around it, clouding me in lace.

"Do you feel like sleeping?" she whispered.

"No, Lottie, my heart aches too much for that."

"Then lie still, and keep watch while I go out. It is ten days since I have breathed the fresh air. Can I trust you?"

"Yes, Lottie."

The creature bent down and kissed me with great feeling; she too was affected by the general depression. All her wild animal spirits seemed hushed for the time.

"I didn't mean to be hard with you the other day," she whispered, "so don't mind it. Nobody thinks more of you than this child, you may believe that."

She glided out of the room, leaving the door open. Mrs. Dennison turned her head quickly as she went out, but did not seem to observe that the bed was occupied.