She looked wildly from one to the other--from the man to the
woman; then she tottered a step away, clutching her money and her little
picture to her breast; and then she rolled over, a huddled, senseless heap,
upon the floor.
CHAPTER SIX
DRIFT
When Joan recovered consciousness she found her head and neck wet where her
stepmother had flung cold water over her. Thomasin was at that moment
burning a feather under her nose, but she stopped and withdrew it as the
girl's eyes opened.
"Theer, now you'll be well by night. He've gone aboard. Best to change your
gownd, for 'tis wetted. Then I'll tell 'e what 'er said. Can 'e get
upstairs?"
Joan rose slowly and went with swimming brain to her room. She still held
her picture and her money. She took off her wet clothes, then sat down upon
her bed to think; and as her mind grew clear, there crept through the
gloomy shadows of the past tragedy a joy. It lightened her heart a moment,
then vanished again, like the moon blotted suddenly from the sky by a rack
of storm-cloud. Joan was full of the stupendous news. The shock of hearing
her most unsuspected condition had indeed stricken her insensible, but it
was the surprise of it more than the dismay. Now she viewed the
circumstance with uncertainty, not knowing the attitude "Mister Jan" would
adopt toward it. She argued with herself long hours, and peace brooded over
her at the end; for, as his cherished utterances passed in review before
her memory, the sense and sum of them seemed to promise well.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235