She was so startled by the change
in the Countess, that she was at a loss what to say or to do next.
Henry was obliged to speak to her. 'Put your questions while you
have the chance,' he said, lowering his voice. 'See! the vacant look
is coming over her face again.'
Agnes tried to rally her courage. 'You were in my room last night--'
she began. Before she could add a word more, the Countess lifted
her hands, and wrung them above her head with a low moan of horror.
Agnes shrank back, and turned as if to leave the room. Henry stopped her,
and whispered to her to try again. She obeyed him after an effort.
'I slept last night in the room that you gave up to me,' she resumed.
'I saw--'
The Countess suddenly rose to her feet. 'No more of that,' she cried.
'Oh, Jesu Maria! do you think I want to be told what you saw?
Do you think I don't know what it means for you and for me?
Decide for yourself, Miss. Examine your own mind. Are you well
assured that the day of reckoning has come at last? Are you ready
to follow me back, through the crimes of the past, to the secrets of
the dead?'
She returned again to the writing-table, without waiting to be answered.
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