Lucy insisted on hearing exactly how the accident had happened, and
pressed her with questions, which Albinia would have shunned in her
present condition, and it was thus elicited that she had taken
Maurice across the street to how him to Mrs. Osborn. He had resented
the strange place, and strange people, and had cried so much that she
was obliged to run home with him at once. A knot of bawling men came
reeling out of one of the many beer shops in Tibbs's Alley, and in
her haste to avoid them, she tripped, close to the gate-post of
Willow Lawn, and fell, with only time to interpose her arm between
Maurice's head and the sharp corner. She was lifted up at once, in
the horror of seeing him neither cry nor move, for, in fact, he had
been almost stifled under her weight, and all had since been to her a
frightful phantom dream. Albinia was infinitely relieved by this
history, showing that Maurice could hardly have received any real
injury, and in her declarations that Sophy's presence of mind had
saved him, was forgetting to whom the accident was owing. Lucy
wanted to know why her sister could have taken him out of the house
at all, but Albinia could not bear to have this pressed at such a
moment, and sent the inquirer down to order some tea, which she
shared with Sophy, and then was forced to bid her good-night, without
drawing out any further confessions. But when the girl raised
herself to receive her kiss, it was the first real embrace that had
passed between them.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179