Page:A Good Woman (1927).pdf/61

 Taking her canvas bathtub, she left them, going down to the Lake.

They knew now what they had to fear, and with the knowledge Naomi seemed once more to gain control of her flagging spirit. There was even color in her cheeks and a new light in her pale eyes. To Philip she seemed almost pretty.

After the Englishwoman had disappeared, she called Philip and Swanson and said, "I am not going to leave. God means us to stay. He has refreshed my spirit."

Philip argued with her. "The Englishwoman knows best; she has lived here."

"She is sent by the Devil to tempt us," said Naomi in a strangely hysterical voice. "She's an evil woman . . . I've prayed and God has answered me." It was difficult to know whether she was stubborn because of faith or because she hated Lady Millicent Wimbrooke.

When Philip didn't answer her, she turned to Swanson. "You'll stay, won't you?"

"If God means us to stay," he answered weakly. "I don't know."

A kind of scorn suddenly colored her voice. "And you, Philip . . . will you stay or will you go off with your friend?"

"What friend?" asked Philip.

"Her," said Naomi, who could not bring herself to say "Lady Millicent."

"Friend?" he echoed. "Why friend?"

"Oh, you know why. You seem to agree with her. You never said a word in our defense."

This was a new Naomi who stood looking at him, a woman excited and hysterical, and desperate, whom he did not recognize. This new Naomi was the martyr