Page:Anna Katharine Green - Leavenworth Case.djvu/351

Rh "Though not cheerful?"

"I did not say that; she was, sir, very."

"What, ma’am, this girl?" giving me a look. "I don’t understand that. I should think her anxiety about those she had left behind her in the city would have been enough to keep her from being very cheerful."

"So you would," returned Mrs. Belden; "but it was n’t so. On the contrary, she never seemed to worry about them at all."

"What! not about Miss Eleanore, who, according to the papers, stands in so cruel a position before the world? But perhaps she did n’t know anything about that—Miss Leavenworth’s position, I mean?"

"Yes, she did, for I told her. I was so astonished I could not keep it to myself. You see, I had always considered Eleanore as one above reproach, and it so shocked me to see her name mentioned in the newspaper in such a connection, that I went to Hannah and read the article aloud, and watched her face to see how she took it."

"And how did she?"

"I can’t say. She looked as if she did n’t understand; asked me why I read such things to her, and told me she did n’t want to hear any more; that I had promised not to trouble her about this murder, and that if I continued to do so she would n’t listen."

"Humph! and what else?"

"Nothing else. She put her hand over her ears and frowned in such a sullen way I left the room."

"That was when?"

"About three weeks ago."

"She has, however, mentioned the subject since?"

"No, sir; not once."