Page:Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes - The Lodger.djvu/71

Rh not face—even in her inmost heart—the strange terrors and tremors which had so shaken her. She only repeated to herself again and again, "I’ve got upset—that’s what I’ve done," and then she spoke aloud, "I must get myself a dose at the chemist’s next time I’m out. That’s what I must do."

And just as she murmured the word "do," there came a loud double knock on the front door.

It was only the postman’s knock, but the postman was an unfamiliar visitor in that house, and Mrs. Bunting started violently. She was nervous, that’s what was the matter with her,—so she told herself angrily. No doubt this was a letter for Mr. Sleuth; the lodger must have relations and acquaintances somewhere in the world. All gentlefolk have. But when she picked the small envelope off the hall floor, she saw it was a letter from Daisy, her husband’s daughter.

"Bunting!" she called out sharply. "Here’s a letter for you."

She opened the door of their sitting-room and looked in.

Yes, there was her husband, sitting back comfortably in his easy chair, reading a paper. And as she saw his broad, rather rounded back, Mrs. Bunting felt a sudden thrill of sharp irritation. There he was, doing nothing—in fact, doing worse than nothing—wasting his time reading all about those horrid crimes.

She sighed—a long, unconscious sigh. Bunting was getting into idle ways, bad ways for a man of his years. But how could she prevent it? He had been such an active, conscientious sort of man when they had first made acquaintance…