Page:The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (1928).djvu/263

 occurred to him that it must be later than he thought and regarding the tower opposite he discovered that it was already ten o'clock. It couldn't be as late as that. The clock was Italian and therefore probably an hour or two wrong. It was never correct with the sun, and to Italians such things didn't matter. But his own watch showed him that the clock was not fast (which he knew would be unusual in Brinoë), but slow by half an hour. It was half past ten. Maria had not called him and for the first time in twenty years he had overslept. For a moment he experienced a wild desire to summon Maria and abuse her, but something about the square, the sky and the sight of the wedding party in the Ford made him soften. He decided to do nothing about Maria's dereliction. It was odd, indeed, how well he felt, and how young and spry.

Then he saw coming round the tower of the church the tall awkward figure of a nun, walking in great haste, her full black skirt swinging with her masculine stride. "It is the crazy one," he thought, "Sister Annunziata." As she crossed the little square toward his house, he saw that she was smiling and talking to herself in the most animated fashion as she walked. She turned and disappeared through the archway by the old Palace of the Podestas.

The sight of her brought to mind Miss Annie Spragg. Well, it was an interesting case and he would have to go further into it. If he continued in his present health and spirits he would be able to complete "Miracles and Other Natural Phenomena" within a year or two. He must see Mrs.