She was very
proud and considered herself above other people. Would you like to see
your room, mademoiselle? I will send some one to take you up to it. It
will be on the top floor."
I was in a mood not to care if it had been on the roof, or in the
cellar. I hardly knew where I was going, as a few minutes later a still
younger youth piloted me across a large square hall toward a lift; but I
was vaguely conscious that a good many smart-looking people were sitting
or standing about, and that they glanced at me as I went by. I hoped
dimly that I didn't appear conspicuously pale and stricken.
Just in front of the lift door a tall woman was talking to a little man.
There was an instant of delay while my guide and I waited for them to
move, and before they realized that we were waiting.
"They say the poor thing is no worse than yesterday, however, my maid
tells me--" The lady had begun in a low, mysterious tone, but broke off
suddenly when it dawned upon her that she was obstructing the way.
I knew instinctively _who_ was the subject of the whispered
conversation, and I couldn't help fixing my eyes almost appealingly on
the tall woman; for though she was middle-aged and not pretty, her voice
was so nice and she looked so kind that I felt a longing to have her for
a friend.
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