"
"What are you talking about, Jasper?"
"I know right well what I'm talking about, Miss Hallam. What does t'
Bible say? T' old men shall see visions--" He had advanced toward the
window to draw the blinds, but Elizabeth, with a face pale as ashes,
turned quickly to him and said:
"Leave the blinds alone, Jasper."
She stood between him and the window, and he was amazed at the change
in her face. "She's like 'em a'," he muttered, angrily, as he went
to his own sitting-room. "You may put a bridle in t' wind's mouth as
easy as you'll guide a woman. If I hed been t' young squire, I'd hev
brokken t' will a' to bits, that I would. 'Leave t' blinds alone,
Jasper!' Highty-tighty, she is. But I've saved a bit o' brass, and I'll
none stand it, not I!"
So little do we know of the motives of the soul at our side! Elizabeth
was very far, indeed, from either pride or anger. But she had seen
in the dim garden, peering out from the shrubbery, a white face that
filled her with a sick fear. Then she had but one thought, to get
Jasper out of the room, and was quite unconscious of having spoken
with unusual anger or authority.
When he had gone she softly turned the key in the door, put out the
candles, and went to the window. In a few minutes Antony stood facing
her, and by a motion, asked to be admitted.
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