Once she was inside, however, it
did not seem so amusing. Still, it gave her an immense amount of
satisfaction to slam the windows loudly, as if in pure defiance. Then
she closed the blinds, shutting out the night completely.
Turning up the light at her dressing-table, she sat down in a state of
sudden collapse. For a long time she stared at her face in the
mirror. She saw the red of shame and embarrassment mount to her cheeks
and then she covered her eyes with her hands.
"Oh, what a fool you've been," she half sobbed, shrinking from the
mirror as if it were an accuser.
She prepared for bed with frantic haste. Just as she was about to
scramble in and hide her face in the pillows, a shocking thought came to
her. The next she was at the windows and the slats were closed with a
rattle like a volley of firearms. Then she jumped into bed. She wondered
if the windows were locked. Out she sprang again like a flash, and her
little bare feet scurried across the room, first to the windows and then
to the door.
"Now, I reckon I'm safe," she murmured a moment later, again getting
into bed. "I love to go to sleep with the rain pattering outside like
that. Oh, dear, I'm so sorry he has to walk all night In this rain.
Poor fellow! I wonder where he is now. Goodness, it's raining cats and
dogs!"
But in spite of the rain she could not go to sleep.
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