So saith the Lord. Amen.'
Then she fell on the floor insensible.
At first I was too astonished, awed, and bewildered to stir from the
spot where I was standing. Then I knelt down, and raising her
shoulders, placed her head on my knee. For a time the expression of
horror on her pale features was fixed as though graven in marble. A
jug of water, from which the kettle had been supplied, stood on the
floor in the recess. I sprinkled some water over her face. The
muscles relaxed, she opened her eyes; the seizure had passed. She
recognised me, and at once the old brave smile I knew so well passed
over her face. Rhona's words about the curse and the purchase of the
dresses seemed explained now. Long brooding over Winnie's terrible
fate had unhinged her mind.
'My girl, my brave girl,' I said, 'have you, then, felt our sorrow so
deeply? Have you so fully shared poor Winnie's pain that your nerves
have given way at last? You are suffering through sympathy, Sinfi;
you are suffering poor Winnie's great martyrdom.'
'Oh, it ain't that!' she said, 'but how I must have skeared you!'
She got up and sat upon the chair in a much more vigorous way than I
could have expected after such a seizure.
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