Мертвая комната. Уровень 2 / The Dead Secret

She went in immediately, and saw that the candle-light came from an inner room. It was usually occupied by the nursery-maid and by the only child of the house of Treverton – a little girl named Rosamond, aged, at that time, nearly five years.

“Can he be there? In that room!”

Sarah raised the letter to the bosom of her dress, and hid it for the second time. Then she came toward the inner room. The first object that attracted her attention in the child's bedroom was the figure of the nurse-maid.

The nurse-maid was asleep, in an easy-chair by the window.

Then Sarah saw her master, by the side of the child's crib. Little Rosamond was awake, and was standing up in bed with her arms round her father's neck. One of her hands held over his shoulder the doll, the other was twined gently in his hair.

The tears stood thick in Sarah's eyes. She lingered by the raised curtain. Then Captain Treverton said soothingly to the child:

“Hush, Rosie, dear! Hush, my love! Don't cry anymore for poor mamma.

Think of poor papa, and try to comfort him.”

Sarah Leeson turned and ran into the passage. She descended to the kitchen. There one of the servants, with a face of astonishment and alarm, asked:

“What is the matter?”

“I'm ill – I'm faint – I want air,” she answered. “Open the garden door, and let me out[7 - let me out – выпустите меня].”

The man obeyed doubtfully.

“She is very strange,” he said, when he rejoined his fellow-servant.

“Now our mistress is dead, she will have to find another place, I suppose.”

Chapter III

The cool, sweet air in the garden calmed the violence of Sarah's agitation. She overlooked the church of the neighboring village. The old church was clear and bright. Sarah's eyes wandered from the building itself to the cemetery by its side.

“Oh, my heart! my heart!” she said.

She was pondering over the words which Captain Treverton said to the child.

They seemed to connect themselves, as everything else now appeared to connect itself in her mind, with the letter. She drew it from her bosom once more, and crushed it up angrily in her fingers. She crossed the terrace, descended some wooden steps, and followed a shrubbery path to the north side of the house.

This part of the building was uninhabited. The mansion was originally built in the form of a square.