"How do you account for the difference this morning?"
Miss Carson's pale face became slightly flushed, and her eyes fell away
from the questioning gaze of Mrs. Wykoff.
"There is a cause for it, and it is of importance that you should know
the cause. Has it been suggested to your mind?"
"Yes, ma'am. To me the cause is quite apparent."
They looked at each other for a few moments in silence.
"My interest in you prompts these questions, Mary," said Mrs. Wykoff.
"Speak to me freely, if you will, as to a friend. What made the
difference?"
"I think the difference is mainly due to your kindness yesterday.--To
the glass of wine and biscuit when I was faint, and to the early and
good dinner, when exhausted nature was crying for food. I believe, Mrs.
Wykoff"--and Mary's eyes glistened--"that if you had not thought of me
when you did, I should not be here to-day."
"Are you serious, Mary?"
"I am, indeed, ma'am. I should have got over my faint spell in the
morning, even without the wine and biscuit, and worked on until
dinner-time; but I wouldn't have been able to eat anything. It almost
always happens, when I go so long without food, that my appetite fails
altogether, and by the time night comes, I sink down in an exhausted
state, from which nature finds it hard to rally. It has been so a
number of times. The week before I came here, I was sewing for a lady,
and worked from eight o'clock in the morning until four in the
afternoon, without food passing my lips. As I had been unable to eat
anything at breakfast-time, I grew very faint, and when called to
dinner, was unable to swallow a mouthful. When I got home in the
evening I was feverish and exhausted, and coughed nearly all night. It
was three or four days before I was well enough to go out again."
"Has this happened, in any instance, while you were sewing for me?"
asked Mrs. Wykoff.
Miss Carson dropped her face, and turned it partly aside; her manner
was slightly disturbed.
"Don't hesitate about answering my question, Mary. If it has happened,
say so. I am not always as thoughtful as I should be."
"It happened once."
"When?"
"Last week."
"Oh! I remember that you were not able to come for two days. Now, tell
me, Mary, without reservation, exactly how it was."
"I never blamed you for a moment, Mrs. Wykoff. You didn't think; and
I'd rather not say anything about it. If I'd been as well as usual on
that day, it wouldn't have happened."
"You'd passed a sleepless night?" said Mrs. Wykoff.
"Yes, ma'am."
"The consequence of fatigue and exhaustion?"
"Perhaps that was the reason."
"And couldn't eat any breakfast?"
"I drank a cup of coffee."
"Very well. After that you came here to work. Now, tell me exactly what
occurred, and how you felt all day. Don't keep back anything on account
of my feelings. I want the exact truth. It will be of use to me, and to
others also, I think."