"You were so dazed," I suggested, "that what would ordinarily be the most natural thing to do did not occur to you."
"Yes," she said, catching at my suggestion almost eagerly--"yes, that must have been it. I was dazed, wasn't I?"
"Indeed you were," said Laura soothingly. "You fainted quite away."
"Oh, yes," returned the girl; "that was when Doctor Masterson told me that Uncle Robert was dead. It was such a shock. I couldn't believe it, you know. Why, I never faint! I'm not that sort."
"Even so," said Laura, "the sudden shock was quite enough to cause you to faint."
The girl looked at her almost wistfully. "Yes, it _was_ enough, wasn't it?" she said; "a shock like that would make anybody faint, wouldn't it? I just couldn't believe it. We--we never dreamed he would die suddenly. I wonder what George will say?"
"Is there any one else that you would like to have notified?" I asked.
"No," she said. "I have no other relatives at all. Of course we must tell Milly Waring, but I'll wait until after I see George."
"But aside from relatives, Miss Pembroke," I said, "is there no one else who ought to be notified? Ought you not to advise your uncle's lawyer?"
I was all unprepared for the effect this casual suggestion had upon the girl. Although she had recovered her composure almost entirely, it now seemed to desert her again. But instead of weeping her emotion was of a different nature; she seemed intensely angry. A red spot appeared in either pale cheek, and her dark eyes flashed fire. Her voice quivered when she spoke, but it sounded like the accents of suppressed rage.
"Uncle Robert's lawyer!" she exclaimed, in a tone of scorn; "he's the last person I want to send for!"
The words of themselves were astonishing, but not nearly so much so as the scathing inflection with which they were uttered.
"Then we won't send for him," said Laura, in her soothing way. "You shan't be troubled just now."
Laura looked at me with a glance of deep reproach, which was, to say the least, unjust; for, as a lawyer, it seemed to me I had made a most rational suggestion. Moreover, my sister's change of base somewhat surprised me. She it had been who denounced Miss Pembroke as being deceitful, melodramatic and untrustworthy! Now, she was not only befriending the girl as only one woman can befriend another, but she was resenting a most common-sense suggestion on my part.