But she
seemed to want you, miss."
They were like two conspirators whispering there in the dark. The
room within was so still. Maggie very softly pushed back the door
and entered. She walked a few steps inside the room and hesitated.
There was no sound in the room at all, utter stillness so that
Maggie could hear her own breathing as though it were some one else
at her side warning her. Then slowly things emerged, the long white
bed first, afterwards a shaded lamp beside it, a little table with
bottles, a chair--beyond the circle of lighted shadow there were
shapes, near the window a high glass, a dark shade that was the
dressing-table, and faint grey squares where the windows hung.
In the room was a strange scent half wine, half medicine, and beyond
that the plain tang of apples partially eaten, a little smell of oil
too from the lamp--very faintly the figure of the Christ above the
bed was visible. Maggie moved forward to the bed, then stopped
again. She did not know what to do; she could see a dark shadow on
the pillow that must she knew be her aunt's hair, and yet she did
not connect that with her aunt.
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