(previous-page)
(table-of-contents)
(next-page)
The door stood a little ajar and Lucia, having
difficulty in stifling her sobs, suddenly rose and
ran toward it, to close it, as Betty guessed.
Lucia had merely pushed it to before they had
cuddled down in the cushions. But as she
grasped the ornate bronze handle, the first notes
of something beautiful sounded upon the piano
below. Lucia stopped, caught her breath as one
does after crying, mopped her eyes again and
stood still to listen. After a sparkling prelude,
a voice began to sing.
Betty sat up at once. “Oh, that lovely voice,
Lucia. Who is it?” Betty had in mind the
ladies who were around that dinner table. This
was a clear soprano voice, haunting and full of
feeling as the song went on.
Lucia turned and softly said, “My Mother.”
She waited a few moments and then ran into
her bathroom to bathe her tear-stained face.
But Betty went over to the door to listen till
the song was over. It was nothing that she
[[100]]
(previous-page)
(table-of-contents)
(next-page)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
v?