Steps
sounded in the passage; the door opened, but Nella did not turn
round. She could not move her eyes from Miss Spencer's. There
was a noise of rushing water in her ears. She lost consciousness,
and slipped limply to the ground.
Chapter Ten AT SEA
IT seemed to Nella that she was being rocked gently in a vast
cradle, which swayed to and fro with a motion at once slow and
incredibly gentle. This sensation continued for some time, and
there was added to it the sound of a quick, quiet, muffled beat.
Soft, exhilarating breezes wafted her forward in spite of herself,
and yet she remained in a delicious calm. She wondered if her
mother was kneeling by her side, whispering some lullaby in her
childish ears. Then strange colours swam before her eyes, her
eyelids wavered, and at last she awoke. For a few moments her
gaze travelled to and fro in a vain search for some clue to her
surroundings. was aware of nothing except sense of repose and a
feeling of relief that some mighty and fatal struggle was over; she
cared not whether she had conquered or suffered defeat in the
struggle of her soul with some other soul; it was finished, done
with, and the consciousness of its conclusion satisfied and
contented her. Gradually her brain, recovering from its obsession,
began to grasp the phenomena of her surroundings, and she saw
that she was on a yacht, and that the yacht was moving.
Pages:
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