“No-!”
Persis swung around to face the bed. Molly’s face was screwed up in an expression the girl had never seen there before, one of sheer fear—though her eyes were closed. “No—” the sleeper repeated, as if to deny what she did see in some dream.
“Molly!” Remembering her own nightmares Persis moved quickly to her side, ready to shake her awake. “Molly, it is just a dream!”
“No!” There was such force in that denial that Persis grasped the plump shoulder almost fiercely. It was plain that Molly was caught in some horror.
“Molly! Wake up!” She shook the maid, first lightly, and then more energetically as Molly showed no signs of rousing.
Instead, the woman suddenly raised one hand and struck out at Persis.
“Let go—devil—devil!” Her mutter became a full cry now. “The knife-no!”
Persis bent over her, seized both shoulders to shake her firmly. She must break the dream which held the sleeping woman, for the grimace of fear on her face was like an ugly mask.
Molly gasped, her breath whistling between her lips. Then her eyes opened and she was staring up wildly.
“Devil-”
Consciousness came back slowly and with it bewilderment. Persis kept her hold on Molly as if to anchor the maid to the safe present.
The woman’s face convulsed, and, for the first time in years, Persis saw tears gather in her eyes.
“Miss Persis!” Molly’s own hands rose to snatch and grip the girl’s wrists in a hold so tight her nails scored the younger woman’s flesh. “Miss Persis—send her away!”
“Who, Molly?”
“The one—the one who is—” the maid’s head turned on the pillow as she searched the room. “But she was here!” Beads of sweat dotted both her forehead and her upper lip. “I saw her—that witch—that Indian witch! She was goin’ to kill me—with a knife—so she was! And there were a lot of others all stand’ around watchin’ an’ jus’ waitin’ for her to do it! I saw her as plain as I see you right now!”
“It was a dream, Molly. I’ve been right here with you—there’s no one else in the room.”
Now the tears brimmed over in Molly’s eyes and ran down her cheeks.
“I ain’t never had such a dream as that before, Miss Persis. It was realer nor any dream. She—she was like a devil—wearin’ that nasty false face of her an’ acomin’ for me with a knife. I couldn’t get away nohow —” Molly’s sobs shook her stolid body. “What’s the matter with me, Miss Persis? Is it true what they say, that there old witch can lay a sendin’ on you an’ you jus’ gets sicker and sicker?”
“Nonsense!” Persis interrupted with all the authority she could summon. Let Molly begin to believe that she was cursed or some such thing and she would be sick. “It was a dream—just a dream.”
Molly still clung to the girl. “I ain’t never had no such real dream before,” she repeated with some of her old stubbornness. “Seems like if it were a dream somebody made me dream it. ‘Cause there was all those people—heathens wearing feathers and masks—and with burnin’ torches—jus’ standin’ there a-watchin’ what was goin’ to happen to me. An’ they wanted me dead!”
“But it isn’t true,” Persis pointed out patiently. “You’re right here in your bed, and I’m here with you.” Her own dream! Molly had experienced something very close to it. However, the last thing Persis would do now was to let the maid know that they had shared the same terrible vision. For she felt that if she did Molly would cling to the fact that they both might have been led to dream by another’s evil will.
Could one’s dreams be dictated by an outside force? It was a very strange idea. Persis exiled that quickly to the back of her mind now. The main thing was that the maid must be soothed and led to believe that her fear had no base in fact.
“I—I was—it was so real—”
“Some dreams can be, or seem to be. But this one was not real, Molly. Now, I’ll stay here with you, I promise.”
Molly’s hold on her loosened a trifle. “If you will, Miss Persis, I’ll take that kindly, ‘deed I will. I feel so sleepy.” Again her eyes, though she appeared to fight to keep them open, were drooping shut. “Don’t let me dream like that, please, Miss Persis.”
“I won’t!” the girl promised stoutly, but how she might prevent it she did not know. Then sighting something resting upon the bureau gave her a new idea. She gently disengaged herself from Molly’s hold and went to pick up the worn Bible which the maid, as she well knew, read each morning and night.
“See here,” she held the book with its scuffed cover out so Molly could easily see it. “You’re going to put this under your pillow. Do you think then any bad dream can come near you?”
“Give it here, Miss Persis. My, you’re a knowin’ one! That’s the truth. Ain’t nothing evil goin’ to come nigh that. It was my mother’s an’ she taught me my letters out of it.”
Molly smoothed the Bible with loving hands. “T’ will be like havin’ mother here—like when I was a small maid and afeard of somethin’.”
She was her old confident self again and Persis blessed the inspiration which had made her think of that device. Or was it only a device? She had heard once, just now she could not remember where, that something on which had been centered good thoughts was indeed a barrier against evil. And if Molly believed she was safe, then her own belief might carry over into her sleep, preventing any more dreams.
The maid settled herself once more against her pillows, eyes closed. But Persis was left with a puzzle she could not solve. The bits and pieces Molly had mentioned certainly fitted in her own nightmare. Though she had not been an actual part of that as Molly apparently had been—just an onlooker. However, if the maid had been gripped by the same horror she had felt, Persis did not wonder at her terror on waking.
Did the dark history of this house, of the mound on which it squatted, indeed force itself into sleeping minds? She herself had had bad dreams in the past but never ones as clear and as barbaric as those of last night. And to have the same touch Molly—? What did haunt Lost Lady Key?
True to her promise she settled herself once more on the chair. But this time Molly’s sleep seemed undisturbed by any visions and Persis began to feel restless. Had it not been for her promise she would have at least slipped to the next room to look in upon Shubal. As she twisted a little in her chosen seat she saw the door open quietly. A moment later Lydia came in.
“She’s sleeping? Good!” Lydia moved with a swish of skirts to take up a small tray on which rested a mug. “She’ll feel much better when she wakes. Mrs. Pryor’s tea always settles the stomach.”
“It was kind of you to bring it up,” Persis murmured in a whisper.
Lydia shrugged. “No matter. Your man is better, too. But you—” She was studying Persis intently. “Do you feel feverish—have you a headache?” she asked with an emphasis which seemed almost eager.
“No.” Persis was not going to go into details over her disturbed night. “I am concerned, naturally.”
“What did Crewe want to see you about? Tell you he was going to take over running things for you?” Lydia’s eyes were very intent upon her now.
“No, in fact he suggested that I turn to shell hunting on the beach,” Persis said, “and that I ask to see your collection.”
Lydia simply stared for a long minute as if she did not believe her in the least. Then she smiled, a little unpleasantly.
“What he means, of course, is that you are to play companion so I can’t see Ralph. That was not particularly clever of him. I,” her chin lifted and her jawline was as firm and stubborn looking now as her brother’s, “intend to do as I please in this matter. If Crewe thinks he can keep me shut up on this Key until he picks out a husband for me, that is his plan, not mine. And—” now the look she turned to Persis was close to hostile, “I would suggest that you mind your own business!”
With a last flirt of her full skirts she was gone, and the door closed behind her as firmly, if not as loudly, as if it were slammed.
Wearily, Persis arose and went once more to look out of the window. For some reason Lydia’s visit brought back her preoccupation with the fan. It was almost as if some thought beyond her control connected the girl with that sinister find. Could Lydia have been the one who had disinterred that and put it in the chest drawer? But why?