Miss Helen pointed dramatically to the blood stains on the floor.
Suddenly the widow"s lips turned quite white and a blue line appeared around her mouth. She swayed slightly and Mr. Campbell caught her. Billie was on her feet in a moment and they laid her on the couch.
"Unfasten her wrap," ordered Miss Campbell.
"No, no," said Mme. Fontaine in a very weak, thin voice. "The sight of blood--" she closed her eyes. "I shall be all right in a moment." Beads of perspiration appeared on her forehead and she shivered with a chill.
"I think Mme. Fontaine had better stay here to-night. She"s too ill to get back to town," said Mr. Campbell.
"Oh, do," echoed the girls, and Miss Campbell added hospitably:
"We shall be so glad."
"I am quite well now," said the widow rising unsteadily to her feet. "You will forgive me, I hope. It is a faintness that comes to me at the sight of blood. Will you call my "riksha now, Mr. Campbell? I must be going. I won"t try to shake hands," she added, reaching the door. "I am still so light in the head, I am afraid of the effort. But I want to thank you for a delightful evening. I am only sorry it ended so disastrously."
Making a ceremonious Oriental bow to Miss Campbell and smiling and nodding to the others, she left the room followed by Mr. Campbell and the four girls.
"No one has told me yet what the shots were in the garden," announced Billie after the widow had departed.
"There was nothing to tell. We never found anything at all," answered Nicholas.
The next morning Mr. Campbell engaged another night watchman. His duty was to patrol the inside of the house, making his rounds every hour through the halls and living rooms. Between times he sat in the library.
CHAPTER XL
THE COMET DISGUISED.
"Where is Onoye, O"Haru?" Miss Campbell asked, a few days after the excitement in the library.
"Honorable Madam, Onoye much business."
To Miss Campbell, a seasoned housekeeper, this reply seemed a little irregular.
"What kind of business, O"Haru?" she demanded rather severely.
O"Haru looked amiably sad. It is true that Onoye was on the pay roll of the household servants, but then, did not her mother do work for two when Onoye was not actively engaged? The j.a.panese reasons thus: if the work is done properly, it is of no consequence who does it. Certainly the machinery of the household moved on without a hitch. There was no cause for complaint, but it seemed to Miss Campbell that if Onoye received wages she should appear about the house. Her position, which was practically that of ladies" maid, had been filled by one of the other small maids while O"Haru had covered up that vacancy by her own redoubled labors.
"Will you send Onoye to me, please," ordered Miss Campbell. "I have some sewing for her to do."
Poor O"Haru bowed. Her face looked wan and sad and it seemed to the Motor Maids that Miss Campbell might not have been so severe; but as a housekeeper, that small, gentle lady was a disciplinarian.
They waited with some curiosity for Onoye to appear. In five minutes O"Sudzu, one of the other maids, stood framed in the doorway like a j.a.panese souvenir post card life size. She bowed low and entered the room timidly.
"But I sent for Onoye," exclaimed Miss Campbell.
O"Sudzu only smiled. She spoke no English.
"Onoye. Wish Onoye," repeated Miss Campbell. She pointed to the door.
O"Sudzu departed.
O"Matsu appeared next, and after O"Matsu came O"Kiku, who was followed presently by Masako, until these successive apparitions of j.a.panese maids became positively bewildering. The girls were consumed with the giggles and Miss Campbell was scarcely able to maintain a serious expression.
"No, no!" she would say each time, "Onoye! Wish Onoye!"
At last O"Haru appeared once more.
"August one, much kindness bestow. O"Haru make sewing."
"Where is Onoye? Where is your daughter?" demanded Miss Campbell.
O"Haru on her knees hung her head humbly.
"I think I know what"s the matter," put in Mary. "Onoye is ill. I am sure it must be that."
"Is there anything the matter with Onoye?" asked Miss Campbell, but apparently O"Haru"s English did not extend so far.
"Much sickness?" asked Billie.
O"Haru"s head sank lower and lower.
"Poor thing," exclaimed Mary. "Onoye is ill, Miss Campbell, and O"Haru is afraid to say so."
"You must not be afraid, O"Haru. If little daughter ill, we take care of her. Bring doctor. See?"
"No, no, Onoye better. Onoye soon well," said the woman in a low voice.
"Ask much pardons, gracious lady."
"Can"t we see her?" asked Billie.
"Onoye see no one. Onoye only humble servant"
"Nonsense, she might be very ill," put in Miss Campbell. "I"ll go with you now, O"Haru. Lead the way."
The housekeeper gave a sigh of patient resignation and rose to her feet.
Miss Campbell and the girls followed her down the long hall and across the pa.s.sage to the servants" quarters.
At last they came to a small room at the end of the house. The floor was covered with the usual wicker mats. The _shoji_, or sliding part.i.tions, were drawn together, and in the dim mellow light which filtered through these opaque walls they saw Onoye. She was stretched on the mat which is the usual j.a.panese bed, her neck on the uncomfortable little pillow bench. With a murmur of surprise and apology, she pulled herself weakly to her knees and touched her forehead to the floor.
"Pardon, gracious lady," she said, drawing her kimono closely about her.
"But, child, we didn"t know you were so ill," said Miss Campbell, gently forcing the girl to lie down on her bed. "Has the doctor seen you?"
"Yes, gracious lady"