Again, on reaching the store on
the Shell Road, she had dutifully written a second letter announcing
her arrival.
She had known perfectly well that some time she would have to "pay the
piper." Aunt Euphemia would never overlook such a thing. Louise was
sure of that. But the idea that the Poughkeepsie lady would follow her
to Cardhaven never for a moment entered Louise's thought.
She had put off this reckoning until the fall--until the return of
daddy-professor. But here Aunt Euphemia had descended upon her as
unexpectedly as the Day of Wrath spoken of in Holy Writ.
As she came down the stairs she heard her uncle's voice in the
living-room. Something had started him upon a tale of adventure above
and beyond the usual run of his narrative.
"Yes, _ma'am_," he was saying, "them that go down to the sea in ships,
as the Good Book says, sartain sure meet with hair-raisin' experiences.
You jumped then, ma'am, when old Jerry let out a peep. He was just
tryin' his voice I make no doubt. Ain't sung for months they say.
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