< previous page page_234 next page >

Page 234
"Not now, Linda. Whatever it is must wait. I'm too busy." She trotted away to the end of that corridor and tapped on a door. "Harriet, you don't mind being in the front of the house, do you?" she asked, sticking her head in the door. "I'm sure the road is far enough away that the noise won't . . ."
Her voice faded as she entered Mrs. Sotheby's room and shut the door behind her. Linda walked into the room Mrs. Bates had assigned to her, but at first she didn't see it at all. She now understood what was troubling Gertrude. The gushing and rushing did seem entirely unnatural for Mrs. Bates. It was puzzling. It seemed to Linda that this wasn't the type of oddity that should be produced by a minor strokethe word Peter seemed so desperate to avoid. Dazedness, vagueness one might expect, but not all this bright efficiency. But Linda had no experience at all with the condition; what she expected came mainly from novels and an occasional article she'd read.
Linda shook her head. She'd never believe Mrs. Bates had a mild stroke on the ship. She had been deliberately frightenedin the hope that she'd have a heart attack and die?and fainted. That's why she wouldn't talk about the experience and pretended to have forgotten it. And Mrs. Bates wasn't a silly, fluttery hostess. She had some reason for assigning people to particular rooms.
Her reasoning had come that far when Linda was interrupted by a knock on the door. Yani,

 
< previous page page_234 next page >