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go." Two other servants, one a trusted older man, went over to calm them and were greeted with more terrified howls. Before the afflicted men were wrestled from the hall, a maidservant suddenly began to brush frantically at her gown and stamp her feet and cry aloud. |
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Joanna, who had been sitting in a window seat conversing idly with Sir Henry, leapt to her feet and clasped her hands nervously. "What is it? What is it?" she cried breathlessly. |
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The terrified effect of her shaken voice was so perfect that she choked altogether. In a last-ditch effort, she brought her hands to her face and clapped them over her mouth. Her shoulders trembled and, under her hands, her lips parted to gasp for air. A better portrait of a panic-stricken maiden would be hard to find. Very fortunately her back was now toward Braybrook, as she faced into the hall. He did not see the unquenchable laughter in her eyes. |
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"Snakes!" the maid shrieked, "Snakes! Snakes!" |
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At that point, Joanna yielded. She too shrieked, uttering one single muffled whoop as she fled the hall. Inside her own chamber, to which Edwina had tactfully closed the door, she laughed in peace. "God," she gasped to Edwina, "helps those who help themselves." |
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It was her mother's favorite dictum, repeated so often that Joanna frequently said it herself without really thinking about the words. The meaning was now abundantly clear, however. Joanna could arrange the poisoning of her guests, but it was God's hand that made the effects first apparent in her own servants in Sir Henry's presence. He would never, never doubt that the illness which afflicted his men was an accident. Even if he should realize some time in the future how convenient it was for Joanna that a debilitating disease should strike at that moment, he would never question the accidental nature of the disorder. First impressions are very lasting. Because he saw Joanna's servants stricken first, he would never wonder about the relative number who fell illall of his men and so few of Joanna's people. |
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For a little while, a wild disorder raged in Roselynde. The sane struggled and reasoned with the mad. Very soon, how- |
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