"The lady was frightened--and that frightened me. I think," the child repeated positively, "she's mad."It occurred to Mr. Rayburn that the lady might be blind. He rose at once to set the doubt at rest.
"Wait here," he said, "and I'll come back to you."But Lucy clung to him with both hands; Lucy declared that she was afraid to be by herself. They left the alcove together.
The new point of view at once revealed the stranger, leaning against the trunk of a tree. She was dressed in the deep mourning of a widow. The pallor of her face, the glassy stare in her eyes, more than accounted for the child's terror--it excused the alarming conclusion at which she had arrived.
"Go nearer to her," Lucy whispered.