Thunder On The Right Read Online Free PDF

wore a species of tunic reaching to the hips and girdled at the waist with a knotted cord. This medieval-looking garment (here Jennifer was reminded sharply of seventeenth-century Spanish canvas) had a hood which completely concealed the hair and was fastened close under the chin, framing the face. Over it was a fine light veil which fell below the shoulders. All that relieved the somber black was the small cross on her breast and the rosary hanging from her waist.
    With a slight inclination of the head she indicated the single chair to Jennifer. She herself remained standing near the door.
    Jennifer sat down. To her own surprise, the illogical feeling of discomfort persisted.
    Faced now as she was with one of the inmates of the convent, this woman who stood quietly in traditional medieval garb against the austere simplicity of white wall and unvarnished deal, she should surely have been able to dismiss her earlier tremors as absurd. Why, then, should the appearance of the woman realize rather than quell the senseless unease of the past few minutes?
    Then the Spaniard's hand moved from her sleeve and came up to touch the cross at her breast, and Jennifer understood, if only with a deepening puzzlement. On one of the long white fingers glowed a big ring, an amethyst, its color blandly feminine against the black tunic. As Jennifer's eyes, faintly shocked, followed the movement of the ring, she saw, too, that the tunic and robe gleamed with the unmistakable heavy sheen of silk. The veil was of silk, too, as fine as lawn.
    . . . Now the long fingers were playing with the pectoral cross. There, too, Jennifer caught the wink of a jewel; the male glitter of a ruby answering the softer amethyst. .
    . . The effect was one of somber richness, and—against that simple white background—curiously unpleasant.
    "And how can I help you?" came the cool, precise voice.
    Jennifer banished what must after all be only a momentary and slightly nerve-ridden impression, and introduced herself and her mission without delay.
    "My name is Silver, and I'm the cousin of Madame Lamartine, who is, I understand, staying here with you. ..."
    She paused, not quite knowing why she did so. The black eyes watching her showed no expression, but the ruby on the woman's breast sparkled and then dulled again.
    She said nothing.
    Jennifer found herself going on, a little hurriedly:
    "She wrote to ask me to come and see her, so I've taken a room in Gavarnie for a fortnight. I arrived this morning, and have come straight up, hoping to see her today.
    Is it possible, or have I come at an inconvenient time?"
    She paused expectantly. For a moment the woman did not reply. Then she repeated, slowly, "You are Madame Lamartine's cousin?"
    "Yes."
    "She told you that you could come here and see her?"
    "Yes," said Jennifer again, trying to keep the edge of impatience out of her voice.
    "But you are English."
    "So is she. She married a Frenchman, and her mother was French, but she's English."
    "But------" The woman began to speak, then stopped short, and the heavy lids came down over her eyes, but not in time to conceal a flicker of puzzlement, and something else that Jennifer could not read. She was silent.
    "Does it matter?" asked Jennifer. "Surely she mentioned the fact that I'd be coming to see her? Naturally, I assumed that I could, or she'd have written to put me off."
    The other did not raise her eyes. She said slowly, almost absently, "No. No, she did not mention it. We were not aware that she had any ... connections."
    There was something so queer about the tone of the last sentence that once again Jennifer felt that curious stir of uneasiness. She said, keeping her voice pleasant and un-worried, "I see. I'm sorry to have taken you unawares. But I'd be very glad to see her now that I have come. Will you take me to her, please, Sister?"

    But the woman in black still stood there without response, and suddenly Jennifer's impatience and earlier uneasiness gathered and