CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE DELUGE.
The indescribable deluge! But, after all, the worst of anything of that sort is the moment before it begins.

A plunge-bath, a tooth-pulling, an amputation, and a dress-party are all worse in anticipation than in the moment of infliction.

Julia, as she stood busily sticking a pin in the window-sash, waiting for her mother to begin, wished that the storm might burst, and be done with it.

But Mrs.Anderson understood her business too well for that.

She knew the value of the awful moments of silence before beginning.