Mrs. May backed closer up against the wall and thrust both her hands out in a defensive attitude. Her gooseberry eyes rolled in her head,--her small, pursy mouth opened as though gasping for air. Not a word did she utter till Diana made a swift, half-running step towards her,--when she suddenly emitted a shrill scream like a railway whistle--another and yet another. There was a scamper of feet outside,--then the door was thrown open and Mr. May and Miss Preston rushed in. “What’s the matter? What on earth is the matter?” they cried, simultaneously. Mrs. May, cowering against the wall, pointed at her beautiful visitor. “Take her away! Get hold of her!” she yelled. “Get hold of her quick! Send for the police! She’s mad! Aa-aah! You’ve let a lunatic into the house! She’s run away from some asylum! Lucy Preston, you ought to be ashamed of yourself to let her in. James, you’re a fool! Aa-aah!” Another wild scream. “Look how she’s staring at me! She says she’s my daughter Diana--my daughter who was drowned last year! She’s stark, raving mad! James, send for a doctor and a policeman to remove her!--take care!--she may turn round and bite you!--you can never tell. Oh, dear, oh, dear! To think that with my weak heart, you should let a mad girl into the house! Oh, cruel, cruel! And to think she should imagine herself to be my daughter Diana!” Diana drew herself up like a queen addressing her subjects. “I _am_ your daughter Diana!” she said--“Though how I came to be born of such people I cannot tell! For I have nothing in common with you. But I have told you the truth. I was not drowned on the Devon coast in that cove near Rose Lea as I led you to imagine--I was tired of my life with you and ran away. I have been in Switzerland for a year and have just come back. I thought it was my duty to show myself to you alive--but I want you as little as you want me. I will go. Good-bye!--Good-bye you, who _were_ my mother!” As she said this Mrs. May uttered another yell, and showed signs of collapsing on the floor. Miss Preston hurried to her assistance, while Mr. May, his knees shaking under him,--for he was an arrant coward,--ventured cautiously to approach the beautiful “escaped lunatic.” “There, there!” he murmured soothingly,--he had an idea that “there, there,” was a panacea for all the emotions of the sex feminine--“Come!--now--er--come with me, like a good girl! Be reasonable and gentle!--I’ll take care of you!--you know you are not allowed to go wandering about by yourself like this, with such strange ideas in your head!--Now come along quietly, and I’ll see what I can do----” Diana laughed merrily.