She seemed to be lying on the floor and, moving her head slightly, she thought that there was a pillow under it.
She could not remember.
The Mother Superior was kneeling by her side, holding smelling salts to her nose, and Sister St Joseph stood looking at her.
Then it came back.
Cholera!
She saw the consternation* on the nuns' faces.
Sister St Joseph looked huge and her outline was blurred.
Once more terror overwhelmed her.
"Oh, Mother, Mother," she sobbed. "Am I going to die?
J don't want to die."
"Of course you're not going to die," said the Mother Superior. She was quite composed and there was even amusement in her eyes.
"But it's cholera.
Where's Walter?
Has he been sent for?
Oh, Mother, Mother."
She burst into a flood of tears.
The Mother Superior gave her hand and Kitty seized it as though it were a hold upon the life she feared to lose.
"Come, come, my dear child, you mustn't be so silly.
It's not cholera or anything of the kind."
"Where's Walter?"
"Your husband is much too busy to be troubled.
In five minutes you'll be perfectly well."
Kitty looked at her with staring, harassed eyes.
Why did she take it so calmly?
It was cruel.
"Keep perfectly quiet for a minute," said the Mother Superior. "There is nothing to alarm yourself about."
Kitty felt her heart beat madly.
She had grown so used to the thought of cholera that it had ceased to seem possible that she could catch it.
Oh, the fool she had been!
She knew she was going to die. She was frightened.
The girls brought in a long rattan* chair and placed it by the window.
"Come, let us lift you," said the Mother Superior. "You will be more comfortable on the chaise longue.
Do you think you can stand?"
She put her hands under Kitty's arms and Sister St Joseph helped her to her feet.
She sank exhausted into the chair.
"I had better shut the window," said Sister St Joseph. "The early morning air cannot be good for her."
"No, no," said Kitty. "Please leave it open."
It gave her confidence to see the blue sky.
She was shaken, but certainly she began to feel better.
The two nuns looked at her for a moment in silence, and Sister St Joseph said something to the Mother Superior which she could not understand.
Then the Mother Superior sat on the side of the chair and took her hand.
"Listen, ma chere enfant…"
She asked her one or two questions.
Kitty answered them without knowing what they meant.
Her lips were trembling so that she could hardly frame the words.
"There is no doubt about it," said Sister St Joseph. "I am not one to be deceived in such a matter."
She gave a little laugh in which Kitty seemed to discern a certain excitement and not a little affection.
The Mother Superior, still holding Kitty's hand, smiled with soft tenderness.
"Sister St Joseph has more experience of these things than I have, dear child, and she said at once what was the matter with you.
She was evidently quite right."