Just as this had been accomplished,
Lady Brambledown--who stood nearest to the doorway--caught sight of
Madonna in the passage that led to it. Mrs. Blyth had heard the noise
and confusion downstairs, and finding that her bell was not answered by
the servants, and that it was next to impossible to overcome her
father's nervous horror of confronting the company alone, had sent
Madonna down-stairs with him, to assist in finding out what had
happened in the studio.
While descending the stairs with her companion, the girl had
anticipated that they might easily discover whether anything was amiss,
without going further than the passage, by merely peeping through the
studio door. But all chance of escaping the ordeal of the painting-room
was lost the moment Lady Brambledown set eyes on her. The Dowager
Countess was one of Madonna's warmest admirers; and now expressed that
admiration by pouncing on her with immense affection and enthusiasm
from the painting-room door-way. Other people, to whom the deaf and
dumb girl was a much more interesting sight than "Columbus," or the
"Golden Age," crowded round her; all trying together, with great
amiability and small intelligence, to explain what had happened by
signs which no human being could possibly understand.
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