Then, with sudden impulse, she stepped forward and held out her hand.

"And thank you for coming, Mrs.Payson," she said simply.
The defiant chin fell.

The lips above it trembled visibly.

With an incoherently mumbled something, Mrs.Payson blindly clutched at the outstretched hand, turned, and fled.
The door had scarcely closed behind her before Miss Polly was confronting Nancy in the kitchen.
"Nancy!" Miss Polly spoke sharply.

The series of puzzling, disconcerting visits of the last few days, culminating as they had in the extraordinary experience of the afternoon, had strained her nerves to the snapping point.