The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-08-08
CHAPTER VII.
The Refhre.

I
wretched throbbIng I thought II was
my head I opened my eyes and found
/ was looking straight up into the sky.
I lay staring at II, It was so wonderfully
soft and blue Presently the wind swayed
greer branch into my line OF vision
al sight OF that the query Of where
was came into my mind.
I moved my head and felt the crackle
Of twigs at my cheek. I was lying in a
and at one side OF me rose the great face
OF wall The memory OF what had
happened returned I scrambled 10 a sit
ting posture. Ny head was so dizzy that
had 10 catch az the bushes to hold
myself upright, and my body felt sore
and shaken. but the impulse to get away
| from the house, whose windows. over
looking the convent wall. still spied upon
me. carried me 10 my feet.
Through the shrubbery I peered at the
garden beyond. There was a level green
lawn. with sedate paths marching around
| II. but no black-hooded figures were NOV
ing there In ones or twos or in solemn
/ file, as I had been wont 10 see them.
walked rather uncertainty forward across
the grass, across the dank and messy
paths. and into the shadowy length OF
the corridor This. too. was empty, and
at one end OF IL a little door, with grill
/ across II. seemed as effectually 10 bar
me out as the Spanish woman's house
had shut me in. In my dazed state. the
oniy thing l could think Of doing. 70 call
the attention OF the place 10 my pres
ence, was 70 seize the grill IN both
hands and shake II with all my weak
ened strength. II made quite a rat
ting, and then heard hurrying
feet. and presei tly the small. startled
face Of nun peered through the grating.
Il want 70 see the mother superior"
said In a trembling voice.
She looked at me sharply. and. I
thought little as II she were frightened.
why didn't you ring the ben?" she
asked.
The bell? What beli7" I stammered,
for the only bell could call 70 mind was
the bell the Spanish woman had rung.
Then, as the sister appeared TO be about
IN draw back, "Oh, please, please" I
cried, take ms to the mother superior
: am in great troubler'
There was a pause; then a little rust
ling, then a whispering Of voices behind
the grating, and another face. rounder
and larger than the FIRST. peered. out; and
"a more sympathetic voice said: Poor
little creature and her hat is all on one
sidelr
| Then. after some further elaboration,
/ in which one Of the voices seemed 70 be
protesting that It was afraid OF some
I thing. the nun who had come first dis
! appeared-I could hear the sound OF her
! feet fastening away-and the second
/ opened the grating and drew me in She
/ led me down a narrow. musty-smelline
I hall and into duh little room where she
made me sit down and put my hat
straight, and smoothed my hair yery
kindly, but rather clumsily with hands
like white pincushions. Al last, with the
/ timid nun following furtively az her heels
/ the mother superior came. She was a thin
woman In flowing robes. with a great
white sheer Golf around her delicate face;
and she looked at me very kindly and
/ benevolently while I stammered out the
/ essentials Of my story-how the Spanish
woman had tried 10 keep me In her house
and how ! got out Of the window and
through a hole in the wall and so down
/ into the garden. When I came to this
point in my tale. But those windows are
closed up! cried one OF the nuns And
the wall is eight feet" cried the other
and there is no hole in II! It would be
impossible"
The mother superior shook her head
at them, and said to me: can you tel
me where you live, my chAdg'
| l thought il odd that there should be
any doubt in her mind as 10 that, but
/ eagerly gave her the number and ths
street Aud il you will only send for a
carriage" I said, because I am afraid
I am too tired TO walk. should like &c
/ go home
1T will be best to notify your parents. d
she said in a soothing voice, and they
viii fetch you away"
But there is no one now. except Abby
and she is lame and very old. Father IS
not in town. He viii not be back until
night. and I can perfectly well go home
alone" was beginning to feel desper-
ate, as / thought never should get out
of the place.
She smiled and said, We'll, We vii
see! Give me your fathers name" she
| looked surprised when she heard il and
not quite as If she believed me. but al
she said was. Now you must lie down
and rest little while before you 90 out. '
I protested that did not feel tired. and
indeed my anxiety TO get away had wiped
out all memory OF my bruises. But IN
the end I had 10 follow the round-faced
nun up the bare, cement stairway "a
/ another small room. Il seemed strange
after the luxurious glooms of the Span
ish womans house, to be in this bare
whitewashed place, where all the light
fell unobstructed through little, narrow
windows placed high up IN the walls.
There were no mirrors here. not one 20
reflect ones figure; and it was only
when l had taken of my hat that I dis
covered what wreck il was, crushed alb
surdly out OF shape; and my hair was
half down The nun helped me to unwind
| and brush it out. and I heard her muir
muring at my back. When I was young
my hair was as long as this"
And then she coaxed me TO lie
down on a little bed. I felt
her cover me up; but when she
tried to make me drink something from
a glass hideous memory sprang in my
mind. and had struck and knocked the
glass out of her hand before 1 could
think what I was doing. heard her
muttering anxiously to herself as she
picked the pieces up, and then was
left alone
With confused puzzles moving through
my mind. l lay there. tense, feverish,
tossing, each moment exnacting son,e