Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/196

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JACQUELINE

in inky darkness, save where a small window admitted a faint gray light that indicated the outer world. There was no sound anywhere through the house. Oh, if they had only allowed her a little light! It was weird and uncanny to be thus thrust into a strange room and left there in utter darkness.

Presently the chill of her dripping clothes caused her to shudder and give an involuntary moan. A moment after she was electrified by hearing something move, on the other side of the room. There was then some living thing in here with her! A chill, not of cold this time but of sheer terror, shook her from head to foot, and a wild desire to shriek aloud possessed her. Again the dreaded something moved, breathed hard, and uttered the word, “Jacqueline”! With a cry of joy and recognition she sprang across the room, and brother and sister found themselves tightly clasped in each others’ arms. For a moment neither of