The things we do!

The house had ceased its daily activities. The servants had left
it. Who occupied it now? Was she alone? Was there one other?
In apprehension which comes to the senses in the dark watches of
the night--impressions, conclusions, based upon no actual or
recognized action of the physical senses--Josephine rose, passed to
the window and looked out. The moonlight lay upon the lawn like a
broad silver blanket. Faint stars were twinkling in the clear sky
overhead. The night brooded her planets, hovering the world, so
that life might be.
The dark outlines of the shrubbery below showed black and strong.
Upon the side of a near-by clump of leafless lilacs shone a faint
light, as though from one of the barred windows below. The house
was not quite asleep. She stilled her breath as she might, stilled
her heart as she might, lest its beating should be heard. What was
about to happen? Where could she fly, and how?
Escape by the central stairway would be out of the question,
because by that way only could danger approach.


Pages:
162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186