FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94  
95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   >>   >|  
larly when it is cold." Just at that moment Ermengarde almost jumped off the bed, she was so startled by a sound she heard. It was like two distinct knocks on the wall. "What is that?" she exclaimed. Sara got up from the floor and answered quite dramatically: "It is the prisoner in the next cell." "Becky!" cried Ermengarde, enraptured. "Yes," said Sara. "Listen; the two knocks meant, 'Prisoner, are you there?'" She knocked three times on the wall herself, as if in answer. "That means, 'Yes, I am here, and all is well.'" Four knocks came from Becky's side of the wall. "That means," explained Sara, "'Then, fellow-sufferer, we will sleep in peace. Good night.'" Ermengarde quite beamed with delight. "Oh, Sara!" she whispered joyfully. "It is like a story!" "It IS a story," said Sara. "EVERYTHING'S a story. You are a story--I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story." And she sat down again and talked until Ermengarde forgot that she was a sort of escaped prisoner herself, and had to be reminded by Sara that she could not remain in the Bastille all night, but must steal noiselessly downstairs again and creep back into her deserted bed. 10 The Indian Gentleman But it was a perilous thing for Ermengarde and Lottie to make pilgrimages to the attic. They could never be quite sure when Sara would be there, and they could scarcely ever be certain that Miss Amelia would not make a tour of inspection through the bedrooms after the pupils were supposed to be asleep. So their visits were rare ones, and Sara lived a strange and lonely life. It was a lonelier life when she was downstairs than when she was in her attic. She had no one to talk to; and when she was sent out on errands and walked through the streets, a forlorn little figure carrying a basket or a parcel, trying to hold her hat on when the wind was blowing, and feeling the water soak through her shoes when it was raining, she felt as if the crowds hurrying past her made her loneliness greater. When she had been the Princess Sara, driving through the streets in her brougham, or walking, attended by Mariette, the sight of her bright, eager little face and picturesque coats and hats had often caused people to look after her. A happy, beautifully cared for little girl naturally attracts attention. Shabby, poorly dressed children are not rare enough and pretty enough to make people turn around to look at them and smile. No one
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94  
95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Ermengarde

 

knocks

 

downstairs

 

streets

 

people

 
prisoner
 

parcel

 

errands

 

Amelia

 
inspection

walked

 
bedrooms
 

forlorn

 

carrying

 

figure

 

basket

 

lonelier

 

lonely

 

strange

 

visits


supposed

 

asleep

 

pupils

 

brougham

 

beautifully

 

caused

 

picturesque

 

naturally

 

attracts

 

pretty


children

 
attention
 

Shabby

 

poorly

 

dressed

 
bright
 

raining

 

crowds

 

hurrying

 

blowing


feeling

 

loneliness

 

walking

 

attended

 

Mariette

 

driving

 
greater
 

Princess

 

answer

 

knocked