A Fluttered Dovecote by George Manville Fenn
softly tugged at--just like the eels under the fishing punt--then it went jig, jig, two or three times, as it was shaken about, andthen there was a long jerk, and a soft cough, as if for a signal; and Ibegan to pull up something which grew heavier every moment.
It seemed very long, and I could have fancied that I had pulled all thecord in twice over; but more still kept coming, and I must have had itall close to the window, when Clara suddenly cried "Oh!" when, ofcourse, I started and let go, and down it all went with a rush inamongst the carnations at the bottom.
"Oh, his poor head?" I thought, as I turned sharply round; when, what atask I did have to keep from shrieking!--for there, dimly seen in theopen doorway, stood a figure in white, staring at us in the mostdreadful way imaginable. There was something so still, and tall, andghastly about the figure, seen there in the gloom, that I could notstir, neither could poor Clara, as we held tightly by one another whilethe thing glided softly into the room, closed the door, and stood therestaring.
If I could only have sunk through the floor, I would not have cared.One moment I thought of rushing into one of the empty beds in the room;but I restrained myself, because there were no clothes upon them inwhich to bury oneself. The next moment I was for jumping out of thewindow to Achille; but it was too far; and we neither of us dared to gointo hysterics and scream for help. So that we stood, frightened todeath, till Clara sank down at my feet and buried her face in my lap,while I stood staring at the figure, which now came closer and closer asI walked away, Clara shuffling upon her knees to keep up to me.
For a moment I thought that it might have been a teacher _endeshabille_; but the horrible silence soon showed that it was not. Andat last, when I felt that I could bear no more, but must scream, havingbeen walked right up to the wall by the hideous thing, it spoke, and thewords seemed to act upon us both like magic, sending the blood coursingthrough our veins, making our hearts throb, and a warm glow to returnwhere a moment before all was frozen and chilling; for just as I wassinking--feeling myself gliding slowly down upon kneeling Clara--Istarted up, for it said, in a loud, thrilling whisper--
"What are you two a-doing of?"
Then it sneezed.
Of course it was Patty Smith, who had pretended to be asleep, andwatched all the time, following us along the passage, and thoroughlyupsetting all one's plans again. She could see plainly enough that wehad the window open, and knew pretty well what was taking place; so wehad to make a virtue of necessity, and tell her, in as few words aspossible, all about it. Not that I think she would have told tales,even if we had not enlightened her; but we knew she would watch us, andfind out for herself; so upon the principle of its being better to makea friend than an enemy, she was told all.
"Won't you make your cold worse, dear?" said Clara. "You are notdressed."
"I don't care," said the stupid thing; and then she stopped, while Iwent to the window again; and though I had lost my string, and knew thatit was of no use to try any more that night, I gave a gentle cough andthen waited a moment. I was about to cough again, but Patty, who wasclose behind me, sneezed once more loudly; and at last, after waiting afew minutes and coughing again and again, Clara and Patty both grumbledso about the cold that I was obliged reluctantly to close the window.After waiting for awhile, we one by one stole back to the bedroom, wherePatty declared that it was such good fun, and that she would go with usnext time--just as if we wanted her; while poor I laid my cheek upon mypillow, disappointed, disconsolate, and upset to such a degree that Icould do nothing else but have a good quiet cry for I don't know howlong; but I know how wet my pillow grew, so that at last I was obligedto turn it before I could get to sleep.
And what was the use of going to sleep, to be in such trouble that I didnot know what to do--dreams, dreams, dreams, and all of such a horriblekind! Now it was Achille in danger, now it was the white figure comingin at the door, and one moment Patty Smith, and then changing into MrsBlunt and Miss Furness, Miss Sloman and the Fraulein; while, last ofall, if it was not mamma, looking dreadfully cross, and then scolding mefor my bad behaviour. Oh, it was terrible! And I don't think that Iever before passed such a night.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
MEMORY THE EIGHTEENTH--IN TERRIBLE SUSPENSE.
My spirits rose a little after breakfast the next morning, though I onlysmiled sadly as I thought of my many disappointments; but we had had along talk with Patty, and she had faithfully promised never, upon anyconsideration, to divulge one of our secrets. Of course I did not likemaking another confidante; but, under the circumstances, what could onedo?
"Ah!" said Patty; "but it was a great shame that you did not tell mebefore."
"Why, we should have told you," said Clara--a wicked storyteller--"onlyyou do sleep so soundly, dear."
Though, after all, perhaps that was nearly the truth; for, if she hadnot slept so soundly, we should have been obliged to let her into oursecrets sooner.
This satisfied her, but it did not satisfy me; for the stupid creaturemust go about looking so knowing, and cunning, and deep, and laugh andleer at Clara, and nod and wink at me, all day long, till it wasdreadfully aggravating, and enough to make anybody suspicious; and Ialmost wonder that one of the watchful dragons did not have something tosay about it.
"Why, we shall be obliged to have her in the room all the time," I saidto Clara, as I was thinking of my next interview with Achille; that is,if I ever was to have another.
"Never mind, dear," replied Clara; "it cannot matter much. She is verystupid, and I daresay that I can keep her in order."
I contrived to let Achille know all when he came the next day, and gavehim to understand that he might try again upon any night he liked; forthe last was only a false alarm, and all would have gone well had I butonly held tightly by the cord. I gave him the information, written inFrench, at the top of my exercise, while Miss Furness was in the room,when if he had not the audacity to call me up to his elbow--for he hadseen it all in an instant--and if he did not point out and mark two orthree mistakes in the note I had scribbled so hastily at the top aboutthe last meeting. However, I suppose he wished me to speak his ownlanguage correctly; and none but the brave deserve the fair.
There was one thing, though, in our correspondence which I did notlike--poor Achille never could take any interest in our English poets;so that, if one quoted a bit of Byron or Moore to him, it was good fornothing, while he, the tiresome man, was always filling up his noteswith scraps of Moliere, and I am sure I always praised them, and saidthat they were very beautiful.
And now once more came the night for meeting, with all itsheart-throbbing flurry and excitement; but this time, apparently,without any of the terrible contretemps that had previously troubled us.Patty was in high glee, and sat on the edge of her bedstead, munchingan Abernethy biscuit, and grinning; while her great eyes, instead ofhalf closing, like anybody else's would when they were laughing, becamemore round and wide open than ever. It seemed to be capital fun to her,and over and over again, when I glanced at her, she was giggling andlaughing; and I do believe that, if I had not been there, she would havegot up and danced about the room.
But it was time to start at last, and upon this occasion I had no noisydrawer to open, for I had a ball of new, stout string in my pocket. So,one at a time, we glided along the passage, Clara going first, Pattysecond, and I followed behind, to close our door as quietly as waspossible.
"Pat, pat, pat," and, with a gentle rustle, we passed along the passage,and stood at last in the little end room, while I am sure that no onecould have heard our footsteps.
Clara made one effort to get rid of Patty before we started, but it wasof no avail.
"Arn't you afraid of catching a worse cold?" she said; "hadn't youbetter stay in the bedroom, dear?"
For really she had a most miserable cold, and her eyes and nose lookedas red as red.
"I sha'n't catch any more cold than you will," she cried, just as shehad once before upon a similar occasion--"I want to see all the fun."<
br />
Fancy calling it fun!
So we were obliged to suffer her presence; but I am afraid that I wasuncharitable enough to wish that she might catch a bad sore throat forher pains, or else something that would keep her from coming again.
However, there we all were; and as soon as ever we were all in thelittle room, I secured the door with a fork that I had brought for thepurpose, and then, pulling out my string, I unfastened the window, when,fortunately, it glided up beautifully.
Clara was the first to look out, and it not being a dark night, shepopped in again directly, saying in a whisper--
"There he is. I can see him."
"Let me look," cried Patty Smith, quite out loud; and then, when herhead was out of the window, if she did not give quite a loud cough, innot only a most indiscreet way, but, really, one that was mostreprehensible.
I pulled her back as quickly as I could, and, in a whisper, gave her agood scolding. Then I tied my scissors to the end of the string, tomake it go down quickly, and swinging them over the great ledge, Ilooked down; but I could not see poor Achille, for he had come close upto the house, and was, of course, out of sight beneath the cornice.
"But I shall see him soon," I said to myself; and went on letting downthe scissors till the string felt slack, and I knew that they touchedthe ground, when, just as before, I felt the string seized and jerkedabout, as if being attached to something; and well I knew what, though ahalf-fear took hold upon me now lest it should break the string, whichwas not so strong as I could have wished.
But now there was the signal; and I began to pull up the heavy ropeladder, cutting my poor little fingers with the string. At first itcame up pretty quickly, but soon slower, for again it began to growheavier; and at last, when I made sure that it must be nearly up, if itmust not turn contrary against us, and catch against the cornice, andremain immovable.
What was I to do? It was of no use to pull and jerk; for, if we hadpulled any harder, I'm sure that the string must have broken. If it hadnot been for Clara, I should have climbed out of the window, and stoodupon the cornice, to set it at liberty, for she could easily have heldmy hand, so that I should really have been quite safe.
But she would not hear of this, and I don't know what I should have doneif I had not thought of lowering the ladder down a little way, and thentrying again, when, to my great delight, up it came, and Clara soon hadhold of a pair of great iron hooks, just the sort of hooks I expected tosee; and on fixing them upon the sill, my side, we found that theyfitted beautifully; so I threw myself upon them to hold them in theirplaces, lest they should slip.
Just after that there was a sharp rustle of the rope, and then it waspulled tight; while now, making Clara hold one hook and Patty the other,I strained out as far as I could reach, so that I could see Achillemounting, slowly ascending, the dangerous thing; and, although we allheld on as tightly as we could, when he was about a dozen feet from theground the tiresome rope began to twist and spin round and round, sothat the poor fellow was twisting just as if he was being roasted, andI'm sure he must have been as giddy as giddy.
Fortunately for him, he did not always go the same way round, buttwisted back again, or else he must have dropped off. It was not as ifhe had been close up to the house, for then he could have touched thewall and stopped himself; but the cornice, which was a good width, kepthim away, so that he swung clear. And perhaps, after all, it was quiteas well, for he might else have gone right through one of the windows.
It was very shuddery and dreadful; but we poor girls could do nothingbut grasp the rope and hold our breath, and, as Clara said, hold ourtongues; though Patty would keep letting go, and staring out of thewindow when she was not wanted to.
"Won't I tease him about this," she said. "Only see, the first time hefinds fault with my exercises."
"Hush! you foolish child," I exclaimed. "Good gracious me! you mustnever say a word to him about it, under any consideration."
"Mustn't I?" said Patty, as innocently as could be.
"No, of course not," cried Clara; "that would ruin everything."
For I was now reaching as far as could be out of the window, to see whatpoor Achille was about; for the rope seemed to be doing nothing, and didnot jerk as if he was getting higher and higher. And then, oh, dear! ifI could not just see one of his feet where his head was last time Ilooked; for he was sitting upon the sill of the first floor window--thebest bedroom, which was, of course, empty--and, I suppose, restinghimself.
All at once, though, I heard him whisper--
"Is de ting sauf?"
"Yes, yes," I whispered in reply.
And then the rope crunched upon the cornice, as if he had againcommitted to it his weight, when I drew in my head and waited,trembling, for him to reach the window; and it did seem such a long timeto come so short a distance; but, as he told me afterwards, the loopswould keep slipping away when he wanted to put his feet in them, besidesthe rope spinning him round until he was giddy. At last I looked outagain, and then drew back my head in agony; for if he was not hanging byone leg, head downwards, just like my poor Dick, the canary, did inLondon, when it caught its claw in the wire of the cage and could notget loose.
As I said, I drew in my head, quite in an agony of fear; but the ropejerked about so that I was obliged to gaze once more, and then Iejaculated, quite loudly--
"Oh, Achille!"
"Eh, yais, oui," he exclaimed. "I 'ave put in mine's foot."
"In what--in what, mon cher?" I whispered.
"Oh," he gasped, in a thick voice, "mais je suis giddy. I 'ave puts myfoot trou de loops, and cannot get him back."
"Oh, pray come in!" cried Clara, who had heard every word, and seemedquite horrified--"pray come in and shut the window. Let's go away."
"Oh, nonsense," I said, "he will be hung: he will die! His head ishanging down, and his leg sticking up in the rope. He has slipped.Whatever shall we do?"
"Why don't you cut the rope?" said Patty; but of course no one took anynotice of her.
"Let's unhook the things," whispered Clara, "and then drop him down intothe laurustinus."
"Oh, how can you be so stupid!" I panted. "It would kill him: he'sright above the first floor window-sill."
"Well, but we can't shut the window with those things there," saidClara; "and it will not do to be found out."
I looked again, and there he still was twirling round just as if he wasbeing roasted, and the rope shaking so that I thought it must break. Ikept whispering to him, but he did not hear me; and just dim andindistinctly as he was seen, I could make out that he was trying todouble himself up and get his hands to the rope.
I never, I'm sure, felt anything so dreadful before in my life as thosefew moments when he was struggling there, and me unable to help him;for, in addition to the horror, there was the pricking of my conscience,as it told me that this was all my fault, and that if he was killed Ishould have murdered him. Which was very dreadful, you know, when thatlast affair of the cistern, which he escaped from with a fearfuldrenching, ought to have been a warning to me to have spared him fromrunning any more risks on my behalf.
I declare that I should have tried to slide down the rope to help him,or else to share his fate, if Clara had not restrained me once more; butshe kept tightly hold of my waist, till there came up a sound like thegnashing together of teeth, the rope gave a terrible shake, and the ironhooks fell jingling upon the floor.
There was a crashing and rustling of leaves and branches, as if a heavybody had fallen amongst trees, and then all was still, except for a deepgroan--a French groan--which came up, thrilling us all horribly; for therope had come unfastened, and had slipped through the round rings of thehooks.
We all stood aghast for a few minutes; but at last I summoned up courageenough to lean out, and whisper loudly--
"Achille! mon ami Achille!" when, as if in answer, came a most doleful"H-ooo, o-o-o, ho-o-o-o!" which made one's very blood run cold.
"That's only an owl,"
said Clara, the next minute.
"A howl!" said Patty; "that it wasn't, it was a groan, just the same asthe pigs give when they're dying in our slaughter-house at home."
I leaned out of the window as far as I could, once more, and was tryingto pierce the darkness below, when all at once I heard a window to theright opening very gently, and squeaking as it ran up, and that window,I felt sure, was the lady principal's; so, recollecting the night of thealarm from Clara's basin--agonised though I was--I felt obliged to closeours quietly, pick up the two hooks, and then we all three glided backto our room--my heart chiding me the while for forsaking poor Achille insuch a time of dire distress. But what could I do? To stay or to raisean alarm was to be found out, and perhaps--ay, perhaps!--poor fellow, hewas not hurt, after all.
It was just as well that we did slip back, for we had hardly closed thedoor before the alarm bell on the top of the house began to ring, and weheard the Fraulein spring out of bed with a regular bump upon the floor.
We were not many seconds scuffling into bed; and, just as we lay down,we heard the Fraulein's door open, and then there were voices talkingand a good deal of buzzing about, for quite half an hour. But wethought it better not to go out; for, when Clara took a peep, MissFurness was hunting several of the girls back into their rooms with--
"Nothing the matter, young ladies. Back to your dormitories."
So we lay quite still, and listened; while I essayed to allay myhorrible fears about poor Achille, and tried to fancy that every sigh ofthe wind among the branches was him stealing--no, I won't
It seemed very long, and I could have fancied that I had pulled all thecord in twice over; but more still kept coming, and I must have had itall close to the window, when Clara suddenly cried "Oh!" when, ofcourse, I started and let go, and down it all went with a rush inamongst the carnations at the bottom.
"Oh, his poor head?" I thought, as I turned sharply round; when, what atask I did have to keep from shrieking!--for there, dimly seen in theopen doorway, stood a figure in white, staring at us in the mostdreadful way imaginable. There was something so still, and tall, andghastly about the figure, seen there in the gloom, that I could notstir, neither could poor Clara, as we held tightly by one another whilethe thing glided softly into the room, closed the door, and stood therestaring.
If I could only have sunk through the floor, I would not have cared.One moment I thought of rushing into one of the empty beds in the room;but I restrained myself, because there were no clothes upon them inwhich to bury oneself. The next moment I was for jumping out of thewindow to Achille; but it was too far; and we neither of us dared to gointo hysterics and scream for help. So that we stood, frightened todeath, till Clara sank down at my feet and buried her face in my lap,while I stood staring at the figure, which now came closer and closer asI walked away, Clara shuffling upon her knees to keep up to me.
For a moment I thought that it might have been a teacher _endeshabille_; but the horrible silence soon showed that it was not. Andat last, when I felt that I could bear no more, but must scream, havingbeen walked right up to the wall by the hideous thing, it spoke, and thewords seemed to act upon us both like magic, sending the blood coursingthrough our veins, making our hearts throb, and a warm glow to returnwhere a moment before all was frozen and chilling; for just as I wassinking--feeling myself gliding slowly down upon kneeling Clara--Istarted up, for it said, in a loud, thrilling whisper--
"What are you two a-doing of?"
Then it sneezed.
Of course it was Patty Smith, who had pretended to be asleep, andwatched all the time, following us along the passage, and thoroughlyupsetting all one's plans again. She could see plainly enough that wehad the window open, and knew pretty well what was taking place; so wehad to make a virtue of necessity, and tell her, in as few words aspossible, all about it. Not that I think she would have told tales,even if we had not enlightened her; but we knew she would watch us, andfind out for herself; so upon the principle of its being better to makea friend than an enemy, she was told all.
"Won't you make your cold worse, dear?" said Clara. "You are notdressed."
"I don't care," said the stupid thing; and then she stopped, while Iwent to the window again; and though I had lost my string, and knew thatit was of no use to try any more that night, I gave a gentle cough andthen waited a moment. I was about to cough again, but Patty, who wasclose behind me, sneezed once more loudly; and at last, after waiting afew minutes and coughing again and again, Clara and Patty both grumbledso about the cold that I was obliged reluctantly to close the window.After waiting for awhile, we one by one stole back to the bedroom, wherePatty declared that it was such good fun, and that she would go with usnext time--just as if we wanted her; while poor I laid my cheek upon mypillow, disappointed, disconsolate, and upset to such a degree that Icould do nothing else but have a good quiet cry for I don't know howlong; but I know how wet my pillow grew, so that at last I was obligedto turn it before I could get to sleep.
And what was the use of going to sleep, to be in such trouble that I didnot know what to do--dreams, dreams, dreams, and all of such a horriblekind! Now it was Achille in danger, now it was the white figure comingin at the door, and one moment Patty Smith, and then changing into MrsBlunt and Miss Furness, Miss Sloman and the Fraulein; while, last ofall, if it was not mamma, looking dreadfully cross, and then scolding mefor my bad behaviour. Oh, it was terrible! And I don't think that Iever before passed such a night.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
MEMORY THE EIGHTEENTH--IN TERRIBLE SUSPENSE.
My spirits rose a little after breakfast the next morning, though I onlysmiled sadly as I thought of my many disappointments; but we had had along talk with Patty, and she had faithfully promised never, upon anyconsideration, to divulge one of our secrets. Of course I did not likemaking another confidante; but, under the circumstances, what could onedo?
"Ah!" said Patty; "but it was a great shame that you did not tell mebefore."
"Why, we should have told you," said Clara--a wicked storyteller--"onlyyou do sleep so soundly, dear."
Though, after all, perhaps that was nearly the truth; for, if she hadnot slept so soundly, we should have been obliged to let her into oursecrets sooner.
This satisfied her, but it did not satisfy me; for the stupid creaturemust go about looking so knowing, and cunning, and deep, and laugh andleer at Clara, and nod and wink at me, all day long, till it wasdreadfully aggravating, and enough to make anybody suspicious; and Ialmost wonder that one of the watchful dragons did not have something tosay about it.
"Why, we shall be obliged to have her in the room all the time," I saidto Clara, as I was thinking of my next interview with Achille; that is,if I ever was to have another.
"Never mind, dear," replied Clara; "it cannot matter much. She is verystupid, and I daresay that I can keep her in order."
I contrived to let Achille know all when he came the next day, and gavehim to understand that he might try again upon any night he liked; forthe last was only a false alarm, and all would have gone well had I butonly held tightly by the cord. I gave him the information, written inFrench, at the top of my exercise, while Miss Furness was in the room,when if he had not the audacity to call me up to his elbow--for he hadseen it all in an instant--and if he did not point out and mark two orthree mistakes in the note I had scribbled so hastily at the top aboutthe last meeting. However, I suppose he wished me to speak his ownlanguage correctly; and none but the brave deserve the fair.
There was one thing, though, in our correspondence which I did notlike--poor Achille never could take any interest in our English poets;so that, if one quoted a bit of Byron or Moore to him, it was good fornothing, while he, the tiresome man, was always filling up his noteswith scraps of Moliere, and I am sure I always praised them, and saidthat they were very beautiful.
And now once more came the night for meeting, with all itsheart-throbbing flurry and excitement; but this time, apparently,without any of the terrible contretemps that had previously troubled us.Patty was in high glee, and sat on the edge of her bedstead, munchingan Abernethy biscuit, and grinning; while her great eyes, instead ofhalf closing, like anybody else's would when they were laughing, becamemore round and wide open than ever. It seemed to be capital fun to her,and over and over again, when I glanced at her, she was giggling andlaughing; and I do believe that, if I had not been there, she would havegot up and danced about the room.
But it was time to start at last, and upon this occasion I had no noisydrawer to open, for I had a ball of new, stout string in my pocket. So,one at a time, we glided along the passage, Clara going first, Pattysecond, and I followed behind, to close our door as quietly as waspossible.
"Pat, pat, pat," and, with a gentle rustle, we passed along the passage,and stood at last in the little end room, while I am sure that no onecould have heard our footsteps.
Clara made one effort to get rid of Patty before we started, but it wasof no avail.
"Arn't you afraid of catching a worse cold?" she said; "hadn't youbetter stay in the bedroom, dear?"
For really she had a most miserable cold, and her eyes and nose lookedas red as red.
"I sha'n't catch any more cold than you will," she cried, just as shehad once before upon a similar occasion--"I want to see all the fun."<
Fancy calling it fun!
So we were obliged to suffer her presence; but I am afraid that I wasuncharitable enough to wish that she might catch a bad sore throat forher pains, or else something that would keep her from coming again.
However, there we all were; and as soon as ever we were all in thelittle room, I secured the door with a fork that I had brought for thepurpose, and then, pulling out my string, I unfastened the window, when,fortunately, it glided up beautifully.
Clara was the first to look out, and it not being a dark night, shepopped in again directly, saying in a whisper--
"There he is. I can see him."
"Let me look," cried Patty Smith, quite out loud; and then, when herhead was out of the window, if she did not give quite a loud cough, innot only a most indiscreet way, but, really, one that was mostreprehensible.
I pulled her back as quickly as I could, and, in a whisper, gave her agood scolding. Then I tied my scissors to the end of the string, tomake it go down quickly, and swinging them over the great ledge, Ilooked down; but I could not see poor Achille, for he had come close upto the house, and was, of course, out of sight beneath the cornice.
"But I shall see him soon," I said to myself; and went on letting downthe scissors till the string felt slack, and I knew that they touchedthe ground, when, just as before, I felt the string seized and jerkedabout, as if being attached to something; and well I knew what, though ahalf-fear took hold upon me now lest it should break the string, whichwas not so strong as I could have wished.
But now there was the signal; and I began to pull up the heavy ropeladder, cutting my poor little fingers with the string. At first itcame up pretty quickly, but soon slower, for again it began to growheavier; and at last, when I made sure that it must be nearly up, if itmust not turn contrary against us, and catch against the cornice, andremain immovable.
What was I to do? It was of no use to pull and jerk; for, if we hadpulled any harder, I'm sure that the string must have broken. If it hadnot been for Clara, I should have climbed out of the window, and stoodupon the cornice, to set it at liberty, for she could easily have heldmy hand, so that I should really have been quite safe.
But she would not hear of this, and I don't know what I should have doneif I had not thought of lowering the ladder down a little way, and thentrying again, when, to my great delight, up it came, and Clara soon hadhold of a pair of great iron hooks, just the sort of hooks I expected tosee; and on fixing them upon the sill, my side, we found that theyfitted beautifully; so I threw myself upon them to hold them in theirplaces, lest they should slip.
Just after that there was a sharp rustle of the rope, and then it waspulled tight; while now, making Clara hold one hook and Patty the other,I strained out as far as I could reach, so that I could see Achillemounting, slowly ascending, the dangerous thing; and, although we allheld on as tightly as we could, when he was about a dozen feet from theground the tiresome rope began to twist and spin round and round, sothat the poor fellow was twisting just as if he was being roasted, andI'm sure he must have been as giddy as giddy.
Fortunately for him, he did not always go the same way round, buttwisted back again, or else he must have dropped off. It was not as ifhe had been close up to the house, for then he could have touched thewall and stopped himself; but the cornice, which was a good width, kepthim away, so that he swung clear. And perhaps, after all, it was quiteas well, for he might else have gone right through one of the windows.
It was very shuddery and dreadful; but we poor girls could do nothingbut grasp the rope and hold our breath, and, as Clara said, hold ourtongues; though Patty would keep letting go, and staring out of thewindow when she was not wanted to.
"Won't I tease him about this," she said. "Only see, the first time hefinds fault with my exercises."
"Hush! you foolish child," I exclaimed. "Good gracious me! you mustnever say a word to him about it, under any consideration."
"Mustn't I?" said Patty, as innocently as could be.
"No, of course not," cried Clara; "that would ruin everything."
For I was now reaching as far as could be out of the window, to see whatpoor Achille was about; for the rope seemed to be doing nothing, and didnot jerk as if he was getting higher and higher. And then, oh, dear! ifI could not just see one of his feet where his head was last time Ilooked; for he was sitting upon the sill of the first floor window--thebest bedroom, which was, of course, empty--and, I suppose, restinghimself.
All at once, though, I heard him whisper--
"Is de ting sauf?"
"Yes, yes," I whispered in reply.
And then the rope crunched upon the cornice, as if he had againcommitted to it his weight, when I drew in my head and waited,trembling, for him to reach the window; and it did seem such a long timeto come so short a distance; but, as he told me afterwards, the loopswould keep slipping away when he wanted to put his feet in them, besidesthe rope spinning him round until he was giddy. At last I looked outagain, and then drew back my head in agony; for if he was not hanging byone leg, head downwards, just like my poor Dick, the canary, did inLondon, when it caught its claw in the wire of the cage and could notget loose.
As I said, I drew in my head, quite in an agony of fear; but the ropejerked about so that I was obliged to gaze once more, and then Iejaculated, quite loudly--
"Oh, Achille!"
"Eh, yais, oui," he exclaimed. "I 'ave put in mine's foot."
"In what--in what, mon cher?" I whispered.
"Oh," he gasped, in a thick voice, "mais je suis giddy. I 'ave puts myfoot trou de loops, and cannot get him back."
"Oh, pray come in!" cried Clara, who had heard every word, and seemedquite horrified--"pray come in and shut the window. Let's go away."
"Oh, nonsense," I said, "he will be hung: he will die! His head ishanging down, and his leg sticking up in the rope. He has slipped.Whatever shall we do?"
"Why don't you cut the rope?" said Patty; but of course no one took anynotice of her.
"Let's unhook the things," whispered Clara, "and then drop him down intothe laurustinus."
"Oh, how can you be so stupid!" I panted. "It would kill him: he'sright above the first floor window-sill."
"Well, but we can't shut the window with those things there," saidClara; "and it will not do to be found out."
I looked again, and there he still was twirling round just as if he wasbeing roasted, and the rope shaking so that I thought it must break. Ikept whispering to him, but he did not hear me; and just dim andindistinctly as he was seen, I could make out that he was trying todouble himself up and get his hands to the rope.
I never, I'm sure, felt anything so dreadful before in my life as thosefew moments when he was struggling there, and me unable to help him;for, in addition to the horror, there was the pricking of my conscience,as it told me that this was all my fault, and that if he was killed Ishould have murdered him. Which was very dreadful, you know, when thatlast affair of the cistern, which he escaped from with a fearfuldrenching, ought to have been a warning to me to have spared him fromrunning any more risks on my behalf.
I declare that I should have tried to slide down the rope to help him,or else to share his fate, if Clara had not restrained me once more; butshe kept tightly hold of my waist, till there came up a sound like thegnashing together of teeth, the rope gave a terrible shake, and the ironhooks fell jingling upon the floor.
There was a crashing and rustling of leaves and branches, as if a heavybody had fallen amongst trees, and then all was still, except for a deepgroan--a French groan--which came up, thrilling us all horribly; for therope had come unfastened, and had slipped through the round rings of thehooks.
We all stood aghast for a few minutes; but at last I summoned up courageenough to lean out, and whisper loudly--
"Achille! mon ami Achille!" when, as if in answer, came a most doleful"H-ooo, o-o-o, ho-o-o-o!" which made one's very blood run cold.
"That's only an owl,"
"A howl!" said Patty; "that it wasn't, it was a groan, just the same asthe pigs give when they're dying in our slaughter-house at home."
I leaned out of the window as far as I could, once more, and was tryingto pierce the darkness below, when all at once I heard a window to theright opening very gently, and squeaking as it ran up, and that window,I felt sure, was the lady principal's; so, recollecting the night of thealarm from Clara's basin--agonised though I was--I felt obliged to closeours quietly, pick up the two hooks, and then we all three glided backto our room--my heart chiding me the while for forsaking poor Achille insuch a time of dire distress. But what could I do? To stay or to raisean alarm was to be found out, and perhaps--ay, perhaps!--poor fellow, hewas not hurt, after all.
It was just as well that we did slip back, for we had hardly closed thedoor before the alarm bell on the top of the house began to ring, and weheard the Fraulein spring out of bed with a regular bump upon the floor.
We were not many seconds scuffling into bed; and, just as we lay down,we heard the Fraulein's door open, and then there were voices talkingand a good deal of buzzing about, for quite half an hour. But wethought it better not to go out; for, when Clara took a peep, MissFurness was hunting several of the girls back into their rooms with--
"Nothing the matter, young ladies. Back to your dormitories."
So we lay quite still, and listened; while I essayed to allay myhorrible fears about poor Achille, and tried to fancy that every sigh ofthe wind among the branches was him stealing--no, I won't