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Page 61
Gordon re�ntered the room. "I have told Clara that you have come back,
and that Clemency is to stay all night with Annie Lipton," he said. Then
he, too, stood staring helplessly. Emma had come into the room, and now
she spoke angrily to the three dazed men. "Git the lanterns lit, for
goodness' sake," said she, "and hunt and do something. I'm goin' to git
her supper, and I'll keep her pacified." Emma gave a jerk with a sharp
elbow toward Mrs. Ewing's room. "For goodness' sake, if you don't know
yet where she has went, why don't you do somethin'?" she demanded. The
men went before her sharp command like dust before her broom. "Keep as
still as you can," ordered Emma as they went out. "_She_ mustn't, git to
worryin' before she comes home."
[Illustration: "Saw a little dark figure running toward him." Page 239.]
For the next two hours Gordon, James, and Aaron searched. They walked,
each going his separate way into the fields and woods on the road,
having agreed upon a signal when the girl should be found. The signal
was to be a pistol shot. James went first to the wood, where he had
found Clemency on her former disappearance. He searched in every shadow,
throwing the gleam of his lantern into little dark nests of last year's
ferns, and hollows where last year's leaves had swirled together to die,
but no Clemency. At last, wearied and heart-sick, he came out on the
road. The moon was just up, a full moon, and the road lay stretched
before him like a silver ribbon covered with the hoar-frost. He gazed
down it hopelessly, and saw a little dark figure running toward him. He
was incredulous, but he called, "Clemency!"
A glad little cry answered him. He himself ran forward, and the girl was
in his arms, sobbing and trembling as if her heart would break.
"What has happened? What has happened, darling?" James cried in an
agony. "Are you hurt? What has happened?"
"Something very strange has happened, but I am not hurt," sobbed
Clemency. James remembered the signal. "Wait a second, dear," he said;
"your uncle and Aaron are searching, and I promised to fire the pistol
if I found you." James fired his pistol in the air six times. Then he
returned to Clemency, who was leaning against a tree. "How I wish we had
driven here!" James said tenderly.
"I can walk, if you help me," Clemency sobbed, leaning against him. "Oh,
I am so sorry I acted so this morning. I got punished for it. I haven't
been hurt, nobody has been anything but kind to me, but I have been
dreadfully frightened."
Gordon and Aaron came running up. "Where have you been, Clemency?"
Gordon demanded in a harsh voice. "Another time you must do as you are
told. You are too old to behave like a child, and put us all in such a
fright."
Clemency left James, and ran to her uncle, and clung to him sobbing
hysterically. "Oh, Uncle Tom, don't scold me," she whimpered.
"Are you hurt? What has happened?"
"I am not hurt a bit," sobbed Clemency.
Gordon put his arm around her. "Well," he said, "as long as you are safe
keep your story until we get home. Elliot, take her other arm. She is
almost too used up to walk. Now stop crying, Clemency."
When they were home, in the office, Clemency told her story, which was a
strange one. She had been on her way home from Annie Lipton's, and had
reached a certain house, when the door opened and a woman stood there
calling her. She described the woman and the house, and James gave a
start. "That must be the same woman whom I saw," he exclaimed.
"She was a woman I had never seen," said Clemency. "I think she had only
lived there a very short time."
Gordon nodded gloomily. "I know who she is, I fear," he said. "Strange
that I did not suspect."
"She looked very kind and pleasant," said Clemency, "and I thought she
wanted something and there was no harm, but when I reached her the first
thing I knew she had hold of me, and her hands were like iron clamps.
She put one over my mouth, and held me with the other, and pulled me
into the house and locked the door. Then she made me go into a little
dark room in the middle of the house and she locked me in. She told me
if I screamed nobody would hear me, but she did speak kindly. She was
very kind. Once she even kissed me, although I did not want her to. She
brought a lamp in, and made me lie down on a couch in the room and drink
a glass of wine. She told me not to be afraid, nobody would hurt me. She
seemed to me to be always listening, and every now and then she went
out, but she always locked the door behind her. When she came back she
would look terribly worried. About half an hour ago she went out, and
when she came back brought a tray with tea and bread and cold chicken
for me. I told her I would starve before I ate anything while she kept
me there. She did not seem to pay much attention, she looked so
dreadfully worried. She sat down and looked at me. Finally, she said, as
if she were afraid to hear her own voice, 'Has any accident happened
near here lately that you have heard of?' I told her about the man that
fell down in our drive and died of erysipelas. I did not tell her
anything else. All at once she almost fell in a faint. Then she stood
up, and she looked as if she were dead. She told me to stay where I was
just fifteen minutes, then I might go, but I must not stir before. Then
she kissed me again, and her lips were like ice. She went out, and I
knew the door was not locked, but I was afraid to stir. I could hear her
running about. Then I heard the outer door slam, and I looked at my
watch, and it was fifteen minutes. Then I ran out and up the road as
fast as I could. Just before I saw Doctor Elliot the New York train
passed. I heard it. I think she was hurrying to catch that."
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