Then I
have to blunder in here, and in the dark he takes her for me. I'm sure
that's it."
Then came a change of mood.
"But what is the use of speculating and guessing about it?" Mollie
mused. "I had much better see if there is a way out. Oh, joy! A
window--two of them!"
She approached the casements, realizing that as she was on the ground
floor the sills could not be very high from earth. But though she saw
that the catches on the frames were broken, and though she managed to
raise one sash, it was with a jolt of disappointment that she saw the
windows were heavily barred.
"A regular prison!" gasped Mollie. "This must have been a most peculiar
house--barred windows. No wonder people shun it. Ugh! It gives me the
creeps."
She flashed her lamp on the wooden sill, into which the iron rods were
screwed. Then a wave of hope came into her heart. She saw rotting wood
and rusting iron. She pushed on one bar. It gave slightly.
"I can force them out, I'm sure!" she exclaimed aloud. "Oh, for
something to use!"
Her light shone around the room--on a pile of broken chairs. She ran and
grasped the leg of one. It was heavy and solid.
Mollie placed it between two of the bars, and pried. She was strong, and
it did not take all of her muscle to force the ends of the rods from the
rotting wood of the sill. A child might have done it. In a moment she
had a space sufficiently wide to enable her to get out.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132