Page:An American Girl in India.djvu/171

 Slumpanugger of any sensationalism that might be considered its due.

'Well, I can't say that we have many,' she considered, 'but what we do have are very severe,' she added more cheerfully. Only last year there was quite a bad one. It was just before we came, and the unfortunate Brown-Toogoods, who were here then, had an awful time of it. Poor Mr. Brown-Toogood had nerves, and Mrs. Brown-Toogood had three children, and what with the nerves and the children and the earthquake they nearly died. There were huge cracks all over the house, and the whole family spent several nights camped out in the garden in much fear and trembling in a tent in the rains. By the way, there was one tremendous crack all down the side of one of these walls.' Berengaria jumped up in the animated manner of one going to seek hidden treasure, and walked half-way along the forty feet of floor. Then she searched and found it. 'Ah, there it is. Do you see? It's been well patched up, of course; but you can still see the crack right down from the ceiling. They do say that it was so wide a crack that you could see daylight nearly the whole length of it from top to bottom.'

I stood behind Berengaria, peeping up at the signs of the crack, which were still distinctly visible. Now, unfortunately, I've been burdened with an imagination, and I saw that wall as it must once have looked, gaping open with the daylight streaming through, and it wasn't a pleasant thing to see when you're just going to be left alone in a strange room