Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/107

 HE middle of August found the conditions in Leyden in no way improved but rather the worse, being just so many weeks  nearer starvation. The poor had reached a point where they were indeed glad to get  what nourishment they might from the grass  that grew in the streets, and even the leaves  from the trees that shaded the canals. Even the rich now suffered from the scantiness of  provisions, and were fain to draw in their  belts tightly to lessen the gnawing of constant hunger.

Jacqueline and Gysbert had lost their fresh, rosy complexions and the roundness of  their youthful curves, and looked white and  thin. Yet they still fared better than some. Gysbert had made seven trips through the