Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/172

146 told Jacqueline was quite beyond bis power. Already concern for the famishing, besieged city, and despair at its vanishing hopes of  relief had driven him almost beyond his  senses with anxiety. It was now not only impossible, but would be also quite fruitless  for him to send men outside the walls to  search for Gysbert, as they would probably  be killed on sight by the ferocious Spaniards. He advised Jacqueline to wait quietly for further developments, and gave it as his opinion that Gysbert had not been killed, but  was probably being kept alive for some yet  unknown purpose. But little encouraged by this interview, Jacqueline crept home to endure silent but unending misery. For she was too proud to be seen by the others constantly grieving, and moreover, she blamed  herself bitterly for ever allowing her brother  to undertake such a hazardous enterprise.

Ascending to the pigeon-loft that morning, she found a returned messenger strutting  about among the remaining birds. He bore