Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/227

 EANWHILE, Jacqueline and Gysbert, isolated in the upper room of the little farmhouse in Zoeterwoude, found themselves with a great deal of time on their  hands, and liberty to do pretty much as they  liked within their limited space. The fiction of Gysbert’s illness with the plague was rigorously adhered to, and beyond opening the door a crack to poke in the food, Dirk Willumhoog never ventured to intrude. Every day he would shout through the closed door  to Jacqueline, inquiring about Gysbert’s condition. Generally she would reply that he was no better, or that the symptoms were  very much worse. Very infrequently she answered that he was a little better.

They lived on the best of fare, for Dirk