Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/228

202 was evidently anxious that the patient should have every opportunity in that way to improve. Gysbert now ate even more than his share, but Jacqueline was of course supposed  to have consumed the larger amount. On the whole, though, they felt that the deception  could not be sustained very much longer,  without discovery. From the barred windows they watched constantly, endeavoring to discover in that way if possible, something  that was going on. There was little life about the farmhouse, though they occasionally saw a few Spanish soldiers go in and out,  and a woman sometimes moving about the  yard. Only once they overheard a conversation that threw some light on whose house they were inhabiting. A soldier entered the yard one day, and was accosted by this  woman who seemed to belong to the place.

“Hast thou heard any news of my husband?” she questioned.

“Nothing certain, Vrouw Hansleer,” he