Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/299

Rh you again! Ah, this will indeed re-animate old Jan, and even Vrouw Voorhaas may—but  come!” And he rushed them along so fast  that Jacqueline could hardly find breath in  which to ask after the sick woman.

“She is very, very low!” panted De Witt. “We hardly expect her to live through the day, but the sight of you two may make some  difference,—I cannot tell! Hurry, hurry!” They reached Belfry Lane, stopped a moment  to regain breath, and all three crept upstairs  as softly as possible. The opened door revealed a strange sight to their astonished gaze. Jan stood huddled in a corner, eyes wide with amazement, apprehension, and  doubt. Vrouw Voorhaas, withered and shrunken by her long illness, half sat up in her bed looking more like a ghost than a living being. But most astonishing of all, over her leaned a stranger, a tall, gaunt man clad  in the uniform of the Beggars of the Sea. He bent over the woman, clasping her hand and questioning her anxiously in a low voice.