The little group lowered their heads and sat in silence as at a funeral.
In the hush the door of the inner room opened, and Squire Phin came into the kitchen.
“Have you brought news?” he asked anxiously, putting his hand on the shoulder of the new arrival.
The man repeated his story.
While the Squire stood there with head down, pondering, there was a commotion in the other room. Again the door opened, and a comely woman whose features were twisted by grief and suffering appeared. A cloth was wrapped around her forehead, and her lips were swollen from sobbing. Though Sylvena Willard strove with all her gentle strength to restrain her, the woman tore away and came into the kitchen.
“Bring me my children,” she cried, staring from one to the other with eyes glazed and sunken by woe. “Where’s Klebe? Send him after the children. Something has happened. What is it? Don’t drive me mad, neighbours! What is it?”
Her voice rose in a shriek. She ran first to one man and then to another-, clasping her thin hands around their arms. The men were unresponsive and embarrassed. Hysteria was upon her.
Squire Phin, with his strong hands and his comforting words, was at last able to draw her away toward the inner room.
“Oh, Phineas Look,” she wailed, “tell me where my babies are.”
“They are in God’s hands, child,” he replied, his heart in his tones. “Take courage. I am goin’ away now to bring some one. Take courage.”