From the dormitories she now could hear muffled cries and poundings which told her cult members had discovered themselves locked in their rooms.
“I can’t get them out without keys,” Penny thought. “But if they make enough noise, someone may hear and come here to investigate.”
The closing of a nearby door brought the girl up short. As she froze against the passageway wall, Father Benedict stepped from the closet adjoining the bedroom where Rhoda was imprisoned.
Instantly Penny guessed that he had been watching the girl through the peephole.
Father Benedict’s satisfaction as he started toward the ruined church was frightening to behold. Thin lips were twisted into an ugly smile, and as he passed within a few feet of where Penny stood he muttered:
“Ah rest!—no rest but change of place and posture;
Ah sleep—no sleep but worn-out posture; Nature’s swooning;
Ah bed!—no bed but cushion fill’d with stones.”
CHAPTER
22
THE CANOPIED BED
In the chapel bedroom Rhoda Hawthorne had been greatly cheered to realize that soon she might be freed from imprisonment.