“No! I will not yield to you in a single point!” was the haughty reply.
“Very well, there is nothing more to be said, then. I will arrange a good bed for you, give you plenty of books and papers to read, and bring you food three times a day. You shall have plenty of candles, too, so that I imagine you will manage to exist quite comfortably for a few weeks,” and she left the room as she spoke.
Mrs. Coolidge soon returned, and Isabel with her, bringing a mattress, bedclothes, and a tray containing a dainty supper, the former having taken care to provide it, knowing that her prisoner had been long without food. They also brought her a chair, and left her a candle, and then retired, leaving her somewhat anxious for the future, but by no means subdued.
Left to herself, Brownie’s first work was to eat her supper, for she was really very hungry, and the inner man thus strengthened she felt somewhat more cheerful.
She arranged her bed for she was weary with sitting for so many hours upon that stone floor, and then retired, feeling rather lonely and sad, but confident that the Lord, her shepherd, would care for her there as tenderly as in her own room; and ere long she was sleeping soundly.
She never knew how long she had been sleeping, for her rest had been unbroken and dreamless, but she was suddenly awakened by a cold clasp upon her hand!
In an instant every sense was unlocked, and she was broad awake, with that instinctive consciousness of a horrible presence, which people sometimes have when danger lurks near.
The candle still burned, and lighted the place with a reddish glare, for she had not extinguished it, feeling that the darkness would have been too horrible, and by its light she could distinguish a strange-looking object kneeling by her side.
With a cry of terror she started up to find herself face to face with a form so misshapen, so frightful, so weird and uncanny, that the sound suddenly died upon her lips, and left her paralyzed with fear.
The creature immediately arose and moved away from her a pace or two at seeing her so terrified.