The Second Class Passenger - Fifteen Stories by Perceval Gibbon
page 23 of 350 (06%)
page 23 of 350 (06%)
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out."
The officer drawled something in his own tongue, which was, of course, unintelligible to Dawson, but it had the effect of annoying him strangely. "You little beast!" he said, and knocked the man down with his fist. "Run," hissed the woman at his elbow--"run before he can get up. No, not that way. To the church and out by another way!" She caught his hand, and together they raced across the square and in through the big door. There were a few people within, most sleeping on the benches and along the floor by the walls. In the chancel there were others, masked by the lights, busy with some offices. A wave of sudden song issued from among them as Dawson and the woman entered, and gave way again to the high, nervous voice of a map that stood before the altar. All along the sides of the church was shadow, and the woman speedily found a little arched door. "Come through the middle of it," she whispered urgently to Dawson, as she packed her loose skirts together in her hand--"cleanly through the middle; do not rub the wall as you come." He obeyed and followed her, and they were once more in the darkness of an alley. "It was the door of the lepers," she explained, as she let her skirts |
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