Harry bent down, and in a low, very low, faint whisper told her all about it, dwelling upon every little detail, and not forgetting to mention how he had longed to see her, and had risked everything for it. And Katie kept interrupting him incessantly, with soft cooing whispers of sympathy, which were exceeding sweet and precious.
And Katie proceeded to tell that she had been dreaming--and wasn"t it funny?--about him; that she thought he had got into one of the windows, and was about to carry her off.
"And were you glad to see me?" asked Harry.
"Awfully!" said Katie; "just the same in my dream as I am now, only I can"t see you one bit--it"s so awfully dark."
"Are you afraid?" asked Harry, in a trembling voice.
"Afraid? Oh no. It"s awfully nice, and all that, you know."
"But shouldn"t you like to get away out of this?"
"Get away?"
"Yes, if I could get off, and get you off too?"
"But how can we go?"
"Well, I don"t know just yet. I only know the way from my room here, and back again; but I may find out something."
"But that won"t do any good. Don"t you really know any way out?"
"Not yet, but I hope to find one; I dare say I shall before long."
"Oh, how delicious! how perfectly delicious that would be! I do wish that you only could. It would be quite too awfully nice, you know."
"I"ll let you know. I promise you."
"But then," said Katie, "you"ll be going off yourself and leaving poor me behind."
"Leave you!" said Harry, indignantly; "never!"
"Wouldn"t you really?" asked Katie, in a tone of delight.
"Never," said Harry. "I wouldn"t stir a step without you. I"d rather be a prisoner with you than a free man without you."
Katie drew a long breath.
"Well," said she, "I think you must be a true friend."
"I"d rather be here with you," persisted Harry, "than anywhere in the world without you."
"If only your pa.s.sage-way ran outside the building, wouldn"t it be nice?" said Katie. "Why, we might pop out now, and away we would go, and no one a bit the wiser."
"And where would you like me to take you?"
"Where? Oh, anywhere!"
"But where in particular?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "It Was--Yes, It Was Katie!"]
"Oh, I don"t care. I like Madrid very well, or London; but it"s too rainy there and foggy."
"Should you like Barcelona?" inquired Harry, tenderly.
"I dare say, though I"ve never been there. But I don"t half know what I"m talking about, and I think I"ve been mixing up my dreams with real life; and you come so into the middle of a dream that it seems like a continuation of it; and I"m not sure but that this is a dream.
I"m pinching myself too, all the time, and it hurts, so that I think I must be awake. But, all the same, you really mean what you say?"
"Mean it? Why, I can"t say one thousandth part of what I really mean.
Don"t you believe it, when you see me here?"
"But I don"t see you at all," said Katie.
Harry looked at her for a moment, and then said, abruptly,
"Keep your shawl around you, poor little girl; I"m afraid you"ll get cold;" and with tender solicitude he proceeded to draw her shawl tighter around her slender figure. This was a work which required no little time and skill. Not a word was now spoken for some time. This was of course wiser on their part than whispering, for whispers are sometimes dangerous, and may lead to discovery. But Harry seemed troubled about Katie"s health, and was never satisfied about that shawl.
"You are so very kind!" said Katie, at last.
"It"s because I"m so fond of--the shawl," said Harry. "I love to arrange it for you. I should like to take it back with me."
"Should you really?"
"Above all things--except one."
"What?"
"Why, of course, I should rather take back with me what"s inside the shawl."
"Well, I"m sure "what"s inside the shawl" would like very much to get away out of this prison; and so, sir, when you find a way, you must let her know. But won"t Mr. Russell wake and miss you?"
"Mr. Russell? Why, he isn"t with me any longer."
"Isn"t he?"
"No. I"m all alone. They took him away, and I suppose he"s alone too."
"Oh dear! I hope I sha"n"t be left alone."
"I hope, if you are, you may be left here."
"Why?" asked Katie, who knew perfectly well, but liked to hear it stated in plain words.
"Why--because I could come to see you all the time then, instead of waiting till they"re all asleep."