The Other Side of the Door

de a dash ahead of Abby, and opened the door. "Did he get away?" The words flew off my tongue before I could think. I knew it had been a dreadfully wrong thing to say. "I mean the other m

e, "Of course he isn't going to tell me anything. He is going to sa

ning-room door. He held out his hand to me. "Come into t

y, not father, who wished to ask me a question, that I wanted to shrink away and escape from the very facts I had been so anxious to know a few minutes bef

leaves against the glass with a sound like "Hush!" Up to that moment I had had no memory connected with that room-only the general sense of awe it had given me as a child. But as soon as I was in that chair, facing that window, hearing the "Hush, hush," of the weeping leaves, in a quick distinct flas

ing to do with what was happening at the moment, for the thought

hind his coat-tails, buried his big chin deep in his collar, and in just the same cheerful voice he used when he asked me how many hearts

nt, his question seemed so si

shake. "Yes, but what m

the ground." I was growin

Then with a sudden pouncing forward motion of his head and shoulders

ered, "but tha

was watching

en't you a little co

o snatch the words out of my mouth, and turn them into another mea

range thought came to me with a rush of relief. "Wasn'

down like lead. "We found everything as you told us

t Mr. Dingley, who seemed suddenly to have become a s

ed; and when I reached the spot there was a woman looking out of a window, and some labo

e, across the table, resting on his elbow until his face was level with my own, "I know you must have been much frightened at what you saw, child, and it's

s watching me hard, as if he were trying, with that incredulous look of his, to force it on me that I must be mistaken. And then the thought floated through my mind that in some way it would be better for that handsome, terrible man if I could say I hadn't s

ath in court?" father

, y

e did-be sure of that!" He listened again while Mr. Dingley murmured to him, and the look of their faces, the lowered, hushed tones of their voices, made me feel, more than words could have done, that they were talking about something very serious.

he was going to say something more, but finally he only, shru

ssible. Ellie-" His voice sounded so sharply on my name that I jumped up, all of a

voice was woe

me what is happening

if you can identify him." I stared at father, and my only feeling was one of vague, incredulous wonder. Martin Rood, the fine sleek gentleman

hrew me into a panic. But Abby screamed at me that I was treading on my ruffle as I came up-stairs, and captured me; and I let her put another gown on me and my turban and a heavy veil without lifting a finger to help her, as if I had been a child. I knew fath

, making instead a detour of several blocks, and finally, by me

e were standing in a flagged hall, looking up through a great well, past gallery after gallery, to a skylight covering the top of the roof. It was the sunshine filtering through the dull, thick, greenish glass which gave that cold, sad-colored light. Within the galleries I caught glimpses of men at work at desks; and over the railings lounged figures, peered faces, disheveled, sodden, disreputable; and sometimes near t

ing under the light of a green-shaded lamp. He came forward, opened a gate in the railing for us to enter, shook hands with Mr. Dingley and father, and then was introduced to me. His name did not reach me, but I understood the words "Chief of Police." Then all three talked together in low voices, while I sat where I had been bidden, in

ss Fenwick, is to tell me whether you re

to wrist, into the seeming of a single thing. This thing halted opposite the railing, and faced about before me, where it appeared to me as a line of heads and moving arms and legs and shuffling feet. But among them all I saw only one individual. It was absurd if they had expected to confuse me with these other creatures. I saw him instantly and I knew him past hope of mistaking. His clothes were all torn and disordere

ind, as if he were reassuring and encouraging me to go on! It transformed him from a terrifying presence into something beautiful. It made me forget the others and the room and, curiously, in their place, came the confusing memory of a ball

ather's voice said.

t I realized they were all waiting, waiting for and looking at me; and it seemed as if I could not go on with the truth. It was only

I said, "the fou

ooked at me sternly.

urprised at how stead

It was then I noticed how his hands were awkwardly carried in front of him, held by two steel bands around his wrists, with a chain like a bracelet-chain swinging betwe

een looking at him all the time, as if by doing that I could make him understand how terribly I wished I

I saw he held up his hand, palm out, and mechanically I held up mine. "Yes," I repeated after him, "I c

een his wrists had made him different from them, as if he wasn't a man at all, but a stone. Yet I couldn't look at him like that. He was no

had walked straight up to the rail, and standing there scarcely two feet from me, in such a low voice that only I could hear

bow. He started, half-turned on the man, made a movement with his hands; but then he felt the jerk of the chain. The blood rushed to his face. With the policeman holding his arm he walked away across the room, and I wondered what sort of place he was being taken to. It

for frightening

oaxing a child, "Exactly what

mself so absolutely responsible for what had happened! And when I thought how Mr. Dingley had twisted my words about I was afraid-afraid that if I repeated the ones that this man had spoken they would someho

d me and said, "I hope t

young lady must understand that she is no

f your friends talk to you about i

father out of the prison with a very s

seemed quite a different person from the father who had gone with me the day before, merrily, to buy my bracelet. The thought of the man with the dark eyes and the chain between his wrists filled all my mind. Who could he be? The sense of warmth that had come with his smile, and that very curious sen

, the door opened from within, and there in the hall stood Hallie Ferguson,

he longest time for you. Isn't it awful? Johnny Montgomery ha