CHAPTER IX ANNETTE’S WINDOW

“Marjorie, grandpa is coming home this afternoon; don’t you want to go to meet him? Aunt Charlotte says we may go in the carriage.” It was the first cold day of the season and Caro looked like a bright-eyed squirrel in her gray coat and chinchilla furs.

Of course Marjorie wished to go, and although it was an hour and a half before train time she put on her coat and hat and the two went out to frisk up and down the walk until the carriage came.

They went as far as the seminary chapel¹, and seeing the door open Caro said, “Let’s go in and look at Annette’s window.”

Marjorie was willing and in they went. Some one from a distance was giving a course of Bible lectures to the students in the chapel, and the one for that day was just over.

[64]It was a small building, beautifully proportioned and decorated; the somewhat somber² richness of the interior being relieved by the beautiful windows.

The children found it great fun to walk about in perfect freedom instead of being obliged to sit in sedate³ silence, and they forgot to think about the time. They stood for a while before the window on which was represented the Good Shepherd freeing a lamb from a thorn bush, and spelled out the words beneath it: “In memoriam A. G.”

“I should like to have a window,” Caro said.

“But you can’t unless you are dead,” Marjorie answered.

Caro was disposed to doubt this and would have begun to argue the question if the sound of a banging door had not startled her. “What was that Marjorie? I guess we’d better go,” she said.

Pushing open the swinging door they went out into the vestibule, and there they found the outside door fast closed.

“Oh Marjorie, it is shut tight, I can’t open it!” Caro cried.

[65]Marjorie tried in her turn, but it was of no use, the janitor⁴ not knowing they were in the chapel had locked the door and gone away.

“What shall we do? We shall be late to meet grandpa,” wailed⁵ Caro.

Marjorie began to pound on the door and call, but this they soon realized could do no good. “Nobody can hear us it is so thick,” she said, beginning to cry.

“Don’t cry Marjorie; maybe Clifford will come back again. But I’m afraid we won’t get out in time to meet grandpa,” Caro added with a little choke in her voice at the thought.

“Clifford won’t be back till to-morrow I know,” and Marjorie continued to sob⁶.

“But they’ll look for us, I know they will,” Caro insisted.

It was dark and chilly⁷ in the vestibule so they went back into the chapel where the air was still warm. Even here the light was dim, for the short afternoon was nearly over. The shadows looked so dark in the corners that Marjorie exclaimed, “Oh Caro I’m afraid!”

“I don’t think anything can happen to us, and they will find us pretty soon I’m sure,”[66] said Caro encouragingly, although she couldn’t help thinking how very dark it would be after a while.

“We’ll starve! I am hungry now,” Marjorie said tearfully.

There was nothing to do but wait. They sat down in the seat usually occupied by Aunt Charlotte when they went to afternoon service with her, two very forlorn little girls. Suddenly Marjorie flung herself down on the cushions and began to cry and sob wildly. Caro’s tears fell more quietly, and after a time she wiped them from her eyes and looked up at the window. In the fading light she could just see the gentle, tender smile of the Good Shepherd as he rescued the lamb. It comforted her, and when Marjorie’s passion of crying had exhausted⁸ itself, she said softly “Marjorie look at the Good Shepherd!”

“It is too dark to see.”

“Marjorie let’s ask him to send someone to find us.”

“Well,” Marjorie agreed.

“And soon,” Caro added, “And to help us not to be afraid.”

In the dusk two little figures knelt, two little[67] heads were bowed on the cushions. When Caro lifted hers she thought something wonderful had happened, for there was the Shepherd smiling down on them just as if he were about to speak. It was the electric light on the campus which had shone out while their eyes were closed, and made it seem almost like day.

“We needn’t be afraid now Marjorie,” Caro said calling her attention to it. “But I do hope it won’t be very long, for I want so to see grandpa.”

At that moment Dr. Barrows was wanting very much to see his little girl. When he stepped from his carriage expecting to hear her merry voice, and to see her flying to him, there was only his sister standing⁹ in the door with an anxious face, greeting him with: “The children have disappeared Charles, and can’t be found!”

After a few questions the president hurried over to his brother’s, vague stories of kidnappers¹⁰ floating through his brain. It seemed strange indeed that two little girls could disappear so completely in so short a time, leaving no clew to their whereabouts.

[68]The whole neighborhood was presently aroused, and professors and students might be seen running in every direction. Just how soon it would have occurred to anybody to look in the chapel it is impossible to say, but it so happened that Dr. Smith the lecturer was to leave town that evening, and in putting his papers together he missed some valuable notes which he thought must have been left on the desk in the chapel. The janitor was sent for, and in half an hour after the electric light shone out, the children, as well as the manuscript, were found.

“It is so nice to be found!” Caro said, with her arms clasped about her grandfather’s neck; “but I truly wasn’t afraid after the light came, for the Good Shepherd looked so kind.”

1 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

2 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

3 sedate   

adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的

参考例句：

• After the accident,the doctor gave her some pills to sedate her.事故发生后，医生让她服了些药片使她镇静下来。
• We spent a sedate evening at home.我们在家里过了一个恬静的夜晚。

4 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

5 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

6 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

7 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

8 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》