He pursued it,
clutching vainly, all around the room, then he swung himself on his
heel with an exclamation and the thing fell to the floor again in
the long heap. Then were heard hurrying feet on the stairs and
Adrianna burst into the room. She ran straight to her father and
clutched his arm; she tried to speak, but she chattered
unintelligibly; her face was blue. Her father shook her violently.
"Adrianna, do have more sense!" he cried.
"Oh, David, how can you talk so?" sobbed her mother.
"I can't help it. I'm mad!" said he with emphasis. "What has got
into this house and you all, anyhow?"
"What is it, Adrianna, poor child," asked her mother. "Only look
what has happened here."
"It's an earthquake," said her father staunchly; "nothing to be
afraid of."
"How do you account for THAT?" said Mrs. Townsend in an awful
voice, pointing to the veil.
Adrianna did not look--she was too engrossed with her own terrors.
She began to speak in a breathless voice.
"I--was--coming--by the vacant lot," she panted, "and--I--I--had my
new hat in a paper bag and--a parcel of blue ribbon, and--I saw a
crowd, an awful--oh! a whole crowd of people with white faces, as
if--they were dressed all in black.
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