Hildegarde lay still and
listened, with a luxurious sense of safety amid the wild tumult.
"But I am safe, and live at home!" she said softly. Then suddenly
a thought came, like a cold hand laid on her heart, and she sat up
in bed, her breath coming quickly.
"Bell!" she said, under breath, that she might not wake little
Kitty, "Bell, wake up!"
"What is it?" asked Bell, turning drowsily on her side. "Not our
turn to get breakfast, you know."
"There is a storm! Hear it raging outside. Oh, Bell! the birch
canoe! Can you remember whether we put her in the boat-house when
we came in from paddling?"
Bell was wide awake now, and on her feet in an instant.
"We did not!" she said, searching frantically for her clothes. "My
dear, we left her; don't you remember? The boys were just cutting
wood, and we thought we would wait till they finished, and then,--
what a wretch I am! What IS happening to this skirt?"
"I am putting it on too," said Hildegarde. "It is mine. Here is
yours. Now a jacket; there, we are all right. Is any one sleeping
on the piazza?"
"No, they all went up to the pine grove to-night, or last night,
or whenever it was.
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