CHAPTER XV
FOR heaven's sake, wake up—tell me you 're not hurt!" a familiar voice was saying in my ear, or I was dreaming it. And because it was such a good dream I was afraid to break it by waking to some horror, so I kept my eyes shut, hoping and hoping for it to come again.
In an instant, it did come. "Child—little girl—wake up! Can't you speak to me?"
His hand, holding mine, was warm and extraordinarily comforting. Suddenly I felt so happy and so perfectly safe that I was paid for everything. My head was on somebody's arm, and I knew very well now who the somebody was. He was real, and not a dream. I sighed cozily and opened my eyes. His face was quite close to mine.
"Thank God!" he said. "Are you all right?"
"Now you 're here," I answered. "I thought they were coming to kill me."
"Who?" he asked, quite fiercely.
"An old gipsy woman and her sons."
"Those people!" he exclaimed. "Why, it was they who told me you were in this place. If it had n't been for them I should n't have found you so soon—though I would have found you. The wretches! What made you think ⸺"
