It was no
wonder that when he held out his hand to lead her down into the
darkness and through winding ways to the mouth of the far-off beehive
dungeon--it was no wonder, I say, that she should shrink and draw back.
A few rays came through the decayed planks of the door which Alec had
pushed to behind them, and fell upon the rubbish of centuries sloping
in the brown light and damp air down into the abyss. One larger ray
from the keyhole fell upon Kate's face, and showed it blanched with
fear, and her eyes distended with the effort to see through the gloom.
At that moment, a sweet, low voice came from somewhere, out of the
darkness, saying:
"Dinna be feared, mem, to gang whaur Alec wants ye to gang. Ye can
lippen (trust) to _him_."
Staring in the direction of the sound, Kate saw the pale face of a
slender--half child, half maiden, glimmering across the gulf that led
to the dungeon. She stood in the midst of a sepulchral light, whose
faintness differed from mere obscuration, inasmuch as it told how
bright it was out of doors in the sun. Annie, I say, stood in this
dimness--a dusky and yet radiant creature, seeming to throw off from
her a faint brown light--a lovely, earth-stained ghost.
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