You know how it
carried you over to the island, and you had to marry the burglar to
the cook.'
'Oh, my head!' said the curate.
'Never mind your head just now,' said Robert; 'try to be honest and
honourable, and do your duty in that state of life!'
'This is a judgement on me for something, I suppose,' said the
Reverend Septimus, wearily, 'but I really cannot at the moment
remember what.'
'Send for the police,' said Miss Selina.
'Send for a doctor,' said the curate.
'Do you think they ARE mad, then,' said Miss Amelia.
'I think I am,' said the curate.
Jane had been crying ever since her capture. Now she said--
'You aren't now, but perhaps you will be, if--And it would serve
you jolly well right, too.'
'Aunt Selina,' said the curate, 'and Aunt Amelia, believe me, this
is only an insane dream. You will realize it soon. It has
happened to me before. But do not let us be unjust, even in a
dream. Do not hold the children; they have done no harm. As I
said before, it was I who opened the box.'
The strong, bony hands unwillingly loosened their grasp. Robert
shook himself and stood in sulky resentment. But Jane ran to the
curate and embraced him so suddenly that he had not time to defend
himself.
'You're a dear,' she said. 'It IS like a dream just at first, but
you get used to it.
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