Out of the Past — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

8 Out of the Past. but wandered on, for the door-way of the only garden was closed on the glaring, barren spot. Noon was pass- ing. A tall, black figure crossed the street above and came quickly through the passage, the white wings of her | head-covering glistening and her garments swaying about as she came over the uneven pavement, with the cross of the Saviour gleaming from her girdle. She had thrust her hands within her loose sleeves for protection from the sun, and on one arm carried a large basket. She knocked repeatedly at the garden door without re- ceiving any response, and, crossing the passage, looked up at the open windows, calling: “Madame! It is Sister Clothilde from the nursery.” She pushed the door back and entered the house, to find no one either in the first room or in the kitchen; the shutters of the inner chamber were closed, and with the glare still in her eyes, she could at first distinguish noth- ing within the room. A ray of light shot through the space above the shutter, falling upon a white figure lying on the bed, with its coverings thrown partly on the floor. Something moved there with a quavering, stifled sound as the tall woman reached the bed and gently parted the clothes. “Oh, mon Dieu! the little one—the poor little one— GOmicsooks (E(e)