To-day would bring forth a plan for to-morrow. To-morrow Bobbie would be saved from Jordan Morse. To-morrow would end his terror in the gorge house. To-morrow--she would be eighteen years old!
"Bobbie," she entreated, going to the child swiftly, "Bobbie, do you remember any prayers Lafe taught you?"
"Sure," he concurred. "'Now I lay me' and 'Our Father which art in Heaven.'... I know them, Jinnie."
"Then sit upon the divan again and say them over and over, and pray for Lafe, and that you'll get out of here and be happy. You mustn't tell Mr. Morse if he comes, but I'm going to try to get you out of the window."
As she stood in the gathering gloom and peered into the water below, Jinnie could hear the child lisping his small petitions.
At that moment a new faith came for herself. Lafe's angels would save her, too, from Jordan Morse's revenge.
At ten-thirty the next morning Morse came. With trepidation Jinnie heard him open the door. He was extremely nervous and stayed only a few moments.
"I've got to be in court at eleven," he explained, "and I'll come for you both about ten this evening. Be ready, you and the boy, and remember what I told you!"
When they were alone once more, she sat down beside the blind child and placed her arm around him.
"Bobbie, will you do exactly what I tell you?"
"Sure," responded Bobbie, cheerfully. "Are we goin' home?"
"Then take Happy Pete and don't move until I get back. Just pray and pray and pray! That's all."
Happy Pete snuggled his head under Bobbie's arm and they both sat very still. The boy scarcely dared to breathe, he was so anxious to please his Jinnie.
The farthest window in the inner room door seemed to be the best one to attack. If Morse surprised her, it would be easier to cover up her work. With a frantic prayer on her lips, she took off her shoe and gave the pane of glass one large, resounding blow. It cracked in two, splinters not only flying into the room, but tumbling into the gorge below. Then she hastily hammered away every particle of glass from the frame, and, shoving her shoulders through, looked out and down. The very air seemed filled with angels. They could and would save her and Bobbie even in the water--even if they were within the suction of the falls there, some distance below and beyond. Then her eyes swept over the side of the building, and she discovered a stone ledge wide enough for a human being to crawl along. Would she dare try it with her loved ones? She distinctly remembered seeing a painter's paraphernalia in the front, and they might be there still! The more she thought, the greater grew her hope, and with this growing hope came a larger faith. At least she'd find what was at the end of the building away off there to the east.