The wind had risen; the swaying of the great trees outside was partially
visible as well as drearily audible to the group, for Gladys had
postponed ordering the shutters closed, and then had forgotten them. The
gigantic dim shapes of the oaks surged to and fro in an undiscriminated
shadowy turmoil. It was a dark night, and cloudy. Vast masses of vapor
were on the march, under the coercion of the blast that followed fast and
scourged and flouted the laggards. Mrs. Marable noted now and again a
light and tentative touch on the panes, and began to wonder how far the
illumined window could be seen down the road. Was it not calculated to
allure marauders and nighthawks to this lonely house? She was moved to
hope that the stalwart son of the hotel caretaker, who occupied a room at
the bungalow for the greater security of its occupants, was not a heavy
sleeper; though from the stolid, phlegmatic appearance of the young man,
of a sluggish temperament, she drearily thought it possible that he could
be roused by no less means than applying a torch to his bed furniture to
bring him out in a light blaze.
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