ty immediately? Now, you shall see how _you_
like dwelling in the Cave of Machpelah for a day and a night, and a
month and a year, until He shall come whose right it is to reign."

And she thrust the trembling, awe-struck children into the room that
had been her prison, and turned the key upon them. Then away she
strode out of the house and up the street, a noticeable figure, truly,
in her short yellow nankeen dress, with pantalets of the same, and
neat white Quaker cap, with long white ribbons crossed under her chin,
and carrying an immense umbrella over her head. It was strange that
none of the nearest neighbors should see her pass. The front door was
on the opposite side of the house from where the little girls were
playing; so they did not observe her exit; and thus it happened that
the crazy lady, who had been confined in the house for weeks, escaped
without any check upon her triumphant progress. Busy women, seeing her
from their windows, thought Mrs. Pike must be better again, to be out,
and did wish her friends wouldn't let her walk the streets looking
like a Dutch woman. Boys paused in their games almost respectfully, as
she passed by; for notwithstanding her strange appearance and rapid
movements, there was an air of mysterious command about the woman
which checked any rudeness.

"There goes Madam Pike," exclaimed one ragged-kneed boy, when she had
passed out of hearing. "Got on her ascension-robe--hasn't she? Wonder
if that umberil will help her any? I say, boys, do you suppose all the
saints that walk the streets of the new Jerusalem look like her?"

While Mrs. Pike walked rapidly on, with a keen appreciation of the
fresh air and occasional gleams of sunshine, the little prisoners
drooped like two April violets plucked and thrown upon the ground.
They were so frightened and awe-struck, that the idea of calling for
help from the open window did not occur to them; and they crouched
upon the floor, melancholy and mute. After a while, some odd-looking
garments, hanging in a row on one side of the room, attracted their
attention; but they did not dare to go near them at first. Mrs. Pike
was what was called a Second Adventist, and had read the Bible and
Apocrypha with a fiery zeal, and an earnest determination to find
therein proof of what she believed, and had attended Second Advent
meetings, and exhorted wherever she could get a hearing, until her
poor brain was crazed. But lately her husband and friends had k