She says she was excessively frightened; and instantly raised the Swiss,
and the two maids, who lay not far off; and finding every door fast, she
said, I must be carried away, as St. Peter was out of prison, by some
angel. It is a wonder she had not a worse thought!
She says, she wept, and wrung her hands, and took on sadly, running about
like a mad woman, little thinking I could have got out of the closet
window, between the iron bars; and, indeed, I don't know whether I could
do so again. But at last finding that casement open, they concluded it
must be so; and ran out into the garden, and found my footsteps in the
mould of the bed which I dropt down upon from the leads: And so speeded
away all of them; that is to say, Mrs. Jewkes, Colbrand, and Nan, towards
the back-door, to see if that was fast; while the cook was sent to the
out-offices to raise the men, and make them get horses ready, to take
each a several way to pursue me.
But, it seems, finding that door double-locked and padlocked, and the
heel of my shoe, and the broken bricks, they verily concluded I was got
away by some means over the wall; and then, they say, Mrs. Jewkes seemed
like a distracted woman: Till, at last, Nan had the thought to go towards
the pond: and there seeing my coat, and cap, and handkerchief, in the
water, cast almost to the banks by the agitation of the waves, she
thought it was me; and, screaming out, ran to Mrs.
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