The Altar Steps (Classic Reprint)

He dared not open his mouth to scream lest he should be suffocated; he dared not put out his arm to search for the bell-rope lest he should be seized; he dared not hide beneath the blankets lest he should be kept there; he could do nothing except sit up trembling in a vain effort to orientate himself. Had the room really turned upside down? On an impulse of terror he jumped back from the engorging night and bumped his forehead on one of the brass knobs of the bedstead. With horror he apprehended that what he had so often feared had finally come to pass. An earthquake had swallowed up London in spite of everybodys assurance that London could not be swallowed up by earthquakes. He was going down down to smoke and fire ... or was it the end of the world? The quick and the dead .. .skeletons .. .thousands and thousands of skeletons. .. .G uardian A ngel! he shrieked. Now surely that Guardian Angel so often conjured must appear. A shaft of golden candlelight flickered through the half open door. The little boy prepared an attitude to greet his Angel that was a compound of the suspicion and courtesy with which he would have welcomed a new governess and the admiring fellowship with which he would have thrown a piece of bread to a swan.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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