Then with his shoulder he forced it in, so that the bolt
slipped from the socket, and the leaves flew open.
There was a little court within, around which the house was built, with
a well for rain-water in the middle, after the fashion that was half
Roman and half Eastern. Gilbert went in, and bade all be silent that he
might hear whence the moaning came; for it was more distinct now, and
it seemed to come from the well, with a little splashing of water; so
he went and looked down, and when he saw what was there he cried aloud
for fear.
For there he saw an upturned face, half dead, with a white thing bound
across the mouth, and hands tied together, and struggling to strike the
water, but heavily weighted and it was the face of Beatrix, two fathoms
below him. There were holes opposite each other, in the two sides of
the well, for a man's hands and feet, for climbing down into the
cistern; and Gilbert lost no moment, but began to descend at once yet
long before he had got the bound hands together in his own, stooping
and himself in peril of falling, the face had sunk below the bubbling
water.
With his feet firmly planted in the holes, and standing as it might be
astride of the well, he lifted the girl up and though she was so
slight, it was one of the hardest things he ever had to do, for her
clothes were full of water, and he was at a disadvantage; nor could his
men help him till he had raised her so high that he could rest her
weight on his right knee and against his own body.
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