The Mysterious Key and What It Opened
E-text prepared by David Garcia, Beginners Projects, Lee Ann Rael, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team The Mysterious Key and What it Opened By L. M. Alcott Chapter I THE PROPHECY _Trevlyn lands and Trevlyn gold, Heir nor heiress e'er shall hold, Undisturbed, till, spite of rust,
Robinson could not sleep that night. He thought continually of his
goat and got up time and again to see if it was safe. The moon shone
clear in the heavens. As Robinson sat before the goat's bed he looked
down on his new possession as lovingly as a mother on her child.
The next morning Robinson's first thought was, "I am no longer alone.
I have a companion, my goat." He sprang up and looked for it. There
she lay on her side, still sleeping.
As he stood and considered, the thought came to him that perhaps the
goat had escaped from its keeper. There must then be some one living
on the land. He quickly put on his shoes and his hat, took his
parasol, and ran to the rock where he had found the goat.
He called, he sought, he peered about to see if some shepherd were
there somewhere. He found nothing. He found no trace of man. There
was no road, no bridge, no field, no logs, not even a chip or shaving
to show that the hand of man had been there.
But what was that? In the distance ran a herd of goats over the rocks.
But no dog followed them and no shepherd. They ran wild on the island.
They had perhaps been left there by some ship. As he came home he
noticed the goat sorrowfully. The bandage had become dry. The goat
might be suffering pain. Robinson loosened the bandage, washed the
wound again and bound it up anew. It was so trustful. It ran after
him and he decided always to protect it.
E-text prepared by David Garcia, Beginners Projects, Lee Ann Rael, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team The Mysterious Key and What it Opened By L. M. Alcott Chapter I THE PROPHECY _Trevlyn lands and Trevlyn gold, Heir nor heiress e'er shall hold, Undisturbed, till, spite of rust,