The chamber looked as if it had been hollowed
out of the rock. A narrow window, little more than a loop-hole through the
thick wall, admitted the roar of the waves and a dim grey light. This
light was just sufficient to show him the child in the farthest corner of
the chamber, bending forward with her hands between her knees, in a
posture that indicated fear. The little playfellow of the winds was not
sure of him. At the first word he spoke, a sea-bird, which had made its
home in the apartment, startled by the sound of his voice, dashed through
the window, with a sudden clang of wings, into the great misty void
without; and Herbert looking out after it, almost forgot the presence of
the little girl in the awe and delight of the spectacle before him. It was
now much darker, and the fog had settled down more closely on the face of
the deep; but just below him he could see the surface of the ocean, whose
mad waves appeared to rush bellowing out of the unseen on to the shore of
the visible. When, after some effort, he succeeded in leaning out of the
window, he could see the shore beneath him; for he was on its extreme
verge, and the spray now and then dashed through the loop-hole into the
chamber.
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