trung. If ever Winterborne's heart fretted
his bosom it was at this sight of a perfectly defenceless creature
conditioned by such circumstances. He forgot his own agony in the
satisfaction of having at least found her a shelter. He took his plate
and cup from her hands, saying, "Now I'll push the shutter to, and you
will find an iron pin on the inside, which you must fix into the bolt.
Do not stir in the morning till I come and call you."

She expressed an alarmed hope that he would not go very far away.

"Oh no--I shall be quite within hail," said Winterborne.

She bolted the window as directed, and he retreated. His snug place
proved to be a wretched little shelter of the roughest kind, formed of
four hurdles thatched with brake-fern. Underneath were dry sticks,
hay, and other litter of the sort, upon which he sat down; and there in
the dark tried to eat his meal. But his appetite was quite gone. He
pushed the plate aside, and shook up the hay and sacks, so as to form a
rude couch, on which he flung himself down to sleep, for it was getting
late.

But sleep he could not, for many reasons, of which not the least was
thought of his charge. He sat up, and looked towards the cot through
the damp obscurity. With all its external features the same as usual,
he could scarcely believe that it contained the dear friend--he would
not use a warmer name--who had come to him so unexpectedly, and, he
could not help admitting, so rashly.

He had not ventured to ask her any particulars; but the position was
pretty clear without them. Though social law had negatived forever
their opening paradise of the previous June, it was not without stoical
pride that he accepted the present trying conjuncture. There was one
man on earth in whom she believed absolutely, and he was that man.
That this crisis could end in nothing but sorrow was a view for a
moment effaced by this triumphant thought of her trust in him; and the
purity of the affection with which he responded to that trust rendered
him more than proof against any frailty that besieged him in relation
to her.

The rain, which had never ceased, now drew his attention by beginning
to drop through the meagre screen that covered him. He rose to attempt
some remedy for this discomfort, but the trembling of his knees and the
throbbing of his pulse told him that in his weakness he was unable to
fence against the storm, and he lay down to bear it as best he might.
He was ang