gle, but I was unconscious of this at the
time, and was only grateful to find some protection from the high wall
upon my left. I know also that I had passed two or three farms where I
might have been hospitably received, but no fog could have proved a
thicker curtain than that impenetrable veil of driven snow, and I never
even guessed at their existence.

The moor now began to rise steeply upon my right, and as I stumbled
forward, holding my hat upon my head with both hands, I suddenly found
myself upon hard ground again, with scarcely a trace of snow to be
seen, and with a whole row of cottages on one side of the road, in
which blazing fires offered me a warm welcome. I could hardly realise
that I had found refuge.

The roadway was only wide enough to accommodate a good-sized dray, and
was separated from the houses by the narrowest of footpaths, and
flanked on the right by the bare side of the hill, which rose
precipitously from the ground, to be soon concealed in the mantle of
the storm. Seen indistinctly as I saw it then it appeared more like a
railway cutting than anything else, and I could only marvel at the
eccentricity of man in erecting houses in such an unpromising locality.
However, for the mariner in danger of shipwreck to criticise the
harbour of refuge in which he finds himself is mean ingratitude.

"Nay, to be sure!" The ejaculation came from the mouth of a comely
woman of considerable proportions who filled up the doorway of the
cottage opposite to which I was standing. She wore a brown skirt
protected by a holland apron, and surmounted by a paisley blouse
bearing a fawn design on a ground of crudest green. The sleeves of the
blouse buttoned and were turned back to the elbow, and as two hooks
were loose at the neck I felt justified in assuming that my new
acquaintance was an enemy of constraint. Her feet were encased in
carpet slippers of shameless masculinity, and a black belt encircled
her ample waist, which at this moment was partly hidden by the
outstretched fingers of her hands, as she stood, arms akimbo, in the
doorway.

Her face, plump, pleasant and rosy, had for its principal feature two
merry, twinkling eyes, which sparkled with humour as she gazed upon me;
and her hair, which was beginning to turn grey, was drawn tightly back
and coiled in one large plait upon the crown. Altogether she was a
very homely, approachable woman, who had seen, as I judged, some fifty
summers, and I hailed