You will stand out in the cold air, forgetful of everything around you, till your limbs will be numbed, and your blood chilled,--" "And then-- ?" "Oh, Josiah, do not hold me like that, and look at me so angrily." "And even then I will bear my burden till the Lord in His mercy shall see fit to relieve me.

Even then I will endure, though a bare bodkin or a leaf of hemlock would put an end to it.

Let me pass on; you need fear nothing." She did let him pass without another word, and he went out of the house, shutting the door after him noiselessly, and closing the wicket-gate of the garden.

For a while she sat herself down on the nearest chair, and tried to make up her mind how she might best treat him in his present state of mind.

As regarded the present morning her heart was at ease.