At first Louise's ears were sensitive to every sound, and there were stirrings in the hillock by which she slept, but she comforted herself with the thought that they were the stirrings of lonely little waifs of nature like herself.

Though she dared not let the thought take form, yet she feared, too, the sound of human footsteps.

By and by, however, in the sweet quiet of the night and the somnolent light of the moon, sleep captured her.

When at last Orlando's footsteps did crush the dry grass, the sound failed to reach her ears, for it was then not very far from daylight, and she had slept for several hours.

Sleep had not touched Orlando's eyes when, sitting down by the stones which were to mark his resting-place, he waited for Louise to wake..