But that instant Mary threw herself towards Alister, and his terrible blow came down upon her, and not upon the wolf, and she fell dead in his arms--that's what Grizzie says--and away went the wolf, leaping and bounding, and never uttering a cry.
"What Alister did next, Grizzie never says--only that he came staggering up to her father's door with dead Mary in his arms, carried her in, laid her on the bed, and went out again.

They found the blow on on her head, and when they undressed her, they found also the bite of the wolf; and they soon guessed how it had been, and said it was well she had died so, for it was much better than going mad first: it was kind of Death, they said, to come and snatch her away out of the arms of Madness.

But the farmer, because he hated Alister, and knew that Alister must have seen him running away, gave it out, that he himself was rushing to defend Mary, and that the blow that killed her was meant for him.

Nobody however believed him.
"What people might think, was, however, a matter of little consequence to Alister, for from that day he never spoke to human being, never slept under a roof.

He left his shepherding, and gave himself to the hunting of the mad wolf: such a creature should not be allowed to live, and he must do some good thing for Mary's sake.
Mary was so good, that any good thing done would be a thing done for her.