But the gleam passed away, and the child sat staring at the moorland distance, seeing nothing.

There was such an unconscious animal pain in the attitude, the pain of the creature that feels itself alone and deserted, that David watched her in a puzzled silence.

Louie was always mysterious, whether in her rages or her griefs, but he had never seen her sob quite like this before.

He felt a sort of strangeness in her fixed gaze, and with a certain timidity he put out his arm and laid it round her shoulder.

Still she did not move.