But the words of prayer too often died away upon his lips.

Had they not all prayed together, after the godly habit of the household, upon the very morning when this awful disaster fell upon them?
Were these vast solitudes too far away for God to hear the prayers that went up from them?
Humphrey had never known what awful loneliness could engulf the human spirit till he sat beside the fevered man in the vast solitude of the primeval forest, asking in his heart whether God Himself had not forsaken them.
It was the hour of sundown, and Humphrey had gone outside for a breath of fresh air.

He looked ten years older than he had done a few days back, when he had come whistling through the forest track, expecting to see the children bounding forth to meet him.

His eyes were sunken, his face was pale and haggard, his dress was unkempt and ragged.

There were no clever fingers now to patch tattered raiment, and keep things neat and trim.
There was an unwonted sound in the forest! It was distant still.