She felt she could not have stopped and spoken to one of them, or have offered her wares, to have saved her life.

It was all she could do to drag her trembling limbs past them, and out of their sight.
The end of the street was reached at last, though the cottages grew more and more scattered, then stopped altogether, and the pair found themselves alone once more.

Poor Dick was by this time past doing anything but plod wearily along, his tail down, his ears drooping, his tongue hanging out.

Huldah herself was in a half-dazed state, she scarcely knew where she was, or what she was doing.

She plodded on and on mechanically, every step becoming harder, every yard a greater tax on her.