It took away my one prop, my one stay, that prospect of immediate measures which alone preserved in me such coolness as I had retained until now.

I was cool no longer; where I had relied on practical direction I was baffled and hindered and driven mad; on my honor believe I was little less for some moments, groaning, cursing, and beating the air with impotent fists--in one of them my poor love's letter crushed already to a ball.
Danger and difficulty I had been prepared to face; but the task that I was set was a hundred-fold harder than any that had whirled through my teeming brain.

To sit still; to do nothing; to pretend I knew nothing; an hour of it would destroy my reason--and I was invited to wait twenty-four! No; my word was passed; keep it I must.

She knew the men, she must know best; and her life depended on my obedience: she made that so plain.
Obey I must and would; to make a start, I tottered over the plank that spanned the beck, and soon I saw the cottage against the moonlit sky.
I came up to it.

I drew back in sudden fear.