When Annie heard that Alec had been bitten she was miserable.

She knew his bite must be worse than hers, or he would not be kept at home.
Might she not venture to go and see him again?
The modesty of a maidenly child made her fear to intrude; but she could not constrain her feet from following the path to his house.

And as it was very dusk, what harm could there be in going just inside the gate, and on to the green?
Through the parlour windows she saw the fire burning bright, and a shadow moving across the walls and the ceiling; but she could not make up her mind to knock at the door, for she was afraid of Mrs Forbes, notwithstanding her kindness.

So she wandered on--for here there was no dog--wondering what that curious long mound of snow, with the round heap at the end, by the flag-staff, could be?
What could Alec have made it for?
Examining it closely all along, she came to the end of it next the house, and looking round, saw that it was hollow.
Without a moment's thought, for she had no fear of Alec, she entered.
The passage was dark, but she groped her way, on and on, till she came to the cell at the end.

Here a faint ghostly light glimmered; for Alec had cleared a small funnel upwards through the roof, almost to the outside, so that a thin light filtered through a film of snow.