When they awoke, which was not till after the interval of some hours, the hut was empty, and the patient gone.

They rose in terror, and went to the door of the cottage, which was latched as it had been at night.

They looked out into the darkness, and called upon their charge by her name.

The night-raven screamed from the old oak-tree, the fox howled on the hill, the hoarse waterfall replied with its echoes; but there was no human answer.

The terrified women did not dare to make further search till morning should appear; for the sudden disappearance of a creature so frail as Elspat, together with the wild tenor of her history, intimidated them from stirring from the hut.