Plot and Counterplot. 12g
mind, as another cause for anxiety and grief. Late
some bread twice, feeling faint from want of food ;
and once I tried to go down and speak again to my
father, but my door was fastened on the outside,
and I could not open it.

Darkness fell at last, and by the sound of foot-
steps and voices, I knew that the other men were
come. They were never going to do the deed, after
all! JI lay in the window and watched. They
passed softly in and out, and consulted in whispers.
By-and-by the horse was led out, and laden with
various bundles, which they strapped upon his back ;
while I watched by the starlight, and could even
distinguish my father’s figure as he busied himself
about the horse. I strained my ears, but they spoke
in such low tones that I could not catch a word.
At last all was ready, and they moved off, distinct
for a moment against the white wall of the house,
and then lost to view. I listened to the tramp of
the horse. They were going down, not up the lane ;
not towards the village, but towards the wood.
All on a sudden, the truth flashed upon me—they
were going away! Going, and leaving me alone,

helpless, imprisoned, to die of hunger perhaps—I
"should never see my father again—TI should have
no one in the whole world belonging to me—I was
forsaken! In a sort of frenzy I shricked and yelled

I