224 The Countess Itha
Falling on her knees, she thanked God

for her escape, and rising again she went into
the forest, wondering whither she should be-
take herself and what she should do; for
now she had no husband and no home.
She left the beaten track, and plunging
through the bracken, walked on till she was
tired. ‘Then she sat down on a boulder.
Among the pines it was already dusk, and
the air seemed filled with a grey mist, but
this was caused by the innumerable dry wiry
twigs which fringed the lower branches of
the trees with webs of fine cordage; and
when a ray of the setting sun struck through
the pine trunks, it lit up the bracken with
emerald and brightened the ruddy scales of
the pine bark to red gold. Here it was dry
and sheltered, with the thick carpet of pine-
needles underfoot and the thick roof of
branches overhead ; and but for dread of wild
creatures she thought she might well pass the
night in this place. To-morrow she would
wander further and learn how life might be
sustained in the forest.

The last ray of sunshine died away; the
deep woods began to blacken; a cool air
sighed in the high tops of the trees. It was