170 PEARLS AND PEBBLES. 



Two or three shelves made of unplaned boards held a 

 few crockery cups and cracked saucers, some tin plates 

 and mugs, and a battered tin teapot, minus a handle ; a 

 frying-pan with a long handle, an iron pot and a bake- 

 kettle seemed to comprise all the cooking utensils. 



" There was a barrel of flour and another of pork, an 

 Irish spade which gleamed brightly beside an axe, a hoe 

 and a gun, the last supported by two wooden pegs 

 driven into the log wall. 



" While I leaned my back against the sick girl's bed 

 and thus occupied myself in making an inventory of the 

 furnishings of the house, I fell fast asleep. So weary 

 was I that I slept on till daylight, when I was roused 

 by the rolling over of one of the logs on the hearth. 



" Looking up, I was startled by the sight of mine host, 

 whose keeii, black eyes were bent on me with, as I 

 thought, a sinister, inquisitive look, such that I shrunk 

 affrighted from before him. 



" In good truth, a more courageous person than I am 

 might have been justified in feeling afraid had she 

 been in a similar position, utterly helpless and alone. 

 But my fear soon subsided, and I thought it was wisest 

 to affect a courage that I hardly felt and to show perfect 

 confidence, so I said with as cheerful an air as I could 

 assume, 



" ' You caught me napping, sir.' 



"I remember the time in the days of my romance- 

 reading that I would have fancied myself quite a heroine 



