At breakfast, when I met Mary, I was greatly pleased to see that she
had sufficiently regained command over herself, to be able to greet me
in a perfectly natural manner. She talked sensibly and quietly; only
keeping carefully from any mention of the past couple of days. In this,
I humored her, to the extent of not attempting to lead the conversation
in that direction.

Earlier in the morning, I had been to see Pepper. He was mending,
rapidly; and bade fair to be on his legs, in earnest, in another day or
two. Before leaving the breakfast table, I made some reference to his
improvement. In the short discussion that followed, I was surprised to
gather, from my sister's remarks, that she was still under the
impression that his wound had been given by the wildcat, of my
invention. It made me feel almost ashamed of myself for deceiving her.
Yet, the lie had been told to prevent her from being frightened. And
then, I had been sure that she must have known the truth, later, when
those brutes had attacked the house.

During the day, I kept on the alert; spending much of my time, as on
the previous day, in the tower; but not a sign could I see of the
Swine-creatures, nor hear any sound. Several times, the thought had come
to me, that the Things had, at last, left us; but, up to this time, I
had refused to entertain the idea, seriously; now, however, I began to
feel that there was reason for hope. It would soon be three days since I
had seen any of the Things; but still, I intended to use the utmost
caution. For all that I could tell, this protracted silence might be a
ruse to tempt me from the house--perhaps right into their arms. The
thought of such a contingency, was, alone, sufficient to make me
circumspect.