The child slept the whole time; so for all of her he could have
stood there and waited as long as he liked. But the worrisome
person was Katrina! Every other minute she would ask him whether
any one had come along yet and if he thought it prudent to keep the
infant out in the damp air any longer.

Jan turned his eyes up toward Great Peak, rising high above the
little groves and garden-patches of the Ashdales, like a watch
tower atop some huge fortress, keeping all strangers at a distance.
Still it might be possible that some great lady, who had been up to
the Peak, to view the beautiful landscape had taken the wrong path
back and strayed in the direction of Ruffluck.

He quieted Katrina as well as he could. The child was safe enough,
he assured her. Now that he had stood out there so long he wanted
to wait another minute or so.

Not a soul hove in sight, but he was confident that if he just
stuck to it, the help would come. It could not be otherwise. It
would not have surprised him if a queen in a golden chariot had
come driving over mountains and through thickets, to bestow her
name upon his little girl.

More moments passed, and he knew that dusk would soon be falling.
Then he would not be let stand there longer. Katrina looked at the
clock, and again begged him to come inside.

"Just you be patient a second!" he said. "I think I see something
peeping out over west."