cupboard, whence she took out a napkin, and in it she folded what
Lucy recognised as the very same three-cornered segment of pie-crust,
containing the pigeon that she had last night been accused of
devouring. She placed it in a basket, and then proceeded to take a
lantern from the cupboard, put in her rushlight, and, thus prepared,
advanced to the garden-door, softly opened it, and disappeared.

Lucy, in an extremity of amazement, came forward. The wind howled in
moaning gusts, and the rain dashed against the windows; Lucy was
chilly and frightened. The fire was not out, and gave a dim light,
and she crept towards the window, but a sudden terror came over her;
she dashed back, looked again, heard another gust of wind, fell into
another panic, rushed back to the stairs, and never stopped till she
had tumbled into bed, her teeth chattering, shivering from head to
foot with fright and cold, rolled herself up tight in the bed-
clothes, and, after suffering excessively from terror and chill, fell
sound asleep without seeing her sister return.

Causeless fears pursue those who are not in the right path, and turn
from what alone can give them confidence. A sense of protection
supports those who walk in innocence, though their way may seem
surrounded with perils; and thus, while Lucy trembled in an agony of
fright in her warm bed, Rose walked forth with a firm and fearless
step through the dark gusty night, heedless of the rain that pattered
round her, and the wild wind that snatched at her cloak and gown, and
flapped her hood into her eyes.

She was not afraid of fancied terrors, and real perils and anxieties
were at this moment lost in the bounding of her young heart at the
thought of seeing, touching, speaking to her brother, her dear