passed his hand over his brow. "I am thinking, sir," he said in a more
civil tone than he had yet assumed, "that as you are so tired and the
hour is so late, you might almost as well--"

"What?" exclaimed the stranger, stamping somewhat petulantly.

"I don't like to mention it; but my poor roof is at your service, and I
would go with you to ------ at daybreak to-morrow."

The stranger stared at the cottager, and then at the dingy walls of the
hut. He was about, very abruptly, to reject the hospitable proposal,
when his eye rested suddenly on the form of Alice, who stood eager-eyed
and open-mouthed, gazing on the handsome intruder. As she caught his
eye, she blushed deeply and turned aside. The view seemed to change the
intentions of the stranger. He hesitated a moment, then muttered
between his teeth: and sinking his knapsack on the ground, he cast
himself into a chair beside the fire, stretched his limbs, and cried
gaily, "So be it, my host: shut up your house again. Bring me a cup of
beer, and a crust of bread, and so much for supper! As for bed, this
chair will do vastly well."

"Perhaps we can manage better for you than that chair," answered the
host. "But our best accommodation must seem bad enough to a gentleman:
we are very poor people--hard-working, but very poor."

"Never mind me," answered the stranger, busying himself in stirring the
fire; "I am tolerably well accustomed to greater hardships than sleeping
on a chair in an honest man's house; and though you are poor, I will
take it for granted you are honest."