If for a little while she had fainted in spirit the weakness was over. She put the fire together, and the cheery blaze was soon making pictures among the pewter and crockery on the cottage walls. Then she brought the table before it and laid it for supper. "He'll varry like be hungry when he comes in," she whispered to herself; and she cut a slice of cold mutton and shred an onion with it, and set the pan to simmer on the hob. She hurried for fear all would not be ready when he arrived, but ten o'clock struck, and the savory dish began to waste away, and she was so hungry that she was compelled to eat her haver-cake and cheese alone.
It was eleven o'clock when Steve came, and there was a look on his face she had never seen there before, a look of exultation and pleasure, uncertain in character, and attended with an unusual silence.
"My lad, what's the matter wi' thee? Thou doesn't eat thy victuals, either; there's summat up."
"Ay, there is ; but I'm feared to tell thee."
"Nay, but thou needn't be. Is ta in any trouble?"
