locked. The boy in a frolicsome mood, thoughtlessly tapped at the window, when they all instantly started up with consternation strongly depicted on their countenances, that he shrunk back involuntarily with an undefined feeling of apprehension; but before he had time to reflect a moment longer, one of the men suddenly darted out of the door, and seizing the boy roughly by the shoulder, dragged him violently into the cottage. "I am not what you take me for,’ said the boy, attempting to laugh, ‘but only the poor pedlar who visited you last year.' ‘Are you alone?’ enquired the old woman in a harsh deep tone, which made his heart thrill with apprehension. ‘Yes,’ said the boy, 'I am alone here; and alas!’ he added with a burst of uncontrolable feeling, "I am alone in the wide world also! Not a person exists who would assist me in distress, or shed a single tear if I died this very night.’ ‘Then you are welcome!’ said one of the men with a sneer, while he cast a glance of peculiar expression at the other inhabitants of the cottage.
It was with a shiver of apprehension, rather than of cold, that the boy drew towards the fire, and the looks which the old woman and her sons exchanged, made him wish that he had preferred the shelter of any one of the roofless cottages which were scattered
