Throwing back the hood of her
cardinal, she sought the support of a tree, and gazed towards the summit
of the mountain that was to be the goal of her enterprise. It rose from
the plain like a huge pyramid, giving nothing to the eye but its
outlines. The pinnacle could be faintly discerned in front of a lighter
background of clouds, between which a few glimmering stars occasionally
twinkled in momentary brightness, and then gradually became obscured by
the passing vapor that was moving before the wind, at a vast distance
below the clouds themselves. Should she return, Henry and the peddler
would most probably pass the night in fancied security upon that very
hill towards which she was straining her eyes, in the vain hope of
observing some light that might encourage her to proceed. The
deliberate, and what to her seemed cold-blooded, project of the officer
for the recapture of the fugitives, still rang in her ears, and
stimulated her to go on; but the solitude into which she must venture,
the time, the actual danger of the ascent, and the uncertainty of her
finding the hut, or what was still more disheartening, the chance that
it might be occupied by unknown tenants, and those of the worst
description--urged her to retreat.
The increasing darkness was each moment rendering objects less and less
distinct, and the clouds were gathering more gloomily in the rear of the
hill, until its form could no longer be discerned.
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