Page:Eliot - Adam Bede, vol. III, 1859.djvu/48

38 hedge, the rapid motion of some living creature—perhaps a field-mouse—rushing across the grass. She no longer felt as if the darkness hedged her in: she thought she could walk back across the field, and get over the stile; and then, in the very next field, she thought she remembered there was a hovel of furze near a sheepfold. If she could get into that hovel, she would be warmer; she could pass the night there, for that was what Alick did at Hayslope in lambing-time. The thought of this hovel brought the energy of a new hope: she took up her basket and walked across the field, but it was some time before she got in the right direction for the stile. The exercise, and the occupation of finding the stile, were a stimulus to her, however,and lightened the horror of the darkness and solitude. There were sheep in the next field, and she startled a group as she set down her basket and got over the stile; and the sound of their movement comforted her, for it assured her that her impression was right: this was the field where she had seen the hovel, for it was the field where the sheep were. Eight on along the path, and she would get to it. She reached the opposite gate, and felt her way along its rails, and the rails of the