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 "I desire no better, and if you will permit me to lay on that bench till the morning dawns, I shall be still more obliged to you."

"Thank Heaven (said the shepherd) I can treat you better; to lay on the floor, wrapped up in warm skins, is nothing new, nor uncomfortable to me, and my poor bed is at your service; it is clean, though homely." Ferdinand was going to refuse, when the shepherdess entered.After some conversation on their simple way of life, which he found they had always been accustomed to, they overpowered all his refusals, and obliged him to take the old man's bed, which was in one corner of the room; the other room was the young woman's and those two rooms were all they had.

He asked "if they were not apprehensive of the rock breaking over their cottage?" They said, "Sometimes, when sudden thunderstorms broke over them they were alarmed; but they trusted in Heaven for protection." "I have only one fear, one care (said the shepherd;) it is some years now