And if he had not come, she might
have slept on till her sleep was too deep for any voice of the world to
rouse her.
It was, even then, with difficulty that he woke her. He took hold of
her hands, but she did not move. He sat down, took her in his arms,
spoke to her--got frightened and shook her, but she would not open her
eyes. Her long dark eyelashes sloped still upon her white cheek, like
the low branches of a cedar upon the lawn at its foot. But he knew she
was not dead yet, for he could feel her heart beating. At length she
lifted her eyelids, looked up in his face, gave a low happy laugh, like
the laugh of a dreaming child, and was fast asleep again in a moment.
Alec hesitated no longer. He rose with her in his arms, carried her
into the parlour, and laid her down on the rug before the fire, with a
sofa-pillow under her head. There she might have her sleep out. When
Mrs Forbes came home she found Alec reading, and Annie sleeping by the
fireside. Before his mother had recovered from her surprise, and while
she was yet staring at the lovely little apparition, Alec had the first
word.
"Mamma!" he said, "I found her sleeping in my snow hut there; and if I
had not brought her in, she would have been dead by this time.
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