ound, and whimpering peeped into the boathouse, she
even fled to his shoulder with both hands for a moment, and was there,
light as a feather, till the creature had passed on. And his soul was
full of peace, and a great tranquillity overcame it. He heard nothing of
the wrack, knew nothing of the danger.

Oh, mighty Love! The tempest might blow, and fill the air and earth with
ruin, so that it spared her. The wind was kind, and gentle the night,
which brought that hair round his face, and that head so near his
shoulder, and gave him the holy joy of protecting under his wing the soft
creature he adored.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ON the morning that followed this memorable night, our personages seemed
to change characters. Hazel sat down before the relics of the hut--three
or four strings dangling, and a piece of network waving--and eyed them
with shame, regret and humiliation. He was so absorbed in his
self-reproaches that he did not hear a light footstep, and Helen
Rolleston stood near him a moment or two, and watched the play of his
countenance with a very inquisitive and kindly light in her own eyes.

"Never mind," said she, soothingly.

Hazel started at the music.

"Never mind your house being blown to atoms, and mine has stood?" said
he, half reproachfully.

"You took too much pains with mine."

"I will take a great deal more with the next."

"I hope not. But I want you to come and look at the havoc. It is
terrible; and yet so grand." And thus she drew him away from the sight
that caused his pain.

They entered the wood by a path Hazel had cut from the sea-shore, and
viewed the devastation in Terrapin Wood. Prostrate trees lay across one
another in astonishing numbers, and in the strangest positions; and their
glorious plumes swept the earth. "Come," said she, "it is a bad thing for
the poor trees, but not for us. See, the place is strewed with treasures.
Here is a tree full of fans all ready made. And what is that? A horse's
tail growing on a cocoa-tree! and a long one, too! that will make ropes
for you, and thread for me. Ah, and here is a cabbage. Poor Mr. Welch!
Well, for one thing, you need never saw nor climb any more. See the
advantages of a hurricane."

From the wood she took him to the shore, and there they found many birds
lying dead; and Hazel picked up several that he had read of as good to
eat. For certain signs had convinced him his fair and delicate companion
was carnivorous, and must be nouri