, prove it--go, tell Mrs. Willis what you know. Now, if
you will allow me, I will get back into the land of dreams."

Susan curled herself up once more in her bed, wrapped the bed-clothes
tightly round her and was, to all appearance, oblivious of Hester's
presence.

CHAPTER XLIV.

UNDER THE HEDGE.

It is one thing to talk of the delights of sleeping under a hedgerow, and
another to realize them. A hayfield is a very charming place, but in the
middle of the night, with the dew clinging to everything, it is apt to
prove but a chilly bed; the most familiar objects put on strange and
unreal forms, the most familiar sounds become loud and alarming. Annie
slept for about an hour soundly; then she awoke, trembling with cold in
every limb, startled, and almost terrified by the oppressive loneliness
of the night, sure that the insect life which surrounded her, and which
would keep up successions of chirps, and croaks, and buzzes, was
something mysterious and terrifying. Annie was a brave child, but even
brave little girls may be allowed to possess nerves under her present
conditions, and when a spider ran across her face she started up with a
scream of terror. At this moment she almost regretted the close and dirty
lodgings which she might have obtained for a few pence at Oakley. The hay
in the field which she had selected was partly cut and partly standing.
The cut portion had been piled up into little cocks and hillocks, and
these, with the night shadows round them, appeared to the frightened
child to assume large and half-human proportions. She found she could not
sleep any longer. She wrapped her shawl tightly round her, and, crouching
into the hedgerow, waited for the dawn.

That watched-for dawn seemed to the tired child as if it would never
come; but at last her solitary vigil came to an end, the cold grew
greater, a little gentle breeze stirred the uncut grass, and up in the
sky overhead the stars became fainter and the atmosphere clearer. Then
came a little faint flush of pink, then a brighter light, and then all in
a moment the birds burst into a perfect jubilee of song, the insects
talked and chirped and buzzed in new tones, the hay-cocks became simply
hay-cocks, the dew sparkled on the wet grass, the sun had risen, and the
new day had begun.

Annie sat up and rubbed her tired eyes. With the sunshine and brightness
her versatile spirits revived; she buckled on her courage like an armor,
and almost laugh