as thin. He clasped his arms round her,
lifted her a little, and said, "Does that hurt you?"

She shook her head, and he lifted her up; then, at a slow pace, went
onward with his load. The air was now completely cool; but whenever he
passed over a sandy patch of ground uncarpeted with vegetation there was
reflected from its surface into his face the heat which it had imbibed
during the day. At the beginning of his undertaking he had thought
but little of the distance which yet would have to be traversed before
Blooms-End could be reached; but though he had slept that afternoon he
soon began to feel the weight of his burden. Thus he proceeded, like
Aeneas with his father; the bats circling round his head, nightjars
flapping their wings within a yard of his face, and not a human being
within call.

While he was yet nearly a mile from the house his mother exhibited signs
of restlessness under the constraint of being borne along, as if his
arms were irksome to her. He lowered her upon his knees and looked
around. The point they had now reached, though far from any road, was
not more than a mile from the Blooms-End cottages occupied by Fairway,
Sam, Humphrey, and the Cantles. Moreover, fifty yards off stood a hut,
built of clods and covered with thin turves, but now entirely disused.
The simple outline of the lonely shed was visible, and thither he
determined to direct his steps. As soon as he arrived he laid her down
carefully by the entrance, and then ran and cut with his pocketknife
an armful of the dryest fern. Spreading this within the shed, which was
entirely open on one side, he placed his mother thereon; then he ran
with all his might towards the dwelling of Fairway.

Nearly a quarter of an hour had passed, disturbed only by the broken
breathing of the sufferer, when moving figures began to animate the
line between heath and sky. In a few moments Clym arrived with Fairway,
Humphrey, and Susan Nunsuch; Olly Dowden, who had chanced to be at
Fairway's, Christian and Grandfer Cantle following helter-skelter
behind. They had brought a lantern and matches, water, a pillow, and a
few other articles which had occurred to their minds in the hurry of the
moment. Sam had been despatched back again for brandy, and a boy brought
Fairway's pony, upon which he rode off to the nearest medical man, with
directions to call at Wildeve's on his way, and inform Thomasin that her
aunt was unwell.

Sam and the brandy soon arrived, and