Hour passed after hour, in a tranquility as undisturbed and a rest
as sweet as if angels, expressly commissioned for that object,
watched around the bed of Hetty Hutter. Not once did her soft eyes
open, until the grey of the dawn came struggling through the tops
of the trees, falling on their lids, and, united to the freshness
of a summer's morning, giving the usual summons to awake. Ordinarily,
Hetty was up ere the rays of the sun tipped the summits of the
mountains, but on this occasion her fatigue had been so great, and
her rest was so profound, that the customary warnings failed of
their effect. The girl murmured in her sleep, threw an arm forward,
smiled as gently as an infant in its cradle, but still slumbered.
In making this unconscious gesture, her hand fell on some object that
was warm, and in the half unconscious state in which she lay, she
connected the circumstance with her habits. At the next moment,
a rude attack was made on her side, as if a rooting animal were
thrusting its snout beneath, with a desire to force her position,
and then, uttering the name of "Judith" she awoke. As the startled
girl arose to a sitting attitude she perceived that some dark object
sprang from her, scattering the leaves and snapping the fallen
twigs in its haste.
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