And in this moment Diana's arm
was about me and her voice in my ear.
"Oh, but that was brave, Peregrine--I never thought you'd go! Now help
me to get the poor thing to her feet." So between us we contrived to
set the sheep upon its legs and watched it amble feebly away. Then,
side by side, we came out of the wood where we might behold the stars.
"Diana," said I, with my gaze uplifted to their glory, "did you know
it was only a sheep?"
"Of course!"
"And I am a little braver than you expected?"
"Yes, Peregrine."
"Then--suppose you take my hand again!"
CHAPTER XXII
DESCRIBING THE HOSPITALITY OF ONE JERRY JARVIS A TINKER
We stood upon a hill beneath an orbed moon whose splendour dimmed the
stars; below us lay a mystery of sombre woods with a prospect of hill
and dale beyond, and never a sound to disturb the all-pervading
stillness save the soft, bubbling notes of a nightjar and the distant
murmur of the brook that flowed in the valley at our feet, here
leaping in glory, there gliding,--a smooth and placid mirror to Dian's
beauty, a brook that wound amid light and shadow until it lost itself
in the gloom of trees thick-clustered about a little hamlet that slept
in the shadow of hoary church tower.
Thus as we descended the hill, I walked reverently, my soul upraised
in chaste and fervent ecstasy. However, this fine, poetical rhapsody
was banished, suddenly and most unpleasantly, by my companion who,
setting fingers to mouth, emitted a shrill whistle,--three
ear-piercing blasts that shattered the night's holy calm and startled
me to indignant protest.
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