Thekla opened the door while Isoult still stood there. "Shall I come in, Thekla?" "I think not, Mrs Avery, but I thank you," she answered. "She hath not awoke to the full sorrow yet; it is rather a shock, a stun, than an agony. And who is dead to pain is alike dead to comfort. She will feel it more to-morrow, and then it may be an help unto her to talk with you." "And for thee, Thekla, poor child!" said Isoult, sympathisingly. "For me?" said she, the ghost of a smile flickering a moment about her lips. "It may be I have scarce awoke either; but I dare not allow myself to think. I have my mother to comfort and support. If she can sleep at all, then will be my time." "And who is to support thee, poor Thekla?" whispered Isoult. "Mrs Avery," she answered, the light returning a moment to her eyes, "He that holdeth up heaven and earth can surely hold me up." Isoult said no more, but to bid her "good-night." She wondered at her, but glided softly away. The first thing in the morning, when Isoult rose and went into the nursery, she saw a woman bending over Walter's crib, with black shining hair that she knew could be on no head but Esther's. "Esther, dear heart!" she cried, gladly, "I never was more fain to see a face than thine this morrow." She lifted her head and smiled. Ay, certainly it was Esther. "But how earnest thou safe?" asked Isoult. "`Is any thing too hard for the Lord?'" she answered, in her soft, measured voice. "There were more prisoners than Sheriff's men, and not enough rope to tie us all together; so they marched some of the women last, and untied. And while we went through a dark alley, I took mine opportunity to slip aside into a doorway, the door standing open, and there lay I hidden for some hours; and in the midst of the night, ere dawn brake, I crept thence, and gat me to the house of my friend Mistress Little, that I knew would be stirring, by reason that her son was sick: and I rapping on her door and calling to her, she knew my voice, and let me within. So there I abode till the gate was opened; and then coming home, Mrs Thekla saw me from her window, and opened to me, not many minutes since." "I thank God, that saved thee!" cried Isoult. "Now, Esther, is there any likelihood of Robin escaping likewise?" "Yes," she said quietly, "if it shall be good in the eyes of the Blessed to work a miracle to that end." "But no otherwise?" wailed Isoult. "Not, I think, with aught less," answered she. "They tied him and Mr Rose together, and marched them first, the Sheriff himself guarding them." Even in this agony there was cause for thankfulness. Mrs Holland was not there, nor Mr Underhill and his wife, nor Mr Ive and Helen, nor Mr Ferris.