This moving figure was crawling down the bank. There was no cover to afford concealment, and it was evident that he was trusting altogether to the concealment of the darkness. It was a hazardous experiment, and Mrs. Willoughby trembled in suspense. Minnie, however, did not tremble at all, nor was the suspense at all painful. When Mrs. Willoughby first cautiously directed her attention to it in a whisper, Minnie thought it was some animal. "Why, Kitty dear," she said, speaking back in a whisper, "why, it's an animal; I wonder if the creature is a wild beast. I'm sure I think it's very dangerous, and no doors or windows. But it's _always_ the way. He wouldn't give me a chair; and so I dare say I shall be eaten up by a bear before morning." Minnie gave utterance to this expectation without the slightest excitement, just as though the prospect of becoming food for a bear was one of the very commonest incidents of her life. "Oh, I don't think it's a bear." "Well, then, it's a tiger or a lion, or perhaps a wolf. I'm sure _I_ don't see what difference it makes what one is eaten by, when one _has_ to be eaten." "It's a man!" said Mrs. Willoughby, tremulously. "A man!--nonsense, Kitty darling. A man walks; he doesn't go on all-fours, except when he is very, very small." "Hush! it's some one coming to help us. Watch him, Minnie dear. Oh, how dangerous!" "Do you really think so?" said Minnie, with evident pleasure. "Now that is really kind. But I wonder who it _can_ be?" Mrs. Willoughby squeezed her hand, and made no reply. She was watching the slow and cautious movement of the shadowy figure. "He's coming nearer!" said she, tremulously. Minnie felt her sister's hand throb at the quick movement of her heart, and heard her short, quick breathing. "Who _can_ it be, I wonder?" said Minnie, full of curiosity, but without any excitement at all. "Oh, Minnie!" "What's the matter, darling?" "It's so terrible." "What?" "This suspense. Oh, I'm so afraid!" "Afraid! Why, I'm not afraid at all." "Oh! he'll be caught." "No, he won't," said Minnie, confidently. "I _knew_ he'd come. They _always_ do. Don't be afraid that he'll be caught, or that he'll fail. They _never_ fail. They always _will_ save me. Wait till your life has been saved as often as mine has, Kitty darling. Oh, I expected it all! I was thinking a little while ago he ought to be here soon." "He! Who?" "Why, any person; the person who is going to save me this time. I don't know, of course, who he is; some horrid man, of course. And then--oh dear!--I'll have it all over again. He'll carry me away on his back, and through those wretched woods, and bump me against the trees and things. Then he'll get me to the road, and put me on a horrid old horse, and gallop away. And by that time it will be morning. And then he'll propose. And so there'll be another. And I don't know what I _shall_ do about it. Oh dear!"