Martha was earning money for herself; and
as yet the master had demanded no rent for their miserable cabin; so his
earnings as a shepherd's boy would do until Mr. Lockwood came back.
Still upon the mountains he would be exposed to the bleak winds and
heavy storms of the spring; while underground the temperature had always
been the same. No wonder that Miss Anne, when she looked at the boy's
wasted and enfeebled frame, listened with unconcealed anxiety to his new
project for gaining his livelihood; and so often as the spring showers
swept in swift torrents across the sky, lifted up her eyes wistfully to
the unsheltered mountains, as she pictured Stephen at the mercy of the
pitiless storm.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE PANTRY WINDOW.
Stephen had been engaged in his new calling for about a fortnight, and
was coming home, after a long and toilsome day among the flocks, two
hours after sunset, with a keen east wind bringing the tears into his
eyes, when a few paces from his cabin door a tall dark figure sprang up
from a hollow in the cinder-hill, and laid a heavy hand upon his
shoulder. It was just light enough to discern the gloomy features of
Black Thompson; and Stephen inquired fearlessly what he wanted with him.
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