And if he tried to follow on by that clue which
Armine had left him, whirlwinds of dismay seemed to sweep away all
hope and trust, while he thought of wilfulness, recklessness,
defiance, irreverence, and all the yet darker shades of a self-
indulgent and audacious school-boy life!
It was a little lighter, as if dawn might be coming, but the cold was
bitterer, and benumbing more than paining him. His clothes were
stiff, his eyelashes white with frost, he did not feel equal to
looking at his watch, he _would_ not see Armine's face, he found the
fog depositing itself in snow, but he heeded it no longer. Fear and
hope had alike faded out of his mind, his ankle seemed to belong to
some one else far away, he had left off wishing to see his mother, he
wanted nothing but to be let alone!
He did not hear when Chico, finding no comfort, no sign of life in
his masters, stood upon them as they lay clasped together in the
drift of fine small snow, and in the climax of misery he lifted up
the long and wretched wailing howlings of utter dog-wretchedness.
CHAPTER XX. A RACE.
Speed, Melise, speed! such cause of haste
Thine active sinews never braced,
Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast,
Burst down like torrent from its crest.
Scott.
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