The hours wore on, and she walked more and more slowly, pausing now and
then to rest, and to eat a little bread and an apple picked up from the
roadside. Her body seemed to grow heavier with every yard of the way,
and she wondered how she would be able to carry her child later, if
already he laid such a burden on her.... A fresh wind had sprung up,
scattering the rain and blowing down keenly from the mountain. Presently
the clouds lowered again, and a few white darts struck her in the face:
it was the first snow falling over Hamblin. The roofs of the lonely
village were only half a mile ahead, and she was resolved to push beyond
it, and try to reach the Mountain that night. She had no clear plan of
action, except that, once in the settlement, she meant to look for Liff
Hyatt, and get him to take her to her mother. She herself had been
born as her own baby was going to be born; and whatever her mother's
subsequent life had been, she could hardly help remembering the past,
and receiving a daughter who was facing the trouble she had known.
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