dream. I have had it once before. It is a dream of grey-haired men like

you, in darkened rooms by night, robbing sleepers of their gold. Up,

up!'

The old man shook in every joint, and folded his hands like one who

prays.

'Not to me,' said the child, 'not to me - to Heaven, to save us from

such deeds! This dream is too real. I cannot sleep, I cannot stay here,

I cannot leave you alone under the roof where such dreams come. Up!

We must fly.'

He looked at her as if she were a spirit - she might have been for all

the look of earth she had - and trembled more and more.

There is no time to lose; I will not lose one minute,' said the child.

Up! and away with me!'

To-night?' murmured the old man.

Yes, to-night,' replied the child. 'To-morrow night will be too late. The

dream will have come again. Nothing but flight can save us. Up!'

The old man rose from his bed: his forehead bedewed with the cold

sweat of fear: and, bending before the child as if she had been an

angel messenger sent to lead him where she would, made ready to

follow her. She took him by the hand and led him on. As they passed

the door of the room he had proposed to rob, she shuddered and

looked up into his face. What a white face was that, and with what a

look did he meet hers!

She took him to her own chamber, and, still holding him by the hand

as if she feared to lose him for an instant, gathered together the little

stock she had, and hung her basket on her arm. The old man took his

wallet from her hands and strapped it on his shoulders - his staff,

too, she had brought away - and then she led him forth.

Through the strait streets, and narrow crooked outskirts, their

trembling feet passed quickly. Up the steep hill too, crowned by the

old grey castle, they toiled with rapid steps, and had not once looked

behind.

But as they drew nearer the ruined walls, the moon rose in all her

gentle glory, and, from their venerable age, garlanded with ivy, moss,

and waving grass, the child looked back upon the sleeping town, deep

in the valley's shade: and on the far-off river with its winding track of

light: and on the distant hills; and as she did so, she clasped the hand

The Old Curiosity Shop