Poor children! they had indeed need
of such a belief to strengthen their minds and encourage them to fresh
exertions, for new trials were at hand.
The broad moonlight had already flooded the recesses of the glen with
light, and all looked fresh and lovely in the dew, which glittered on
tree and leaf, on herb and flower. Catharine, who, though weary with her
fatiguing wanderings, could not sleep, left the little hut of boughs which
her companions had put up near the granite rock in the valley for her
accommodation, and ascended the western bank, where the last jutting spur
of its steep side formed a lofty clifflike promontory, at the extreme verge
of which the roots of one tall spreading oak formed a most inviting seat,
from whence the traveller looked down into a level track, which stretched
away to the edge of the lake. This flat had been the estuary of the
mountain stream, which had once rushed down between the hills, forming a
narrow gorge; but now, all was changed; the water had ceased to flow, the
granite bed was overgrown, and carpeted with deer-grass and flowers of many
hues, wild fruits and bushes, below; while majestic oaks and pines towered
above.
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