She thawed a hole in the frosted window and tried to see down the trail, but the moon was foggy and it was impossible to see more than a few yards.
Filled with a sense of fear and dread, she built up a good fire and filled the kettle with water; she vigorously swept the floor and tidied the few books on their home-made shelf.
It was ten o'clock when her father came in, pale and worried. Mary saw that he knew, too.
He went past her into the bedroom and spoke hurriedly to his wife; but Mary did not hear what they said.
Suddenly she heard her mother cry and instinctively she ran into the room.
Her father stood beside the bed holding his head, as if in pain. Mary's mother had turned her face into the pillow, and cried; and even little Bobbie, who had been awakened by the unusual commotion, sat up, rubbing his eyes, and cried softly to himself.
"Mrs. Roberts has gone away," he said. "I went over to see her to-day. We were depending on her to come over and take care of your mother--for a while--and now she has gone, and there is not another woman between here and the Landing."
"It's no use trying, Robert," Mrs. Wood said between her sobs; "I can't stay--I am so frightened. I am beginning to see things--and I know what it means. There are black things in every corner--trying to tell me something, grinning, jabbering things--that are waiting for me; I see them everywhere I look."
Mr. Wood sat down beside her, and patted her hand.
"I know, dear," he said; "it's hell, this lonely life. It's too much for any woman, and I'll give it all up. Better to live on two meals a day in a city than face things like this. We wanted a home of our own, Millie,--you remember how we used to talk,--and we thought we had found it here--good land and a running stream. We have worked hard and it is just beginning to pay, but we'll have to quit--and I'll have to work for some one else all my life. It was too good to be true, Millie."
He spoke without any bitterness in his voice, just a settled sadness, and a great disappointment.
Suddenly the old dog began to bark with strong conviction in every bark, which indicated that he had really found something at last that was worth mentioning. There was a sudden jangle of sleighbells in the yard, and Mary's father went hastily to the door and called to the dog to be quiet. A woman walked into the square of light thrown on the snow from the open door, and asked if this was the place where a nurse was needed.