"
The meaning glance that accompanied these words intimated to poor Ellen,
that, in warning her against danger, he alluded to the vengeance with
which he would visit any attempt to escape. To leave her thus alone,
trusting to the influence of such a threat, was a bold, yet a necessary
and by no means a hopeless measure. On Ellen it produced the desired
effect; and she sat in the cave as motionless, for a time, as if she had
herself been a part of the rock. In other circumstances this shady recess
would have been a delightful retreat during the sultry warmth of a
summer's day. The dewy coolness of the rock kept the air always fresh and
the sunbeams never thrust themselves so as to dissipate the mellow
twilight through the green trees with which the chamber was curtained.
Ellen's sleeplessness and agitation for many preceding hours had perhaps
deadened her feelings; for she now felt a sort of indifference creeping
upon her, an inability to realize the evils of her situation, at the same
time that she was perfectly aware of them all. This torpor of mind
increased, till her eyelids began to grow heavy and the cave and trees to
swim before her sight. In a few moments more she would probably have been
in dreamless slumber; but, rousing herself by a strong effort, she looked
round the narrow limits of the cave in search of objects to excite her
worn-out mind.
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