He's like a desperate man, and just catches at this chance as a' he has left, to escape utter perdition; so what signifies plaguing the puir lassie about what canna be helped?
And besides, to say the truth, I wadna like to tell the secret o' this place.

It's unco convenient, ye see yoursell, to hae a hiding-hole o' ane's ain; and though I be out o' the line o' needing ane e'en now, and trust in the power o' grace that I'll neer do onything to need ane again, yet naebody kens what temptation ane may be gien ower to--and, to be brief, I downa bide the thought of anybody kennin about the place;--they say, keep a thing seven year, an' yell aye find a use for't--and maybe I may need the cove, either for mysell, or for some ither body." This argument, in which Edie Ochiltree, notwithstanding his scraps of morality and of divinity, seemed to take, perhaps from old habit, a personal interest, could not be handsomely controverted by Lovel, who was at that moment reaping the benefit of the secret of which the old man appeared to be so jealous.
This incident, however, was of great service to Lovel, as diverting his mind from the unhappy occurrence of the evening, and considerably rousing the energies which had been stupefied by the first view of his calamity.

He reflected that it by no means necessarily followed that a dangerous wound must be a fatal one--that he had been hurried from the spot even before the surgeon had expressed any opinion of Captain M'Intyre's situation--and that he had duties on earth to perform, even should the very worst be true, which, if they could not restore his peace of mind or sense of innocence, would furnish a motive for enduring existence, and at the same time render it a course of active benevolence .-- Such were Lovel's feelings, when the hour arrived when, according to Edie's calculation--who, by some train or process of his own in observing the heavenly bodies, stood independent of the assistance of a watch or time-keeper--it was fitting they should leave their hiding-place, and betake themselves to the seashore, in order to meet Lieutenant Taffril's boat according to appointment.
They retreated by the same passage which had admitted them to the prior's secret seat of observation, and when they issued from the grotto into the wood, the birds which began to chirp, and even to sing, announced that the dawn was advanced.

This was confirmed by the light and amber clouds that appeared over the sea, as soon as their exit from the copse permitted them to view the horizon .-- Morning, said to be friendly to the muses, has probably obtained this character from its effect upon the fancy and feelings of mankind.

Even to those who, like Lovel, have spent a sleepless and anxious night, the breeze of the dawn brings strength and quickening both of mind and body.