The father, so long asleep, had sprung awake at the first hint of danger to the little child that in his neglectful way he loved deeply all the time; and, in spite of the danger to Wonder, a faint joy stirred in Beatrice's heart to see him thus humanly aroused once more.
"Kiss me, Beatrice," he said, as he set out upon his errand.

"Don't be anxious, it will be all right." It was the first time he had kissed his wife for many days.
The doctor's was some three miles away across the moor.

It was a bright starlit night, and Antony, who knew the moor well, had no difficulty in making his way at a good pace along the mossy tracks.

Presently he gave a little cry of pain and stood still.
"O God," he cried, "it cannot be that.

Oh, it cannot." At that moment for the first time a dreadful thought had crossed his mind.