"O, my good boy, I am sadly hurt!" said he, feebly. "Will you help me to rise and get away from this place?"
Willie, who forgot everything, even the burning mansion before him, in care and pity for his friend, raised him to his feet, and half supporting the tall, thin form in his young, strong arms, drew him down the long avenue and along the river bank to his mother's dwelling.
And that night the insensible form of the Hermit of the Cedars lay stretched upon the low couch of Dilly Danforth's humble abode.
CHAPTER XLI.
"There are so many signs of wickedness
Around me, that my soul is pressed with fear.
O, that the power divine would kindly aid
Me in my need, and save me from the wiles
And artful plottings of this wicked man!
For though he speaks so soft, and smiles so fair,