Roger probably thought what Oliver did say very silly; for he sat laughing as he heard it, and for some time after. Half an hour later, when Ailwin passed near him, while she was laying down a bed for Oliver, so that they might be all together during this night of alarm, she thought there was a strong smell of brandy. She flew to her bottle, and found it empty,—not a drop left. Roger had drained it all. His head soon dropped upon his breast, and he fell from his chair in a drunken sleep. Mildred shrank back from him in horror; but Ailwin and Oliver rolled him into a corner of the room, where his dog lay down beside him.
Ailwin could not refrain from giving him a kick, while he lay thus powerless, and sneering in his face because he could not see her.
“Don’t, Ailwin,—don’t!” said Oliver. “Mildred and I should not have been here now but for him.”
“And I should not have been terrified out of my wits, for these two hours past, nor have lost my cherry-brandy, but for him. Mercy! I shall never forget his popping up his face at that window, and sending his dog in before him. I was as sure as death that the flood was all of their making, and that they were come for me, after having carried off my master, and as I thought, you two.”
“Why, Ailwin, what nonsense!” cried Mildred from her bed,—trembling all over as she spoke. “How could a boy make a flood?”
“And you see what he has done, instead of carrying us off,” observed Oliver.
“Well, it is almost worth my cherry-brandy to see him lie so,—dead drunk,—only it would be better still to see him really dead.—Well, that may be a wicked thing to say; but it is not so wicked as some things he has done;—and I am so mortally afraid of him!”
“I wish you would say your prayers, Ailwin, instead of saying such things: and then, perhaps, you would find yourself not afraid of anybody.”
“Well, that is almost as good as if the pastor had preached it. I will just hang up the chicks in the hand-basket, for fear of the dog; and then we will say our prayers, and go to sleep, please God. I am sure we all want it.”
Oliver chose to examine first how high the water stood in the lower rooms. He lighted a piece of wood, and found that only two steps of the lower flight of stairs remained dry. Ailwin protested so earnestly that the waters had not risen for two or three hours, that he thought they might all lie down to sleep. Ailwin and he were the only ones who could keep watch. He did not think Ailwin’s watching would be worth much; he was so tired that he did not think he could keep awake; and he felt that he should be much more fit for all the business that lay before him for the next day, if he could get a good rest now. So he kissed little George, as he lay down beside him, and was soon as sound asleep as all his companions.