She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living thing about. When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips were slightly open, and she was not breathing softly as she usually did. Instead she breathed with long, heavy gasps, as though trying to get as much air as possible with at every breath. As I came close, she put up her hand and pulled the collar of her nightdress tight around her. Perhaps even in her sleep, she felt the cold. I threw the warm shawl over her, and pulled the edges around her neck. She was not warmly dressed and I dreaded that she would get some deadly chill from the night air.

I did not want to wake her suddenly, so to have my hands free to help her, I fastened the shawl at her throat with a big safety pin. But I must have been clumsy in my anxiety and pinched or pricked her with it,because when her breathing became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet, and then began very gently to wake her up. At first she did not respond, but gradually she became more and more disturbed in her sleep. At last, because time was passing fast, and I wanted to get her home at once, I shook her hard, till finally she opened her eyes and awoke.