CHAPTER XXVIII 424
" Is she ill, or only famished?"
" Famished, I think. Hannah, is that milk? Give it me, and a piece of bread."
Diana( I knew her by the long curls which I saw drooping between me and the fire as she bent over me) broke some bread, dipped it in milk, and put it to my lips. Her face was near mine: I saw there was pity in it, and I felt sympathy in her hurried breathing. In her simple words, too, the same balm-like emotion spoke: " Try to eat."
" Yes-- try," repeated Mary gently; and Mary ' s hand removed my sodden bonnet and lifted my head. I tasted what they offered me: feebly at first, eagerly soon.
" Not too much at first-- restrain her," said the brother; " she has had enough." And he withdrew the cup of milk and the plate of bread.
" A little more, St. John-- look at the avidity in her eyes." " No more at present, sister. Try if she can speak now-- ask her her name."
I felt I could speak, and I answered-- " My name is Jane Elliott." Anxious as ever to avoid discovery, I had before resolved to assume an ALIAS.
" And where do you live? Where are your friends?" I was silent. " Can we send for any one you know?" I shook my head. " What account can you give of yourself?"
Somehow, now that I had once crossed the threshold of this house, and once was brought face to face with its owners, I felt no longer outcast,