But the careless and the fearful were alike sleeping in their beds now. There was hope that the rain would abate by the morrow; threatenings of a worse kind,from sudden thaws after falls of snow, had often passed off, in the experience of the younger ones;and at the very worst, the banks would be sure to break lower down the river when the tide came in with violence, and so the waters would be carried off,without causing more than temporary inconvenience,and losses that would be felt only by the poorer sort,whom charity would relieve.