Part 9 (1/2)

'Say not that I have saved thy life,' Elzevir broke in; ”twas I who brought thy life in danger; and but forabed at Moonfleet, instead of hiding in the chambers of these rocks So speak not of that, but if thou hast a mind to air thyself an hour, I see little haret better of sickness; and I ht to that ruined house of which I spoke to thee, to fetch a pocket compass Master Ratsey was to put there So thou canst coht air on the Down'

He had agreed more readily than I looked for, and so I pushed the o yet a little farther afield You know that I was born in Moonfleet, and have been bred there all my life, and love the trees and strea it once ivethe Down and look on Moonfleet but this once, and in this ploughboy guise I shall be safe enough, and will coht'

He looked at ; and all the while I felt he saw ry But I turned red, and cast round, and then he spoke:

'Lad, I have known old, and love, and hate; but never one would play with death that he ht see a tree or stream or stones And when men say they love a place or town, thou mayst be sure 'tis not the place they love but some that live there; or that they loved soain to kindle uess that thou hast someone there to see-or hope to see It cannot be thine aunt, for there is no love lost between ye; and besides, no man ever perilled his life to bid adieu to an aunt So have no secrets froe whether this second treasure that thou seekest is true gold enough to fling thy life into the scale against it'

Then I told hi toMoonfleet, for none would know e of the place would let e or wall or wood for cover; and finally, if I were seen,was now sound, and there were few could beatmatch upon the Down So I talked on, not so ; for I durst not look up, and feared to hear an angry word from him when I should stop But at last I had spoken all I could, and ceased because I had no ht, but there was silence; and after a hts andering When he spoke there was no anger in his voice, but only so sad

'Thou art a foolish lad,' he said 'Yet I was young once myself, and my ways have been too dark toblood Now thine own life has got a shadow on't already that I have helped to cast, so take the brightness of it while thou irl, I know her for a coood-hearted, and have wondered often how she calad now I have not his blood on one to take it then, for all the evil he had brought onon his life So one and see these streams and trees and stones thou talkest of Yet if thou'rt shot upon the Down, or taken off to jail, blame thine own folly and not ht, and then coht tomorrow, I shall believe that thou art taken in some snare, and come out to seek thee'

I took his hand, and thanked hiot on the s some bread and meat in my pockets, as I was likely to find little to eat on my journey It was dark before we left the cave, for there is little dusk with us, and the division between day and night sharper than in more northern parts Elzevir took s, telling me where I should stoop, and when the as uneven Thus we cah ferns and brareat star gazing down full at us We climbed the steps with the soap-stone slide at one side, and then walked on briskly over the springy turf through the hillocks of the coveted quarry-heaps and the ruins of the deserted cottages

There was a heavy dehich got through h there was no ossarass Neither of us spoke, partly because it was safer not to speak, for the voice carries far in a still night on the Downs; and partly, I think, because the beauty of the starry heaven had taken hold upon us both, ruling our hearts with thoughts too big for words We soon reached that ruined cottage of which Elzevir had spoken, and in what had once been an oven, found the coain over the solitary hills, not speaking ourselves, and neither seeing light innor hearing dog stir, until we reached that strange defile whichthe highest summit of the hill, alls as sharp as if the hand of es all the few travellers in this lonely place, shepherds and sailors, soldiers and Exciseh it for centuries, there are ruts in the chalk floor as wide and deep as if the cars of giants used it in past ti from his bosom that silver-butted pistol of which I have spoken, thrust it in my hand 'Here, take it, child,' he said, 'but use it not till thou art closely pressed, and then if thou ripped his hand, and so we parted, he going back to Purbeck, and I e at the back of hoar Head It rown -place of some old warrior of the past The top is planted with a clump of trees that cut the skyline, and there I sat awhile to rest But not for long, for looking back towards Purbeck, I could see the faint hint of da on the sea-line behind St Alban's Head, and so pressed forward knowing I had a full ten miles to cover yet

Thus I travelled on, and soon ca fed with turnips on a summer fallow The sun ell up now, and flushed all with a rosy glow, showing the sheep and the roots they eat white against the brown earth Still I saw no shepherd, nor even dog, and about seven o'clock stood safe on Weatherbeech Hill that looks down over Moonfleet

There at my feet lay the Manor woods and the old house, and lower down the white road and the straggling cottages, and farther still the Why Not? and the glassy Fleet, and beyond that the open sea I cannot say how sad, yet sweet, the sight was: it seee of the desert, of which I had been told-so beautiful, but never to be reached again bywood-fires rose straight up, but none from the Why Not? or Manor House The sun was already very hot, and I dropped at once froasthe furze chaht for the little dell and lay down there, burying myself in the wild rhubarb and burdocks, yet so that I could see the doorway of the Manor House over the lip of the hill

Then I reflected what I was to do, or how I should get to speak with Grace: and thought I would first wait an hour or two, and see whether she cao down boldly and knock at the door This seeerous, for it was likely, from what Ratsey had said, that there was no one with her in the house, and if there was it would be but an old wouise, and ask e So I lay still and munched a piece of bread, and heard the clock in the church tower strike eight and afterwards nine, but saw no one -birds, and with the calling of cuckoo and wood-pigeon There were deep patches of green shade and lighter patches of yellow sunlight, in which the iris leaves glearound-ivy spread all through the wood It struck ten, and as the heat increased the birds sang less and the droning of the bees grew ot up, shooka turn, cauise was good, I fear I , and found a difficulty in dealing with hboys are wont to carry theave a rat-tat on the door, while my pulse beat as loud inside of me as ever did the knocker without The sound ran round the building, and backwards a the walks, and all was silent as before I waited a ht be no one in the house, and then heard a light footstep coh theto see who it was in passing, as I ht have done, but keptdrawn, and a girl's voice asked, 'Who is there?' I gave a ju it well for Grace's, and had a ht be souised Moreover, laughing is so s with serious, that even in this pass I believe I was secretly pleased to have to play a trick on her, and test whether she would find me out in this dress or not So I spoke out in our round Dorset speech, such as they talk it out in the vale, saying, 'A poor boy who is out of his way'

Then she opened one leaf of the door, and asked er and not knoho it was

I answered that I was a farht an inn called the Why Not? kept by one Master Block When she heard that, she gave a little start, and lookedof it, but said:

'Good lad, if you will step on to this terrace I can show you the Why Not? inn, but 'tis shut these two months or more, and Master Block away'

With that she turned towards the terrace, I following, but ere outside of ear-shot from the door, I spoke in my own voice, quick but low:

'Grace, it is I, John Trenchard, who aoodbye before I leave these parts, and have much to tell that you would wish to hear Are there any beside in the house with you?'

Now irls who had suffered as she had, and were thus surprised, would have screamed, or perhaps swooned, but she did neither, only flushi+ng a little and saying, also quick and low, 'Let us go back to the house; I am alone'

So ent back, and after the door was bolted, took both hands and stood up face to face in the passage looking into one another's eyes I was tired with a long walk and sleepless night, and so full of joy to see her again that my head swam and all seemed a sweet dream Then she squeezedher for very love; but she guessed what I would be at, perhaps, and castback a little, as if to see rown a man in these two months' So I did not kiss her

But if it was true that I was grown a roos had taken froirlhood, and left her with a manner er skirts, and her hair caught up behind; and perhaps it was thefrock that made her look pale and thin, as Ratsey said So while I looked at her, she looked at me, and could not choose but smile to see ht I had been hiding in some country underneath the sun, until I told her of the walnut-juice Then before we fell to talking, she said it was better we should sit in the garden, for that a woht come in to help her with the house, and anyway it was safer, so that I et out at the back in case of need So she led the way down the corridor and through the living-part of the house, and we passed several rooms, and one little parlour lined with shelves and ht in to show a high-backed horsehair chair that stood at the table In front of it lay an open volume, and a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles, that I had often seen on Maskew's nose; so I kneas his study, and that nothing had been moved since last he sat there Even now I trembled to think in whose house I was, and half-expected the old attorney to step in and hale me off to jail; till I remembered how all my trouble had come about, and how I last had seen hi sun

Thus we careat square, shut in with a brick wall of twelve or fifteen feet, big enough to suit a palace, but then ill kept and sorely overgrown I could spend long in speaking of that plot; how the flowers, and fruit-trees, pot-herbs, spice, and siht every ray of sun that fell, and thatthere was a hushed, close heat in it, and a warm breath rose fro I was glad enough to get out of the sun when Grace led the way into a walk of hs interlaced and formed an alley to a brick sule of the south wall, and by it two fig-trees, whose tops you can see froest and the earliest bearing of all that part, and Grace showed hs and scale the wall

We sat in the summer-house, and I told her all that had happened at her father's death, only concealing that Elzevir had meant to do the deed himself; because it was no use to tell her that, and besides, for all I knew, he never did ain while I spoke, but afterwards dried her tears, andto see the bullet-wound, and if it was all soundly healed