Marty prepared her a comfortable place, and she sat down in the circle,

and listened to Fitzpiers while he drew from her father and the

bark-rippers sundry narratives of their fathers', their grandfathers',

and their own adventures in these woods; of the mysterious sights they

had seen--only to be accounted for by supernatural agency; of white

witches and black witches; and the standard story of the spirits of the

two brothers who had fought and fallen, and had haunted Hintock House

till they were exorcised by the priest, and compelled to retreat to a

swamp in this very wood, whence they were returning to their old

quarters at the rate of a cock's stride every New-year's Day, old

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style; hence the local saying, "On New-year's tide, a cock's stride."

It was a pleasant time. The smoke from the little fire of peeled

sticks rose between the sitters and the sunlight, and behind its blue

veil stretched the naked arms of the prostrate trees The smell of the

uncovered sap mingled with the smell of the burning wood, and the

sticky inner surface of the scattered bark glistened as it revealed its

pale madder hues to the eye. Melbury was so highly satisfied at having

Fitzpiers as a sort of guest that he would have sat on for any length

of time, but Grace, on whom Fitzpiers's eyes only too frequently

alighted, seemed to think it incumbent upon her to make a show of

going; and her father thereupon accompanied her to the vehicle.

As the doctor had helped her out of it he appeared to think that he had

excellent reasons for helping her in, and performed the attention

lingeringly enough.

"What were you almost in tears about just now?" he asked, softly.

"I don't know," she said: and the words were strictly true.

Melbury mounted on the other side, and they drove on out of the grove,

their wheels silently crushing delicate-patterned mosses, hyacinths,

primroses, lords-and-ladies, and other strange and ordinary plants, and

cracking up little sticks that lay across the track. Their way

homeward ran along the crest of a lofty hill, whence on the right they

beheld a wide valley, differing both in feature and atmosphere from

that of the Hintock precincts. It was the cider country, which met the

woodland district on the axis of this hill. Over the vale the air was

blue as sapphire--such a blue as outside that apple-valley was never

seen. Under the blue the orchards were in a blaze of bloom, some of

the richly flowered trees running almost up to where they drove along.

Over a gate which opened down the incline a man leaned on his arms,

regarding this fair promise so intently that he did not observe their

passing.




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