ething of that sort, is what
would do me most good."

Then he started, and did walk to Denvir Sluice and back in three
hours. The road from Plaistow Hall to Denvir Sluice was not in itself
interesting. It ran through a perfectly flat country, without a tree.
For the greater part of the way it was constructed on the top of a
great bank by the side of a broad dike, and for five miles its course
was straight as a line. A country walk less picturesque could hardly
be found in England. The road, too, was very dusty, and the sun
was hot above Belton's head as he walked. But nevertheless, he
persevered, going on till he struck his stick against the waterfall
which was called Denvir Sluice, and then returned,--not once
slackening his pace, and doing the whole distance at a rate somewhat
above five miles an hour. They used to say in the nursery that cold
pudding is good to settle a man's love; but the receipt which Belton
tried was a walk of sixteen miles, along a dusty road, after dinner,
in the middle of an August day.

I think it did him some good. When he got back he took a long draught
of home-brewed beer, and then went up-stairs to dress himself.

"What a state you are in," Mary said to him when he showed himself
for a moment in the sitting-room.

"I did it from milestone to milestone in eleven minutes, backwards
and forwards, all along the five-mile reach."

Then Mary knew from his answer that the exercise had been of service
to him, perceiving that he had been able to take an interest in his
own prowess as a walker.

"I only hope you won't have a fever," she said.

"The people who stand still are they who get fevers," he answered.
"Hard work never does harm to any one. If John Bowden would walk his
five miles an hour on a Sunday afternoon he wouldn't have the gout so
often."

John Bowden was a neighbour in the next parish, and Mary was
delighted to find that her brother could take a pride in his
performance.

By degrees Miss Belton began to know with some accuracy the way in
which Will had managed his affairs at Belton Castle, and was enabled
to give him salutary advice.

"You see, Will," she said, "ladies are different from men in this,
that they cannot allow themselves to be in love so suddenly."

"I don't see how a person is to help it. It isn't like jumping into a
river, which a person can do or not, just as he pleases."

"But I fancy it is something like jumping into a river, and that a
person can h